Shaping American Cultural Identities Through Music Abstracts

Shaping American Cultural Identities Through Music Abstracts

Why We Should Learn to Sing and Sing to Learn

Debra Diaz-Sleeter

When students are learning to read it is critical that they make all the necessary connections. Research indicates that more than 80 percent of all the information we process by the brain comes in through our ears. Music research supports the intrinsic value of including music in the classroom. Even non-musicians are still musical beings. Our lives are filled with rhymes, rhythms, and mnemonics. Students enjoy music as well as learn and attend better with the inclusion of music in their education. Including music in everyday lessons shows good sense.

This curriculum unit was created with the intention of integrating music into language arts lessons. It is a curriculum designed to be used throughout the school year. This program gives students who might not succeed with traditional methods an opportunity to use music to gain knowledge in the language arts. These methods would be useful in all subject areas. Many of the elements can be used throughout the pre-school and the primary grades. The methods would be adaptable all the way up through the high school levels.

American Music History and Cultural Identity: What does music mean to us?

Tanya Dillon

This unit introduces the question, “What does music mean to us?” and encourages students to consider what is important to them and then to think more broadly about differing and shared values among cultures.    The first lessons in the unit are intended to encourage students to listen carefully to music, focusing on lyrics, timbre, rhythm, dynamics, melody and harmony. Comparing these elements in a variety of different musical selections emphasizes the richness of musical contributions from many people and cultures. Next, students review the histories of Cajun/Zydeco, Native American, Tejano and African-American music focusing on the importance of music in cultural identity. As a culminating activity for the unit, students are assigned an influential American musician to research. Their findings are reported in the form of a research paper and a brief oral presentation.

            Looking specifically at Cajun/Zydeco, Tejano, and Native American music can provide us with greater understanding of the complexities and creativity of “American” culture and history. It will enhance the traditional study of history by looking at the accomplishments and concerns of cultural minorities from the 1700s to the present. This study will celebrate the rich and diverse contributions of peoples of many backgrounds and emphasize our shared heritage, one of the greatest goals of the social studies curriculum in New Mexico.

Elementary Lessons in Jazz and the Art of Improvisation

Joan E. Griffin

This unit is designed to help students develop an awareness of the distinctly American music we call jazz. Part of the study is of various individuals who have made serious contributions to the music. This part is intended to help students hone and use their research and essay writing skills. The art of improvisation will teach students to use available resources in order to create something that is uniquely their own. The focus of this part of the unit is on creative writing, performance and public speaking skills. Jazz music will be used as a prompt for discussion, creative and critical writing, shared inquiry and art projects. We will concentrate on developing creativity and critical thinking skills. Students will be allowed the freedom to express themselves artistically.

Graphic Design and the Music Business

Brad Jaffe

This unit is intended to give the student a historical overview of how designs made for works of music have changed over time, from early music title pages produced in the 1500s to our present day compact discs. Students will see how artistic designs made for musical works have been impacted by technological changes in both art production and music recording and will learn how these changes have provided designers with new challenges and opportunities for artistic expression. The unit narrative focuses on the following areas: Music Title Pages (1470 to 1800), Victorian Music Covers (1820 to 1880), American Sheet Music Covers (1820 to 1940), and Record Album Design (1940 to 1980). Following the narrative are lessons which engage the student in creating their own designs for a work of music.

  Struggle and Change as Elements of American Creative Expression

Judith Kidd

This unit is designed to give 11th grade American literature students a broader approach to understanding selected writing by combining literature with significant musical pieces that reflect similar ideas. The focus is on the aspects of struggle that Americans wrote and sang about. This unit is specifically written for students with learning disabilities but the content is appropriate for students with higher reading levels.

            Three areas of music and literature are considered. They are: the 1930s Dust Bowl era, the music and literature of Black culture, and the rise of Hispanic culture in the Southwest. Lessons will include music of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, the early hollers of field workers, blues, and corridos. These will be integrated with literature of John Steinbeck, Frederick Douglas, Langston Hughes, and “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez,” among other selections.

            Students will read and reflect on selected writings, critique musical pieces that express similar themes, and review related art as well. They will write personal narratives and formal essays that express their views on these themes, as well as create works that move beyond the usual pen and paper tasks. They will be encouraged to write poetry, bring in appropriate music, and make a video of themselves presenting their own creative works.

