A Century of Music

Background

Music like history has spanned centuries and is constantly evolving. Music gives an audio version of the emotions and philosophies of people at any given time in history. In this lesson students investigate the past one hundred years of music and determine how it reflects its time period and how music has changed from one decade to another. After completing their inquiry, students will construct digital time capsule by recording music and songs of the past 100 years in the capsule they will include significant facts and details about the music and its era.

Objectives
The student understands the developments in the humanities during the19th century.
The student understands music in relation to culture and history.
The student understands the relationship between music and the world.
The student uses technology tools to process data and report results.

Activities
1. Play excerpts of music from the past 100 years and ask students to guess when it was written
2. Have students visit the following web sites to learn about the history of American Music: History of Music,  American Music in History, The Music Room, African American Music 
3. Students will maintain an electronic Music Journal of all information collected; journals will contain weekly entries, music facts, clipart and graphics. Student will give an oral presentation of their Music Journal at the end of the unit
4. Break students into small groups and let students choose a decade to explore
5. Students will provide the following information about their decade:

• Years spanned
• Famous musicians and performers
• Representative style of music, such as jazz, blues, rock and roll, gospel, rap, disco, hip hop, techno, ragtime, swing, scat..
• Representative instruments, such as trumpet for jazz, guitar for blues, electric guitar for rock and roll, piano for ragtime, organ for gospel...
• Dance styles, if applicable
• Musicals/Operas, such as Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Flash Dance, Moulin Rouge, West Side Story, Hello Dolly, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Susannah, The Cradle Will Rock, Porgy and Bess, Guys and Dolls
• Immigrants and the types of music/dance brought to the USA, such as Latin America: Salsa, Ireland: Jig, Poland: Polka, Caribbean: Calypso, Italy: Tarantella
• Dances originating in the USA: square dancing, clogging, break dancing

6. With the above information, student will construct a digital time capsule of their decade, they can record music and text on a cassette or CD. Students can also create a multimedia presentation using PowerPoint, HyperStudio or KidPix to represent their data. Multimedia presentation can also be posted on the school web site. Make two copies of student work; place one copy in a safe place to be opened in the future and present one to the school media center.

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on their electronic Music Journals using a Journal Checklist.

Extension Activity: Music Timeline

• Students will create a timeline of their decade including major historical events, music styles, dance styles, and famous people including musicians and performers
• Learn what the components of a timeline are at Timeline Basics and  How to Make a Timeline
• Students can create an online timeline at Timeline Maker
• Students can also create a timeline using desktop publishing, they will then insert graphics and clip art representing their decade
• Students can also create a musical timeline by recording music of their decade and presenting it to the class with an oral presentation.

Homework

Students will locate, read and write a summary of a newspaper or magazine article about music, see Online Miami Herald, BBC Online Music Magazine, and Online Billboard Magazine.