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Notes to the Teacher

Lesson Title: THE POWER OF ROCK 'N' ROLL

The Task

Would you like to share your Rock 'N' Roll classics with friends across the world???

Your task here is to produce a web document (timewarp journal, a web page, or multimedia presentation, etc) that will show us how certain historical events in the 40's, 50's and 60's influenced the composition and development of Rock 'N' Roll. Your production will be published (and presented) as an important section of our travel brochure showcasing the evolution of different music forms. Your creation must contain the following:
 

• Introduction of yourself and how your musical interests have developed.
• A timewarp entry establishing the historical setting of the music (brief history of Rock' N'Roll: 50's, 60's,70's).
• A description your favorite groups (minimum of 3) and links to the best web sites for each.Also, a list of 5 popular bands.
• A description of two top performers from USA & UK who have been inducted into the Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame. Identify at least 2 hit songs/classics by each top performer.
• An explanation of the impact of Rock'n'Roll on modern culture.
Evaluation of your web exploration.


Curricular Area: Visual and Performing Arts - Music

Grade Level: 5-8

Length of Lesson: 3-6 weeks

Goal/Purpose:

• Develop a keen sense of music history
• Understand how music has influenced our society
• Appreciate different musical styles


School Standards
 

• Artistic Perception: students listen to and analyze music of various cultures while they develop their ability to recognize and understand the elements of music
• Historical and Cultural Context: students will understand the cultural context that gives life and meaning to the artistic expression.
• Aesthetic Valuing: students will think about and reflect on their responses to and engagement in music to develop a sense of the power and expression that music embodies.
• Creative Expression: promote the joy of music and enable students to develop their musical skills so that they become capable and intelligent performers, creators, and audience members.


Materials: technology-rich components:  computers, word processing and desktop publishing software, network, research materials, etc......

Interdisciplinary Connections: History-Social Studies, Language Arts

Prerequisite Learning: some prior knowledge of musical time periods and surrounding history would be helpful.

Suggestions:

• Give a preliminary lesson providing a brief overview of the musical genres and time periods.  Refer to PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES.
• Have students write down essential questions and outline their plan before going on to the computer for research.
• Download necessary plug-ins prior to project.(realtime players, etc)
• Seek out community members that may have personal collections from the time periods studied, and/or can share first hand experiences.
• Contact local musicians or music stores owners to be guest speakers and play music from the various time periods for your students.


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The collaborative process is relatively simple. Do not let students get overwhelmed!  Help them decide on what type of  project they want to create based upon their interests and available resources. Suggested steps to follow appear below.
 

1  Introduce yourself and your musical interests (Group Discussions, ice-breakers)

Students share anecdotes or introduce something about themselves in order to show how their musical interests have developed. Some questions you may want to use as a basis for this introduction are the following:

• What kinds of music have you been exposed to?
• Who has helped influence your musical interests?
• Do you play an instrument?
• What radio/cable stations do you enjoy?

2  Favorite groups/performers (minimum of 3)

For this section, students need to write a paragraph for each of theirr favorite groups/composers. Be sure that they include all of the following for each group/composer:

• Group's/composer's style of music
• Your favorite songs or cd titles for each group/composer
• Why you like the group/composer
• A minimum of 3 links to the best web sites for each.

For this section, student can write a coherent timewarp entry or summary explaining the development of the genre. They may begin by pursuing answers to the following questions.

• Where does Rock'N'Roll come from?
• Who were some of the early performers?
• What significant event contributed to its birth?
• What were some of the original instruments?
• How or why did the music become so popular across cultures?

• Name of country/culture
• Your own description of the people: what were they like? how did they get started?
• Why did people like their music: how did they become famous?
• What were some of their hit songs?
• Link(s) to a site(s) for each country and/or link(s) to song(s) representative of each country

5.    ROCK 'N' ROLL in Modern Culture
      Students will discuss the impact of the genre on our cultures today having completed web
          research and group discussions.

• Explain why you think rock 'n' roll is so powerful in our cultures today

6  Summary

Each student should be encouraged to summarize his or her experience working on the project (WebQuest). Some items you may want them to include are the following:

• New sites you have found
• Usefulness to you in the future
• New concepts you have learned
• New software processes you have mastered
• Sites you plan to continue to visit

Students may be evaluated on their project, their participation, and group presentation. Some criteria:

• Is the choice of time period and location appropriate to the musical genre and based on research?
• Does the project journal show how you used histoeical information to recreate the musical time period?
• Does your timewarp entry convery the significant events that influenced the music?
• Could a group of prospective travellers learn about the evolution of Rock'n'Roll from listening to your presentation and from examining all of your creations?

Conclusion

Wow! You completed your mission! Hopefully, you have been exposed to some new musical experiences on the web and you have a great music guide that you can use and continue updating in the future!
 
 

REFERENCE BOOKS

1.    Jonathan Nelson (1976).     The history of rock and roll.

2.    Mike John (1997).               Rock music in American popular culture.  Part I and
                                                     Part II.

3.    Arnold Shaw (1974).            The rockin' 50's: the decade that transformed the pop
                                                     music scene.

4.    Phillip Ennis (1992).             The seventh stream:  the emergence of rock'n'roll in
                                                        American popular music.
 

5.    Robert Santelli (1985).         Sixties rock: a listener's guide.

6.    Bruce Pollock (1984).           When the music mattered:  rock in the 1960's.

7.    Herb Hendler (1987).            Year by year in the Rock Era.

8.    Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame   Rock classics:  songs from the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of
                                                        Fame.
 

Internet

    WebQuest Resources

   http://www.ozline.com/webquests/

          Genres:

Infoseek: Music Genres

Worldwide Internet Music Resources: Genres

Yahoo! - Entertainment:Music:Genres

Artists:
Artist-specific Internet Sites

Individual Musicians (All Genres) and Popular Groups orGroups and Ensembles (Except for Popular) from Indiana University.

Infoseek: Artists and Bands

Yahoo! - Entertainment:Music:Artists

Musicology:
EUCHMI Catalogue Volume 3 contains the electronic photo gallery of the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments.

Fiske Museum Home Page contains photos of some vintage musical instruments.

Ethnic and National Music from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana University, contains links to resources on music from all over the world.

Yahoo! - Entertainment:Music:History

General Music Resources from Indiana University.

Research and Study of music, from Indiana University.

American Music Center Home Page has many links to music-related pages.

CD-Roms

• Grolier's Encyclopedia
• Microsoft's Musical Instruments
• Time Almanac
• Perspectives in Music History

Video

• Marsalis on Music: "From Sousa to Satchmo"

The Mix: "Musical Visions of America"
 
 



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