21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation

 

21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation

[Today’s article was written by Gena Mayo and is part of the 31 Days of Music in Our Homeschool Series.]

Last year my kids were in a wonderful homeschool co-op using the curriculum Tapestry of Grace. It’s a classical education approach which uses history as the spine for the other humanities, such as literature and art and music appreciation. It’s for grades Kindergarten through 12th grade (plus we have nursery and preschool classes). The time period last year was the 20th Century. As I was preparing the summer before I realized that I really wanted the kids to have the opportunity to really explore the music of the 20th Century, so I wrote a curriculum called 21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation and taught it!

How I Used It:

Each week I taught a 20-minute lesson to the Grammar students (grades K-6th) and the Dialectic/Rhetoric students (7th-12th grades). I usually had a particular style in mind (such as ragtime or big band) or a specific composer I wanted the kids to know about (such as George Gershwin or John Williams). I taught the lesson (which was typed out in the curriculum) and spent most of the time playing musical examples from YouTube links. It was super easy to teach, and I really think the kids enjoyed it!

I provided the younger students with a coloring sheet (usually of an instrument) that I found on the internet, and the older kids were given two notebooking pages (one to fill out about the composer and his style and works and the other to fill out while listening to one of the musical examples). The two notebooking pages are included in the curriculum.

21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation

21 Lessons for 20th Century American Music Appreciation is also perfect for teaching at home or for older kids to do on their own. Instructions are included on how it can be used for high school credit.

I divided the curriculum into two parts in order to get it ready to sell. This first volume is just of the American composers of the 20th Century. The second volume will include 20th Century composers of Europe and South America and is expected to be ready in April 2016.

Head over to I Choose Joy! to see a video review and download a sample of the curriculum.

See the Table of Contents here:

Table of Contents:

Introduction to 20^th Century Music

Lesson 1……………………………………………………………….John Phillip Sousa (Marches)

Lesson 2……………………………………Scott Joplin (Ragtime) and Fats Waller (Stride Piano)

Lesson 3………………………………………………………………………………..……..Blues

Lesson 4…………………………………..….Jazz (Dixieland, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington)

Lesson 5…………………………………… ……George Gershwin (Folk Opera: Porgy and Bess)

Lesson 6…………………………..…………..Gian Carlo Menotti (Amahl and the Night Visitors)

Lesson 7…………………………………..….….George Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue and songs)

Lesson 8…………………………………………..……………………………….Big Band Music

Lesson 9…………………………………………..……………………………….…..Charles Ives

Lesson 10…………………………………………………..……………………….Aaron Copland

Lesson 11………………………………………………………..…………………….Ferde Grofe

Lesson 12…………………………………………………..….…….Musical Theater Before 1965

Lesson 13……………………………………………………………….Rock and Roll Beginnings

Lesson 14………………………………………………………..…..Irving Berlin and Cole Porter

Lesson 15………………………………………………………..……….…Jazz (Bebop and Cool)

Lesson 16…………………………………………………Folk Music (Woody Guthrie and others)

Lesson 17…………………………………………….…………………………..Leonard Bernstein

Lesson 18………………………………………………………..…………………..John Williams

Lesson 19……………………………………………………………….……….………John Cage

Lesson 20…………………………………………………………………………….…Philip Glass

Lesson 21…………………….Musical Theater after 1965 (Stephen Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz)

Appendix……………………………………………………Further Study and Notebooking pages

 

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