Jana P.

Leonard
Lesson Plan
American Music

Introduction

 Music in America in the Early 1920s (Copland/Gershwin)

 Length of Lesson (90 minutes)
 USII 6. The student will demonstrate knowledge of the social, economic, and
technological changes of the early twentieth century by
c) examining art, literature, and music from the 1920s and 1930s, with emphasis on
Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Georgia O‟Keeffe, and the Harlem
Renaissance.

Learning Objectives

1. Students will understand the origins of Jazz and its connection with the Harlem
Renaissance;
2. Students will be able to identify those characteristics of Jazz than separated it from
classical music of the day;
3. Students will be able to identify works by Copland and Gershwin that uniquely defined
the American culture of the time;
4. Students will develop an understanding of the role of music in popular culture and the
historic context.

Teaching and Learning Sequence

 Introduction/Anticipatory Set –

Building on prior knowledge, teacher will ask students about the things that were
happening at the turn of the 20th century. This will help place the music both
contextually and sequentially:

1. What was happening in America in the early 1900‟s?

a. Prohibition
b. Movement of African Americans into the northern industrial centers
c. Roaring 20s
d. Massive Immigration

2. How would this have affected music?

a. People coming from other countries bringing in their folk music;
b. spread of African Music (evolving into Jazz);
c. Less formal events/opportunities to listen to music. Phonograph, radio,
increased movement throughout the country. Between 1923 and 1930, 60%
of American households bought radios.

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Lesson Plan
American Music

 Lesson Development- Teacher will play excerpts of music and discuss the music and its
context, as well as the key figures with the students.

A. Audio 1 – Classic (Claude Debussy: Clair de Lune, Danse Tarantelle;

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on the Theme from Paganini)
1. What images come to mind when you hear this music?
2. Do you have any ideas about the people who listened to this kind of music?
Wrote and performed this kind of music?
3. Explain the origin and time frame of the music; the types of typical
performances.
a. Prior to the invention and spread of the radio, music usually fell into 2
categories, folk/religious/spiritual music that was indigenous to particular
communities or nationalities and classical – that which was composed and
performed for royalty and upper classes in concert halls.
b. Average people had little access to performed classical music.
c. Many folk songs and tunes centered around religion or work – rhythmic
music designed to keep time for labor.
i. Certainly the music of African Americans in the southern states fell
into this category;
ii. However, most other immigrant groups also had their own music,
played on more portable, less expensive instruments than a piano or
harp.

4. All of those things that were happening – movement to the cities, increase in
leisure time, movement of people throughout the country, spread of mass
communication in the form of radio – had an impact on the American musical
scene. Popular music (music that the mass of Americans could enjoy)
established a stronghold. The very diversity of America contributed to the
rise of several uniquely American forms of music. America began to develop
its own form of culture, less reliant on European traditions. We start to see
American composers and artists who, after training in Europe, returned to
America and were affected by various aspects of American culture – melting
pot, expansion (US is bigger that countries of Western Europe); less class
distinction and more varied scenery.

B. Jazz (Presentation with Audios)

1. The Blues – Audio 1 (Ray Henderson: Birth of the Blues; Ma Rainey:
Black Bottom Blues, Blame it on the Blues; Bessie Smith: I Ain‟t Got
Nobody, The Saint Louis Blues).
a. The blues came out of the south, having their origins in African
American spirituals and work songs.
b. Generally a call, a call back and then a response; using 1st, 2d, 3d,
5th chords
c. Instruments: banjo, harmonica & guitar;

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Lesson Plan
American Music

d. Ma Rainey – The Mother of Blues (from Georgia)

1) Ma Rainey was known for her very powerful vocal
abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a
„moaning‟ style of singing similar to folk tradition. Though
her powerful voice and disposition are not captured on her
recordings, the other characteristics are present, and most
evident on her early recordings, Bo-weevil Blues and
Moonshine Blues. Ma Rainey also recorded with Louis
Armstrong in addition to touring and recording with the
Georgia Jazz Band. Ma Rainey continued to tour until 1935
when she retired to her hometown.
2) Made over 100 recordings;
e. Bessie Smith – The Empress of the Blues (from Tennessee)
1) Over 160 recordings
2) Toured with Ma Rainey
3) Vaudeville, Broadway, films
f. What is different about the Blues compared to the classical music
we just listened to?
g. To whom do you think the Blues would appeal?

2. Dixieland – Audio 2 (John Harold Kander: All that Jazz; Original Dixie
land Jazz Band: Tiger Rag, Original Dixieland One-Step; Louis
Armstrong: Basin Street Blues, When the Saints Go Marchin‟ In)
a. New Orleans
b. The style combined earlier brass band marches, French Quadrilles,
ragtime and blues with collective, polyphonic improvisation.
c. While instrumentation and size of bands can be very flexible, the
"standard" band consists of a "front line" of trumpet/cornet,
trombone and clarinet, with a rhythm section of at least two of the
following: guitar or banjo, string bass or Tuba, piano and drums;
d. Louis Armstrong (New Orleans, Chicago and Harlem)
1) Grew up in NO
2) Moved to Chicago in 1922 – joined Joe „King‟ Oliver‟s
Creole Jazz Band;
3) Played with both jazz bands and traditional orchestras,
recorded with all including blues singers Ma Rainey and
Bessie Smith;

