Welcome, Little Rockers! Below you will find TeachRock resources handpicked for your school.
Resources
Recording Rock: The Beatles
lesson:
The Teamwork Behind the Beatles (Elementary Version)
How did the input of manager Brian Epstein and record producer George Martin help The Beatles develop and refine skills that aided the band in presenting their music and personalities to a mass audience?
lesson:
The Teamwork Behind the Beatles
How did the input of manager Brian Epstein and record producer George Martin help The Beatles develop and refine skills that aided the band in presenting their music and personalities to a mass audience?
lesson:
The Many Roles of a Music Producer
What does a music producer do and in what ways does one hear the sound of a producer’s work in recordings?
lesson:
From the Stage to the Studio
What caused The Beatles to cease touring in 1966 and how did the innovative music they then created during their subsequent immersion in the recording studio both reflect and influence the world at that time?
lesson:
Multitracking in the Countercultural 1960s
How did The Beatles’ use of cutting edge recording technology and studio techniques both reflect and shape the counterculture of the 1960s?
lesson:
Sampling: The Foundation of Hip Hop
How is the re-use and re-purposing of existing music at the heart of the Hip Hop recording experience?
lesson:
Beatlemania
What were the factors that contributed to the rise of Beatlemania?
Recording Rock: Pink Floyd
lesson:
The Evolution of Sound Recording
How did multitrack recording technologies enable musicians to create a form of music that could only be realized in the studio?
lesson:
Designing Album Covers with Color Theory
What is the science behind color theory, and how is it used in fashion and album cover design?
lesson:
The Ethics of Sampling
What makes a work of art “original,” and how does the use of “sampling” technology in Hip Hop challenge perceptions of “originality”?
lesson:
Recording and Producing the Voice
How have singers responded as advances in studio recording techniques have enabled increased technological “perfection”?
Recording Rock: Brian Wilson
lesson:
The Musical Roots of the Surf Sound (Elementary Version)
How does the “Surf Sound” in Rock and Roll reflect early surf culture, and what are the roots of this genre of music?
lesson:
The Musical Roots of the Surf Sound
What is the Surf sound and where did it come from?
lesson:
The Sound of the Suburbs
How did the music of the Beach Boys reflect the suburbanization of postwar America?
Recording Rock: Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page
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The Who’s Generation
How did the Who represent “My Generation” in mid-1960s England?
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The American Blues in Britain
In what ways did American Blues affect English musicians in the early 1960s?
Recording Rock: Jimi Hendrix
lesson:
Jimi Hendrix: Introducing Hard Rock
In what ways did Jimi Hendrix help create a new "Hard Rock" sound while retaining a connection to the Blues and R&B of his past?
lesson:
Negotiating Native Identity through Art, Poetry and Music
How have Native American musicians, poets, and visual artists negotiated their identity, and what role does physical space play in these negotiations?
Guitar Tone and Design: How?
lesson:
The Guitar: A Musical Transducer
How can the guitar help us understand the scientific principle of transduction?
lesson:
The Birth of the Electric Guitar
How did the electric guitar transform Blues music from the 1940s forward?
lesson:
Women’s Perspectives in Country and Tejano Music
How did female Country and Tejano artists approach the issues of feminism and Women’s Rights in the 20th and 21st century?
Guitar Tone and Design: Two Differences?
lesson:
Leo Fender: An Inventor Who Transformed Popular Music
Who was Leo Fender, what iconic musical instruments did he invent, and how did his inventions transform musical instrument design and popular music?
lesson:
The Indigenous Roots of Rock and Roll
What does Link Wray’s biography say about how Native Americans lived in the first half of the 20th century, and what role did Wray’s upbringing have on his music?
lesson:
The Impact of the Electric Guitar
How did the electrification, amplification and design of the guitar facilitate its emergence as a dominant instrument of popular music?
Guitar Tone and Design: Notable Guitarists
lesson:
The American Blues in Britain
In what ways did American Blues affect English musicians in the early 1960s?
lesson:
The Rolling Stones: Giving America Back the Blues
How did the early Rolling Stones help popularize the Blues?
