Folk

Blues

Jazz

Age of Commercialized Music

Texts

American Roots Music

Ken Burns, Jazz

PBS History of Rock and Roll

Topics

Oral Tradition, Story Telling, Ballads, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Bob Dylan, Spirituals

Delta Blues, Chicago Blues, 12 Bar Format, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, Gospel, Thomas Dorsey

Ragtime, Swing, Be-bop, Free Jazz, Various Vocalists and Instrumentalists of Each Genre

Early R&B, Early Rock, Motown, Soul, Funk, British Invasion, Psychedelic Rock, Hip-Hop-Modern R&B and Rap, Rock in the 80's-today

Skills

Playing a 12 Bar Blues Bass Line on the Piano in C major, F major and G major, Writing Lyrics in a 12 Bar Style

Improvisation in the C Blues Scale, Basic Steps and Turns in Swing Dance

Writing About Musical Styles, Active Listening

Coached Projects

Students will write a blues song using the tradition 12 bar format for lyrics. After writing the lyrics students will have the opportunity to workshop their lyrics into a full song.

Students will learn the concept of improvisation by taking the Blues bass lines they learned from the last unit and learning the C blues scale. Students will then use the notes of the C blues scale over the 12 Bar bass line to create their own improvisation.

Students will complete a project researching the biography and musical history of an early R&B/Rock and Roll musician of the 1950's.

Students will create an influence tree for a favorite musician, and trace their musician's influences back at least 3 decades.