Offers biographical details on successful Top 40 group, The Yardbirds, 1992 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Includes a timeline of key events and essential songs list.

Best known for one of the greatest dance crazes of all time, 'The Twist', which he first recorded in 1960. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, Ballard "helped define the sound of rock and roll".

A great songwriter and performer of folk, country, and rock and roll music, Neil Young has had a successful career both with groups such as "Buffalo Springfield", "Crosby, Stills and Nash", and "Crazy Horse" and also as a solo artist....

Offers interesting biographical details on jazz musician, Louis Armstrong, a 1990 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Includes a timeline of key events and essential songs list.

Offers interesting biographical details on "Mother of the Blues", Ma Rainey, a 1990 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Includes a timeline of key events and essential songs list.

From Robert Frost's 'Mending Wall' to Pink Floyd's 'The Wall,' humankind erects and maintains real and symbolic barriers to protect and defend opposing stances, beliefs and territories. Examples of real walls in history have been the...

Read biographical information about Hall of Famer, Dion, who had ten Top Ten songs in his career.

Read background information and the history of the music of the popular Grammy award winning band of the 1970s, Earth, Wind, & Fire.

Extremely popular from 1956-1961, the Coasters were a black vocal group with Jewish songwriters. Their music, which was a mixture of rhythm & blues, comedy and rock & roll, dominated the music scene of that time.

A brief biography of Ray Charles. Includes a timeline of his life and a list of his biggest hits.

As educators, the goal of developing learners into discerning, critical viewers may enable them to negotiate with more confidence through the treacherous waters of today's multimedia. Studying the various viewpoints as expressed in...

Students are aware of most their personal rights and freedoms. However, many have not critically evaluated the significance of the Bill of Rights and are unaware that the Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government from 1791...

From being viewed as a fad, hip-hop's commercial success has allowed it to permeate virtually all aspects of popular culture. By critically analyzing hip-hop music and comparing it with established music forms, the cultural relevance,...

The women's liberation movement of the 1970s is suffering a tremendous backlash and is frequently viewed as obsolete. Many young people feel as though feminism is irrelevant and sexism no longer impacts their lives. Through the...

The Republican era of Ronald Reagan and George Bush had to deal with difficult foreign affair events. Reagan dealt with terrorism, including hostage taking and gundowns, particularly from Libya. Bush dealt with aggression on the part of...

Rap music and hip-hop were the pop music of the nineties. Students of all ages liked to mimic the rappers they listened to on CD's, tapes, and the radio. This lesson builds on students' interest in rap music as well as their enjoyment of...

Jimi Hendrix's 'The Wind Cries Mary' is an ideal song, not just to illustrate personification, but also to demonstrate how poetic devices enhance the meaning of the poem. As soon as the students recognize that the speaker is mourning the...

One of the most important concepts in economics, particularly macroeconomics, is unemployment. Indeed, much time is devoted in both classrooms and textbooks to discussing the unemployment problem. When used together with the traditional...

By examining the lives and lyrics of popular, positive black female rappers such as Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill, students can trace a direct line back to the inspirational writer and poet, Maya Angelou. Rap lyrics will help explicate...

I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die-Rag' by Country Joe McDonald has been played with great success in classrooms for over twenty years. While it conveys literary elements such as theme, point of view, and irony, it also functions as an...

Many adolescent boys are consumed by theLed Zeppelinsong 'Stairway to Heaven.' The analysis of this song can be used to interest learners in the music of the Renaissance minstrels. It will also serve as a means of making students aware...

Rock music can serve as a way to increase student interest in the curriculum, and a way to help learners make sense of who they are and what their place is in the world, so asking students to bring in their own music to teach each other...

This activity uses music from three different areas of the world and three different time periods in the 20th century to address the issue of civil rights for black populations.

As part of a general music class for 6th and 7th graders, various instruments are introduced. This lesson exposes students to the various timbres produced by the saxophone using popular, contemporary music.