The Beatles and George Martin
lesson:
“Twist and Shout” and Post-War Britain
What role did cover songs like “Twist and Shout” play early in the Beatles's career, and how did their experiences growing up in post-WWII Liverpool and performing in Hamburg nightclubs help them to develop as a professional musical ensemble?
lesson:
The Beatles and American Segregation
How did the Beatles take a stand against segregation while touring America? And what did it mean for popular music culture?
lesson:
The Beatles and Teen Culture
How did the Beatles’ image as a “rock band” affect young people in America?
lesson:
The Beatles, a New Kind of Star
How did The Beatles establish a new paradigm for the image of "the star," and how did that image support their global success?
lesson:
The Beatles Work Towards Success
How did The Beatles' rigorous work schedule during the years 1960-63 build their strengths as performers, as musicians, and as a band?
Additional Resources (Jazz)
lesson:
World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble
How did wartime restrictions and other factors cause popular music ensembles to shrink in size during the 1940s, helping to set the stage for the small “combos” of Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Blues, Poetry, and the Harlem Renaissance
How does Langston Hughes’ Blues-inspired poetry exemplify the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance?
lesson:
Italian-American Vocalists Before Rock and Roll
How did the careers of Italian American vocalists in the first half of the 20th century reflect the experiences of Italian American immigrants and attitudes toward them in the wider American culture?
Additional Resources (Funk)
lesson:
Funk Asserts Itself
How did 1970s Funk respond to African-American life in the decade following the Civil Rights movement?
lesson:
Swing Down: Afrofuturism & Flight in the Black Imagination
What is Afrofuturism and what are some of the cultural traditions and historical events that inspired and reinforced it?
Additional Resources (Rock)
lesson:
The Roots of Heavy Metal
What are the musical and cultural roots of Heavy Metal?
lesson:
Mainstream Metal, Parental Advisories, and Censorship
How was Heavy Metal involved in the 1980s controversy surrounding the creation of parental advisories for “offensive” music?
lesson:
Introducing Glam Rock
How was Glam Rock a reaction to the "seriousness" of popular music at the time?
lesson:
The Roots of Progressive Rock
How did Progressive Rock’s incorporation of classical traditions and countercultural values help to forge a unique Rock genre in the late 1960s?
lesson:
The New York City Underground
How did New York bands interact with the city's art scene to create something new?
lesson:
Punk as Reaction
How was Punk Rock a reaction both to the commercialization of Rock and Roll and to the social climate in late 1970s Britain?
lesson:
Introducing New Wave
What did Punk Rock provide that opened the door for New Wave acts? And what are some among the defining attributes of New Wave?
lesson:
The Emergence of Grunge
What was Grunge and where did it come from?
Additional Resources (Soul)
lesson:
Seventies Soul: The Soundtrack of Turbulent Times
How did changes in the Soul music of the early 1970s reflect broader shifts in American society during that time?
lesson:
The Rise of Black Pride
How did Social Soul reflect a new vision of African-American identity in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
lesson:
Music and Political Movements
How did Sixties Soul help give voice to the Civil Rights movement?
lesson:
Dan Penn
How did black artists and white songwriters and musicians interact in the Soul era, and what contributed to that interaction?
lesson:
Gospel Music and the Birth of Soul
How did Gospel influence American popular music?
lesson:
Soul Music and the New Femininity
How did Aretha Franklin represent a new female voice in 1960s popular music?
Additional Resources (Latin)
lesson:
Latin Music in Postwar New York City
How did the growth of New York City’s Latino population in the 1940s and 50s help to increase the popularity of Latin music and dance in American culture?
lesson:
Ritchie Valens (Elementary School Version)
How did Ritchie Valens meld traditional Mexican music and Rock and Roll?
lesson:
Ritchie Valens
How did Ritchie Valens meld traditional Mexican music and Rock and Roll?
Additional Resources (African and Latin Rhythms)
lesson:
Rhythm as a Representation of People and Place
How does “the beat” of popular music reflect the histories of multiethnic populations and places?
lesson:
The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”
What Latin American genres inspired Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s hit song “Despacito”?
lesson:
100 Years of Dance
Why might people dance, and how have dance trends changed in America since the 1920s?