  Music’s Impact on American Culture
The Antebellum Period

Jeff Mullen

The original intent of this work was to divide United States history into time periods and look at the music of each time period in conjunction with the study of history. The study of the music would be conducted after the student had an understanding of the events and important people of the period. The study of the music is not to be in-depth but rather to expose the students to the types of music being composed, played, and enjoyed by the people of the era. Students may participate in this study through reading, listening, and perhaps by performing and then reporting to the class.   Students will be able to identify the composition and understand its significance in American history.

After students have done presentations and listened to the songs of a time period, discussion would then continue about how the music affected the culture and thinking of the people. Following the discussion, the class would have the option of studying music through later periods and the impact on modern music. For this class assignment, I chose to study the music of the 1830s through the Civil War, mainstream America, African-American, both free and slave, black face minstrels, and military music.

I chose this time period because it reflects a time of change in music; the moving away from sacred to secular. The common man is becoming more involved with music on several levels, sometimes as a profession or more often for entertainment. Some of the music of the 1830s through the Civil War is still being sung today. The social impact of the songs carried through to modern times based on pre-conceived notions and behaviors of people; one example being the way African-Americans were viewed and the changes in their music, and the way they used music.

The study of music during this time period will be used as a motivational device and a memory aid in helping students learn and remember the events and people of the pre-civil war and the Civil war era.

Canciones de Aztlan:
Tejano Music and Sounds of the Chicano Southwest

David Salmon Ornelas Jr.

This curriculum is designed to expose students to the geographic, social, and musical history of the American Southwest and most specifically of the Hispanic lineage of the region.

The overall intent is to have students gain a greater understanding of their immediate world and their place in it by tracing the history and evolution of the regional music of their home. From Mexican mariachi music to New Mexico folk, from nortena/conjunto to modern tejano, the history of Hispanic music as reflective of a social identity of a people will be explored. Expressed in a continuous cycle of a dialectic of conflict, the music of Mexico and its evolutionary changes within the United States will be reviewed as social indicators of historical, contemporary, and future society.

Marked by the entrance of the Spanish Conquistadores into the lives of the Aztec people, the myriad influences of the people and music of the Southwest will be reviewed both for their destructive wakes and their innovative creations.

Why Study African American Music?
A United States History Unit

Julianne Sanchez

This unit is written for teachers of 8th grade United States social studies. It is a unit designed to incorporate early African-American music throughout the study of United States’ history, incorporating the theme of resilience. The first parts describe the population of Washington Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the basic genres used in the unit, and the musical terminology necessary for educated discussions. The genre information and musical terminology should be taught throughout the study of U.S. history prior to implementation of this unit. The resource list, at the end of the unit, includes appropriate resources for this approach. The second parts of this unit describe the history of African-American music from its African origins through American slavery, with suggested implementation strategies, including journal topics, music, vocabulary, classroom activities, review, and assessment. Overall, the unit is easily adaptable to available resources and teacher’s knowledge.

  New Mexico Music Now and Then

Holly M. Stasi

Music serves as a tool for teachers to utilize in order to enhance curriculum. In this unit, students will learn basic knowledge about the history of music in New Mexico and the cultural impact it makes. Musical traditions and their origin will be discussed. The focus begins on Native American music, transitions to matachines, and ends with New Mexican folk music. Fascinating examples of Native American music and folk songs are included for students to experience. Enjoy your journey through New Mexico’s music!

Rebels and Innovators

Sal Treppiedi

This unit is designed to be a nine-week project. The goals of this curriculum unit are:

1.      The understanding that music has played a major role in our society. Musicians have been agents of change in many areas of our society including politics, education, and moral standards. Students will discuss the definition of a rebel and an innovator and relate it to people in society.

2.      To understand that students can also be agents of change. Young people can choose to make changes in a positive manner by use of their voices and ideas.

In this unit, we will examine the lives and music of eleven musicians who changed the face of music either through their music or their ideas. We will also view videos to get a historical perspective as well as examine what was occurring around the world at the high points of their careers. Through this exercise, students will determine how society may or may not have affected their music.