Brief Description

It does not come as a surprise to any one who has studied music that music is a very powerful tool for teaching.  This lesson focuses on the music and times of the 1960’s.  Although it is in an abbreviated form, it is a beginning to help students understand that most music is directly influenced by what is happening in the world around the composer.  The 1960’s are a very complicated time in American history if not in World history.  There were many changing attitudes including the end of McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, and the War in Vietnam.  The music of this time era is a revealing barometer of society, reflecting the diverse moods and views of the American public, especially the young people.  During this time not only did music reflect upon the social changes, but folk music and later on rock music, and the people who performed it were very influential in bringing about social change.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 5T-E1. Locate information from electronic resources electronic resources, including Internet resources

• 2AM-E1. Analyze the uses of dynamics, pitch, duration, melodic contour, structure, timbre, and tempo in aural examples representing diverse genres and culture

• Content Standard 6:  Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
• Content Standard 7:  Evaluating music and music performances
• Content Standard 8:  Understanding relationships between music and the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

Academic

• Students will listen critically to and determine the mood, tempo and the tone of the music
• Students will identify and assess social and political attitudes and beliefs of the 1960’s and how it was expressed in popular music.
• Students will learn to describe distinguishing characteristics of representative music genres and styles from a variety of cultures.
• Students will gain an understanding of the controversial and complex nature of the era and how it has shaped their current lives.

• Students will use the Internet to locate several sources of information about the 1960’s and determine if the website is valuable.
• Students will identify their resource, the author, copyright date and publisher in a classroom presentation.

• Basic Internet browsing
• Word Processing
• Inspiration

• Computer(s) with Internet access and midi capability
• Inspiration (not really necessary)
• PowerPoint or similar presentation program
• CD and Tape player with music of your choices (this is only necessary if you can’t find the music examples on the Internet)

SEI STUDENTS:  These students may be paired up with another student who can help them read the directions as well as create the Inspiration diagram with them.  They should be given the opportunity to type some of the information and learn how to create a diagram.

ADHD/ADD STUDENTS: Break task into small parts and provide frequent feedback to ensure successful progress towards the completed project.

REACH STUDENTS:  Reach students might want to learn how to insert images and download mp3 files to be used in their Inspiration diagram.

Procedures

DAY 1:  This unit can be introduced in several different ways.  You could introduce it with a film such as “Rock: The Beat Goes On,” or “From Satchmo to Sousa,” or you could have a discussion and play selections of music performed by some of the musical groups involved in popular music of the 1960’s. Following the introduction explain to the students that they will be involved in creating a timeline of popular music from the 1960’s to be displayed on the classroom wall.

DAY 2 and 3:  To be able to create the time line the students will need to investigate the following information:

• The musical groups involved.
• The special elements of the sound of various musical groups.
• The instruments used to produce rock and roll music.
• The historical events which affected the music.


They may access the information by going to the Internet and using a search engine and type in a subject or a keyword.  We will have a discussion on what the difference is and what results occurred with each.  What you will find is that there is so much information it is overwhelming!  Because I am using this lesson with younger students and I am on a very limited time schedule, I choose to browse ahead and limit the web sites for the children. I organized the students into partners and gave each group a two-year frame and a list of artists to research.

These are the sites that we found to be the most useful:
 
 

http://www.rockhall.com/	This site is full of information about musical artists.
http://www.yesterdayland.com/	This site is full of information about music, movies, television, fashion, and organized into decades.  It is also linked with sites that will give you sound bites of the music.
http://www.loc.gov/	Library of Congress Home page. Lots of historical information and pictures.
http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/decade60.html	An excellent site about the history. Lots of pictures.
http://www.historychannel.com/cgi-	Wonderful site with history by the century or decade.  Not just U.S.
http://www.historyplace.com/	Lots of information and pictures.

You could use these URL’s in a couple of different ways.  You could have the students type them into the URL box, bookmark them, or you could create a mini WebQuest.

In the small groups, the students will be gathering historical facts, images and sound files from the Internet.  You can have the students use a program like “Inspiration” to diagram and organize their information.  This program allows them to insert the images and sound files.

If you don’t have the convenience of a program like this you can have the students take their notes either on paper or have them use a word processing program. The notes will be used to create the timeline.

Assessment

Students will be evaluated with a rubric.  The rubric is saved  on the rubistar web site http://rubistar.4teachers.org  # 754954.
 

Teacher Name: Marcie Young
Site: Rio Vista
Date Submitted: March 22, 2003