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Curriculum

African-American music is not just feel-good music produced through a multi-billion dollar industry – it is an original American art form. Our mission is to provide opportunities to experience and appreciate the richness of Black music through educational programs for youth.

Music Moves is proud to partner with Dr. Jeffrey Murdock at the University of Arkansas as we roll out a 7-week lesson plan and on-site presentations to educate students on the history of Black music in America and how it relates to music today.  We invite educators to contact us for more information on how we can get this program to you and your students!

Music Moves Education

Curriculum (9th-12th grade)

Lesson 1 - Call and Response

Lesson 1 - Call and Response

Lesson Title: LESSON 1: Call and Response
Materials: Internet Connection, Computer, Screen, Audio Speakers
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify call and response in various genres and understand the significance of call and response relative to Black slave music.
Overview: Call and response is a technique used in music, in which a 'call' by one voice or instrument is responded to by other voices or instruments during a song. Call and response is used in many different cultures, including Native American, African, and the jugalbandi style of music in India. Call-and-response music influenced many modern forms of music, including jazz, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues.

Lesson 2 - Make A Drum

Lesson 2 - Make A Drum

Lesson Title: LESSON 2: Make a Drum
Materials:

Oatmeal Containers, Rubber Bands, Scissors, Balloons
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to make a drum from an oatmeal container and maintain a steady beat using different styles/genres of music.
Overview: In this lesson, students will make their own from household materials.  

Lesson 3 - Talking Drum

Lesson 3 - Talking Drum

Lesson Title: LESSON 3: Talking Drum
Materials: Djembe Drums, Congas, Desktop or Box (for drumming)Note Chart (blown up or projected on screen)
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify different types of African Drums and the ways they were used in West Africa prior to the slave trade.
Overview: In this lesson, students will look at some of the more common types of African drums and learn a little about their shape and sound. Additionally, students will learn how to play one of the most well-known drum types (djembe).

Lesson 4 - Coded Messages

Lesson 4 - Coded Messages

Lesson Title: LESSON 4: Coded Messages
Materials: Internet Connection, Computer, Screen, Audio Speakers
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify coded messages in songs, and the ways in which such coded messages were beneficial during the underground railroad.
Overview: The Underground Railroad was not a physical railroad, but rather a secret system of paths, safe houses, and people that helped slaves escape from the South in the years before the Civil War. It likely started up around 1830 and continued until slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865. No one specific organization or leader took charge of the Underground Railroad, though there were famous figures who were part of it, like Harriet Tubman. Many of the people who wanted slavery to end, also known as abolitionists, participated in helping slaves make their way to freedom.

Lesson 5 - The Gospel Truth

Lesson 5 - The Gospel Truth

Lesson Title: LESSON 5: The Gospel Truth
Materials:
Internet Connection, Computer, Screen, Audio Speakers –Gospel Lyric Handouts. Teacher should prepare with this presentation by Dr. Jeffrey Murdock: 
 
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify the differences (in origin and performance practice) between Gospel Music and Spirituals. 
Overview: Gospel music not only reflects the rich culture and heritage of African-Americans, but is symbolic of the trials and triumphs of the nation. The gospel music that had once functioned as a form of worship music traditionally sung by a choir has now evolved into a separate billion-dollar media industry. Many great gospel pioneers such as Thomas Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, and James Cleveland have inspired generations of artists across the gospel music spectrum. While there are many styles of gospel music, the message of hope remains a constant force that listeners continue to cherish and celebrate throughout the world.

Lesson 6 - Blues

Lesson 6 - Blues

Lesson Title: LESSON 6: Blues
Materials:
Internet Connection, Computer, Screen, Audio Speakers –Gospel Lyric Handouts. Supplementary website on Arkansas Blues. 
https://www.arkansas.com/articles/blues-history-arkansas 
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify the characteristics of the blues, identify the 12 bar blues form, and compose a 12 bar blues of their own.
Overview: This lesson enables students to gain a broader awareness of the basic blues scale and the harmonic structure of the standard blues progression. Students will be given introductory exercises on blues improvisation and will also investigate the use of bending and sliding pitches and their importance in both the understanding and performance of blues music.

Lesson 7 - Jazz

Lesson 7 - Jazz

Lesson Title: LESSON 7: Jazz
Materials: Internet Connection, Computer, Screen, Audio Speakers –Gospel Lyric Handouts.
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify the characteristics of jazz (Such as syncopation and swing) and instruments associated with jazz band style. 
Overview: Jazz is an American musical style characterized by improvisation, flexibility, and spontaneity. It is based in African-American rhythms, incorporated into more mainstream American melodies and reflecting casual attitudes. Really, it's difficult to define, but most jazz music does share common elements. Syncopation, the emphasis on off-beats, produces an unexpected division of rhythm.Many jazz musicians also rely on swing, an informal alteration to normal durations of notes to create a sense of rhythm. Jazz music emphasizes flexibility and freedom, so it has expanded into dozens of variations and styles, but due to its roots in African-American music, it has also been closely connected to racial issues in the United States. Regardless, jazz music has been a major part of American history, no matter how you define it.

Lesson 8 - Hip Hop

Lesson 8 - Hip Hop

Lesson Title: LESSON 8: Hip Hop
Materials: Internet Connection, Computer, Screen, Audio Speakers –Gospel Lyric Handouts.
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify the characteristics of Hip Hop and compose their own hip hop lyrics. 
Overview: Hip hop is mostly affiliated with the black American youth and young adults, although the umbrella is constantly expanding to include additional races and ethnicities. Hip hop music is characterized by words that are conveyed in a rapid and rhyming manner over electronic or instrumental music. The hip hop subculture can be characterized by people who love rap and truly identify with the message of racial struggles and poverty that is conveyed through hip hop music. The subculture's four defining activities are disc-jockeying, breakdancing, graffiti art, and rapping. The birthplace of hip hop music was in the crime-ridden, poor neighborhoods of the Bronx, NY, in the early 1970s, where black youth would entertain at neighborhood block parties by rapping and DJing. The values of the hip hop subculture include genuineness, honesty, loyalty, and creative expression.

Lesson 9 - R&B

Lesson 9 - R&B

Lesson Title: LESSON 9: R&B
Materials: Internet Connection, Computer, Screen, Audio Speakers –Gospel Lyric Handouts.
Time: 45 minutes
Student Accommodations: Preferred seating for visual/hearing impaired students.
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify the history and evolution of R&B. 
Overview: Rhythm and Blues (abbreviated R&B) is a term used to describe the blues-influenced form of music which has been predominantly performed by African-Americans since the late 1930s.  In recent decades, It has become a blanket term to encompass many different kinds of Black music that does not fall into other, more specific categories. 
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