Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...

Jazz and the City, Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, Jazz and Gender, Jazz and Literature, Jazz and the Arts, Jazz and Film. Here's a packet of unit plans organized around themes that reflect American culture. Each unit examines how...

Ray Charles used the pain and adversity from his life to influence an entire genre of American music. Learn about the musician's daily life, struggles and success, and powerful musical style with a thorough resource.

What's the most popular music style in Brazil? What about Cuba? Or the Dominican Republic? An immersive project teaches young learners about the salsa, the samba, and the merengue with research assignments and dance performances.

Using the painting, Childhood Idyll for inspiration, learners reflect on things that are idealized. They focus in on pop music and pop idols, write a song, and perform it in front of the class, American Idol style.

Students examine artwork by Thomas Hart Benton. In this interdisciplinary lesson plan, students analyze the painting The Sources of Country Music, listen to folk music, and examine how recording technology and the movies shaped the...

American music is the result of the influence of many cultures, including the traditions brought by the African slaves. Young scholars study the polyrhythms, the call-and-response format, and the vocal improvisations of the Gullah...

Students describe some of the distinguishing characteristics of rock, folk, blues, and country music. They identify two main musical roots of today's American popular music.

Third graders complete a unit of lessons on the singing, instruments, and dancing of Native Americans. They identify and play various instruments, complete worksheets, define key vocabulary, sing songs, and perform dances.

Fifth graders learn about this history of jazz music. In this musical influences lesson, 5th graders read God Bless the Childand listen to a recording of it. Students create a KWL chart on jazz and early 1900s music and dance. Students...

Young scholars, utilizing video clips and Web sites, compare specific passages from original texts to moments in Broadway musicals on which they were based, analyzing similarities and differences between them. They adapt literature into...

Students survey bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. They explore how bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop reflected American culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s.

Learners survey free jazz and fusion. They explore how free jazz and fusion reflected American culture and society in the 1960s and 1970s.

To better understand Oklahoma state history, learners will use a website to find a song that supports or represents aspects of Oklahoma's history. They'll write three sentences defending their choice, and then they will create...

Students research three African-American musicians and compose a report based upon their research in this Music Appreciation activity for the middle level classroom. The activity could be adapted for various student levels and abilities.

Students discover film making by participating in a music performance.  In this performance arts lesson, students perform music and physical acting to convey an already written script for their peers.  Students collaborate with...

Pupils experience the aesthetics of music and learn about freedom songs that motivated the Civil Rights activists. In this music history activity, students learn how music can motivate and move listeners. Pupils then describe how sharing...

Students view part of a video about advocating for music education. They discuss the importance of supporting music education in schools and create a presentation for the PTO, a news release about a local music event and/or scripts for a...

Students examine the role of men in the American Ballet Theatre. In this ballet instructional activity, students watch segments of the Great Performances video "Dance in America: Born to be Wild: The Leading Men of the American Ballet...

Learners discover how storytelling can shape a person's tradition.Students examine different methods of storytelling such as music, biographies, and African folktales. They then demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling by writing...

Pupils examine 19th century life for African-Americans. In this slavery lesson, students analyze the lyrics of slave songs and present their findings to their classmates.

High schoolers discover the group dynamics necessary to produce an American musical in this six day lesson. Themes and characterization techniques are explored during collaborative small group research projects.

Students investigate the history of country music. They explore various websites, identify the different types of country music, read about members of the Country Music Hall of Fame on their official website, and answer discussion...

Students gain an understanding of early jazz. They study Dixieland and the Roaring Twenties. They examine the American historical significance and cultural implications of early jazz.