Brief Description

Students will explore the lives of various jazz musicians. They will become familiar with the social and historical events that were present during the lives of these individuals. They will listen to the music of the artists and become knowledgeable about their styles. This activity will culminate in the production of a news/talk show created and performed by the students highlighting the lives of these musical figures.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 3T-E2 Use a variety of technology tools for data collection and analysis
• 3T-E3 Publish and present information using technology tools
• 4T-E2. Use technology tools for individual and collaborative writing, communication and publishing activities to create curricular related products for audiences inside and outside the classroom

• 2AM-P2. Identify sources of American music genres (e.g., blues, Broadway musical, swing, gospel), trace the evolution of those genres, and cite well-known musicians in each.
• 3AM-E2. Describe ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with music.

Academic

• Students will listen to, analyze, and describe music.
• Students will gain an understanding of and discuss music in relation to history and culture.
• Students will design their own rubric to judge their theatre arts skills.
• Students will develop their general skills and strategies of writing as they create an interview script for performance.

• Students will use the Internet to do research, judge validity of the information on each site, and make a decision to include the information in their interview.
• Students will use a word processing program to write their script
• Students will use a PowerPoint presentation during their interview
• Students will video tape their interview and use a student generated rubric to assess their performance on the video tape

• Knows the characteristics and uses of computer hardware and software including the Internet, word processing, and PowerPoint.

• Computer(s) with Internet access, word processing, and a PowerPoint presentation software.  These will be used for an online activity, research, typing a word document and creating a Power Point presentation.
• Available library resources
• Available jazz recordings
• Available video equipment

• Using challenging materials, open-ended tasks, and small instructional groups, will allow the teacher to move among the students as they work, asking students questions and probing their thinking.
• For my SEI and special educational students I adapted the amount of material that I required from them.
• The gifted students in my room, who need less time to complete projects, were asked to be student tutors.  They helped groups develop their questions, and their Power Point presentations.
• Asking the students to choose the artist or artists allows them to select their own topic.  They will conduct their research and writing projects with the guidance and coaching from the teacher.

Students should access the PBS web site http://www.pbs.org/jazz/kids/nowthen/then-greats.html and read some of the biographical material on the seven musicians found there.  Then listen to the corresponding CD’s in the classroom or access the web sites listed in this lesson that contain sound bites of these artists’ performances.  Have the students write down the information about the artists that sparks their imaginations the most.  They will be creating a talk show later using this information.

Have the students answer these questions and they will be ready to use them to help join in the class discussion about the information they have just been exploring.

• What did these musicians share in common?
• What were the events and/or social influences that shaped their music?
• Do you share anything in common with these musicians (i.e. play the same instrument, live or have lived in the same region/city as the musician, etc.)?

• Are there any experiences in this section that they can personally relate to? What? Why?
• What comparisons can they make with the musical experiences of the students in the Now area of the PBS site and the biographies in theThen area of the PBS site?

• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/kids/nowthen/then-greats.html

A PBS kids site, to learn about Jazz!
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/kids/nowthen/now.html

A PBS kids site, where students read about other student’s musical experience.
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_davis_miles.htm

PBS website, with a biography of Miles Davis, complete with an audio clip of his playing
 
• http://www.milesdavis.com/music.htm

The Official Miles Davis Web site maintained by the Miles Davis Estate includes history, music, pictures and more.
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_holiday_billie.htm

PBS website, biography of Billie Holiday, with audio clips of her singing
 
• http://www.duke.edu/~jhg/

Johns’ page about Billie Holiday includes music, history, and pictures.
 
• http://www.redhotjazz.com/louie.html

A wonderfully informative website with pictures and audio clips of Louis Armstrong
 
• http://www.satchmo.net/thearchives/audioclips.shtm

The Official Louis Armstrong page, with home recording clips
 
• http://www.eyeneer.com/Jazz/Ornette/index.html

Biography of Ornette Coleman
 
• http://www.duke.edu/~nmd/ornette.html

Biography of Ornette Coleman, quotes and discography
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_coleman_ornette.htm

PBS website, biography of Ornette Coleman, with an audio clip of his playing
 
• http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/5066/Great site!

Pictures and music clips of Charlie Parker.
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_parker_charlie.htm

PBS website, with a biography of Charlie Parker complete with an audio clip of his playing.
 
• http://www.redhotjazz.com/dukecco.html

A great site with lots of music of Duke Ellington to listen to!
 
• http://www.dukeellington.com/

An official Duke Ellington biography website
 
• http://www.ilinks.net/~holmesr/ellington-bio.htm

A website maintained by Oxford University Press about Duke Ellingtion
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/kids/lesson/chops_and_axes.html

Lesson page to get started with lesson
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/cards/

Send a postcard to tell your friends about jazz!
 
• http://www.pbs.org/jazz/links/

Here are some jazzy sites to visit to increase your understanding and enjoyment of jazz!


Creating your talk show:

The focus of their talk show should be jazz!  My students used their class discussion notes and information that they gathered on the Internet or from their library research.  The students wrote their scripts as interviews of the contemporary jazz personalities that they researched. I had them choose one of the jazz musicians from the seven in the original PBS site to research. This was the musician that was the guest on their show. After the personalities were selected, I divided students into groups to begin researching them. (The number of personalities and students assigned to each will depend on class size and available computer access and resources.)  I used our computer lab, so I divided the students into groups of five each.

Research can be done online, at home, the library, etc. All students will contribute to the scripting of the questions used by the hosts. This will be based upon their research. Students should carefully consider the different perspectives they were exposed to in PBS Kids site and create questions that will reveal biographical, historical and social/cultural events that are prevalent in the time of the musicians life and are/were influences on their music when interviewing their musical guests. Students should have listened to (and may incorporate into the show) sound bites/recordings of the famous musician's music.

When research is completed, students will select individuals to play the parts of the musicians they have studied. A host and co-host will also be selected. Students will perform this show in an available venue (i.e. for another music class, parent, video tape, etc.)

Written research will be handed into the teacher for evaluation. This can take the form deemed appropriate by the teacher (notes collected during research citing sources, reports including resources, etc.)

• Students should have completed all assignments and actively participated in all discussions.
• Teacher assessment of student's knowledge on various musical figures through observation and anecdotal notes of performance.
• Group planning rubric and research report rubric
• Student evaluation of project using a student generated rubric.  The student rubric could include some of these questions.

1. Was enough information shared about the musician during the interview?
2. If not, what else should have been included?
3. Were audio musical examples used?
4. What were the strong points in the presentation? Weak points?
5. Suggest on area that could be improved and how you would do it?
6. What was the most outstanding/interesting thing you learned during this process?