History of American Popular Music

Susan Minor
sminor@nbsc.org
Nashoba Brooks School of Concord

TI:ME Technology Areas Addressed:

Internet
Information Processing

Level:

Middle School

Class:

General Music

Equipment:

Duration:

45 Minutes

Prior Knowledge and Skills:

How to use key words to do research on the Internet.
Library skills.

MENC Standards Addressed:

MENC 6: Listening to, analyzing and describing music.
MENC 8: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
MENC 9: Understanding Music in Relation to History and Culture

Materials:

record/tape/CD/video/DVD players

Objectives:

To make history “come alive” by researching popular culture iby decades, from present day, back to mid-1800s.The objective is to see how popular music reflects the times from which it comes, and we can get a glimpse of the past through hit songs of the day.

Each student (or pair of students) is assigned a decade they will research for the following: major world events, cultural climate in US, popular books, plays, dances, and of course, popular music.

Procedures:

Each student presentation takes an entire class.We start with the present and work backwards in time. Students design posters/videos for visual presentation. Popular snngs are listed, listend to, and often sung. Then, discussion on how music has changed from the previous decade: lyrics, melodies, style, tempo.

Evaluation:

Evaluation is based on how the student(s) followed the rubrics set up in the assignment.

Students also evaluate each other’s projects.

Follow Up:

Classical music composed in each decade, beginning with today and working backwards.

Prepare and perform music from each decade.