3. Chicagoland Jazz – Audio 3 (Irving Berlin: Alexander‟s Ragtime Band,

Puttin‟ on the Ritz; George Gershwin: Fascinating Rhythm, I Got Rhythm)
a. Chicago;
b. Faster more up pace beat;
c. Substitute guitar for banjo and string bass for tuba
d. More „swing style‟

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Lesson Plan
American Music

e. George and Ira Gershwin:

1) George composer; Ira lyricist;
2) Composed for classical orchestras but also Broadway
3) Many compositions became jazz classics

4. Harlem Jazz – Audio 4 (Jelly Roll Morton: Wolverine Blues, Ham &
Eggs; Duke Ellington: Sentimental Journey, It Don‟t Mean a Thing)
a. Harlem, NY
b. Add in piano for Harlem Stride Style
c. Apollo Theatre
d. Cotton Club
e. Duke Ellington – jazz, gospel, big band, popular, swing
1) Composer, pianist, big band leader;
2) Raised in D.C.;
3) Friends nicknamed him „Duke‟ when he was a boy due to
his good manners and bearing;
4) Best known as the lead group at the Cotton Club in NY,
toured Europe
5. Additional questions for discussion:
a. So what images come to mind when you hear the blues and jazz?
b. What differences do you hear between the blues and jazz?
c. Why is this style of music so appropriate for its time?
d. Do you think that the rise of the blues and jazz played a role in
racial integration in this country? How?

C. Copland – Audio 5 (Rodeo: Hoedown, Appalachian Spring: Allegro, Appalachian

Spring: Simple Gifts, Rodeo: Buckaroo; Fanfare for the Common Man)
1. Changing pace, Copland‟s pieces combined elements of classical and folk
music;
2. Some of the most well enduring pieces of music – evocative of the
American landscape;
3. Dean of American Composers
4. Believed to be a communist sympathizer
5. Questions for discussion:
a. Have you heard any of these pieces before? (Beef, its what for
dinner commercial; fanfare for the common man);
b. What images come to mind when you hear this music?
c. How different from jazz?

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Lesson Plan
American Music

D. Conclusion:

Teacher will help students begin to make real-world connections through a series
of questions:
1. What are some popular types of music today?
2. What do you think this music says about what is happening in our world?

Homework

ASSIGNMENT: Each student will select a song or musical number and write a 5 paragraph
essay. The essay should contain both introductory and conclusory paragraphs. The essay should
identify the time in which the piece of music was popular and what about the piece is reflective
of the time and society in which it was popular.

Assessment

 Formative – During the course of the class, participation in the discussion will be noted
as a part of the formative assessment.

 Summative – Students will be graded on the paper assigned as homework. Papers will be
graded on meeting the standards of writing of an essay as well as the description of the
connection between the piece chosen and period in which it was popular.

References

1920s. www.southernmusic.net. (downloaded 11/17/2010).

AARON COPLAND. www.essentialsofmusic.com/copland.html. (downloaded 11/17/2010.)

Aaron Copland About the Composer. www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/aaron-

copland/about-the-composer/475/ . (downloaded 11/17/2010.)

About Duke Ellington. www.dukeellington.com/aboutduke.html. (downloaded 11/17/2010.)

Bessie Smith. www.redhotjazz.com/bessie.html. (downloaded 11/17/2010.)

Claude-Achille Debussy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy. (downloaded

11/17/2010.)

Early, G. Black Migration. www.pbs.org/jazz/places/faces_migration.htm (downloaded

11/15/2010)

The Growth of Jazz. http://www.jazz123.info/the-growth-of-jazz-music.php

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Lesson Plan
American Music

Lewis, T. “A Godlike Presence”: The Impact of Radio on the 1920s and 1930s. OAH Magazine
of History 6 (Spring 1992).

Louis Armstrong. www.louisarmstronghouse.org. (downloaded 11/17/2010.)

Ma Rainey. www.redhotjazz.com/rainey.html. (downloaded 11/17/2010.)

The Official George & Ira Gershwin Website. www.gershwin.com (downloaded 11/17/2010.)

Radio in the 1920s. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug00/3on1/radioshow/1920radio.htm.

(downloaded November 15, 2010)

Musical References:

Audio 1: Clair de Lune (Claude De Bussy)

Danse Tarantelle (Claude De Bussy)
Rhapsody on the Theme from Paganini (Sergei Rachmaninoff)

Audio 2: Birth of the Blues (performed by Della Reese)

Black Bottom Blues (performed by Ma Rainey)
Blame it on the Blues (performed by Ma Rainey)
I Ain‟t Got Nobody (performed by Bessie Smith)
St. Louis Blues (performed by Bessie Smith)

Audio3: All That Jazz (performed by Bebe Neuworth)

Tiger Rag (performed by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band)
Original Dixieland One Step (performed by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band)
Basin Street Blues (performed by Louis Armstrong)
When the Saints Go Marchin‟ In (performed by Louis Armstrong)

Audio 4: Alexander‟s Ragtime Band (Irving Berlin)

Puttin‟ on the Ritz (Irving Berlin)
I Got Rhythm (George Gershwin)
Fascinating Rhythm (George Gershwin)

Audio 5: Black Bottom Stomp (Jelly Roll Morton)

Ham & Eggs (Jelly Roll Morton)
Sentimental Journey (Duke Ellington)
Don‟t Mean a Thing (Duke Ellington)

Audio 6: Rodeo: Hoedown (Aaron Copland)

Appalachian Spring: Allegro (Aaron Copeland)
Appalachian Spring: Simple Gifts (Aaron Copland)
Fanfare for the Common Man (Aaron Copland)