Topic: War

lesson:
The United States and World War I featuring Tin Pan Alley Songs

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

Why did the United States enter World War I and how did music reflect the changing viewpoint of Americans toward the war?

lesson:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy

Grades: High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, Social Studies/History

What was the cultural, social, and historical significance of the zoot suit during the period of World War II?

lesson:
Westward Expansion and Country Music’s Hispanic Influence

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High
Subjects: Ethnic Studies, General Music, Social Studies/History

What was Westward Expansion, and what effect did it have on American Popular music?

lesson:
The Myth of the American Cowboy

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did Westward Expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny inform the image of the cowboy in American culture?

Student Edition:
A Veteran’s Soundtrack to the Vietnam War

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

lesson:
A Veteran’s Soundtrack to the Vietnam War

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

How did popular music amplify the voices and experiences of Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War?

Student Edition:
Music and the Berlin Wall during the Cold War

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

Trace It Back:
The Chicks

Grades: AP/Honors/101, High, Middle

lesson:
Toby Keith & The Chicks: Songs and Words During the War on Terror

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

What were the different reactions to songs and comments by Country musicians about the September 11th terrorist attacks versus the Iraq War?

lesson:
Almost Emancipated: Reconstruction

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What is the significance of Reconstruction and what does it reveal about the freedom that the post-Civil War constitutional amendments secured for African Americans?

lesson:
Almost Emancipated: The Civil War and the Port Royal Experiment

Grades: AP/Honors/101
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How does the Union occupation of Port Royal highlight the complex issues behind the Civil War?

lesson:
Debating the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

What was NASA’s Apollo program and why was it controversial?

lesson:
Musical Reactions to the Vietnam War

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How were American’s divisive opinions over the Vietnam War articulated by musicians in the 1960s and early 1970s?

lesson:
Music and the Berlin Wall during the Cold War

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, Social Studies/History

What was the Berlin Wall and how did music respond to what it symbolized?

lesson:
9/11: Country Music Responds

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies/History

How did Country musicians’ responses to the September 11th terrorist attacks speak to the feelings of some Americans after the tragedy?

lesson:
Reagan and the Cold War: A Document-Based Question

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

Did President Ronald Reagan’s Cold War policies serve to heighten or to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union?

lesson:
The Vietnam War: A Document-Based Question

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

In what ways and to what extent did the Vietnam War change American culture, society, and values?

lesson:
Indigenous Music from Wounded Knee to the Billboard Charts

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

In what ways did the music of Native Americans mark them as outsiders from the developing narratives of “American-ness” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and how did the federal government attempt to use music as a tool to force assimilation?

lesson:
The Beatles, a New Kind of Star

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

How did The Beatles establish a new paradigm for the image of "the star," and how did that image support their global success?

lesson:
From the Stage to the Studio

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

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:
The Beatles Work Towards Success

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: Math, Social Studies/History, STEAM

How did The Beatles' rigorous work schedule during the years 1960-63 build their strengths as performers, as musicians, and as a band?

lesson:
Multitracking in the Countercultural 1960s

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

How did The Beatles’ use of cutting edge recording technology and studio techniques both reflect and shape the counterculture of the 1960s?

lesson:
“Blowin’ in the Wind” as a Rallying Cry

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: ELA, General Music

How does the song “Blowin’ in the Wind” use poetic devices to communicate an open-ended yet powerful message about the human condition, without ever losing its historical specificity?

lesson:
“Twist and Shout” and Post-War Britain

Grades: High, Middle
Subjects: General Music

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:
World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

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:
Artists Protest McCarthyism

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How were musicians and artists affected by McCarthyism in 1950s America?

lesson:
Glam: The Return of the Teenager

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

How was Glam Rock part of a new teenage culture in the 1970s?

lesson:
Car Culture in Postwar America

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did car culture intersect with and inspire Rock and Roll?

lesson:
The Sound of the Suburbs

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did the music of the Beach Boys reflect the suburbanization of postwar America?

lesson:
Seventies Soul: The Soundtrack of Turbulent Times

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

How did changes in the Soul music of the early 1970s reflect broader shifts in American society during that time?

lesson:
The Impact of 1960s Antiwar Music

Grades: High
Subjects: Civics, Social Studies/History

How did antiwar protest music provide a voice for those opposed to the Vietnam War?

lesson:
Liverpool: The Birthplace of the Beatles

Grades: High
Subjects: Social Studies/History

How did growing up in post-WWII Liverpool influence the Beatles?

lesson:
The Roots of Heavy Metal

Grades: High
Subjects: ELA, General Music

What are the musical and cultural roots of Heavy Metal?