Topic: Guitar

lesson:
Lydia Mendoza: Tejano Life and Music on the Mexico/Texas Border

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Geography, Social Studies/History

How does Lydia Mendoza’s Tejano music connect to the history of Texas and the influence Mexico has had on that state?

Trace It Back:
Bonnie Raitt

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

Trace It Back:
Mitski

Grades: AP/Honors/101, Elementary K-3, High, Middle

Trace It Back:
Thundercat

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

Trace It Back:
Gary Clark Jr.

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

lesson:
Distortion: The Sound of Rock and Roll’s Menacing Spirit

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: CTE, General Music, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

What is distortion, and how did it become a desired guitar effect in Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Exploring Shapes in Pablo Picasso’s “Guitar, Sheet Music, and Glass”

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Elementary K-3
Subjects: Art/Design, Math

What shapes did Pablo Picasso use to create his piece Guitar, Sheet Music, and Glass and how can similar shapes be used to create other instruments?

lesson:
Designing an Electric Guitar with Shapes

Grades: Elementary K-3
Subjects: Art/Design, Math, STEAM

How can shapes be used to design an electric guitar?

lesson:
The Guitar: A Musical Transducer

Grades: Elementary 4-6, Middle
Subjects: CTE, General Music, Science, STEAM

How can the guitar help us understand the scientific principle of transduction?

lesson:
The Indigenous Roots of Rock and Roll

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

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

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: CTE, General Music, Science, STEAM

How did the electrification, amplification and design of the guitar facilitate its emergence as a dominant instrument of popular music?

lesson:
Jimi Hendrix: Introducing Hard Rock

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music

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:
The Rise of the Electric Guitar

Grades: High
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

What factors led to the rise of the electric guitar as the dominant symbol of Rock and Roll?

lesson:
Bo Diddley: The Grandfather of Hip Hop?

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music, Social Studies/History

How were Bo Diddley’s recordings an anomaly in relation to 1950s Pop music, and how is his rhythm-driven sound and self-presentation a precursor to Hip Hop style?

lesson:
The Birth of the Electric Guitar

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: CTE, Science, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did the electric guitar transform Blues music from the 1940s forward?

lesson:
Chuck Berry

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music

Why is Chuck Berry often considered the most important of the early Rock and Rollers?