rock and roll

ROCK AND ROLL FOREVER FOUNDATION

Interdisciplinary Lessons

Welcome Letter and Founder’s Statement

Our Approach: Putting Music In Context

Teachrock Lesson on “Hound Dog”

Little Kids Rock “Hound Dog” Charts

Teachrock Lesson on “Twist And Shout”

Little Kids Rock “Twist and Shout” Charts

Teachrock Lesson on “Blowin’ in the Wind”

Little Kids Rock “Blowin’ in the Wind” Charts

Teachrock Lesson on “Chain of Fools”

Little Kids Rock “Chain of Fools” Charts

Making Interdisciplinary Connections

Sample List of Lesson Plans Available on Teachrock.org

Preview: Birth of the American Teenager

Preview: Latin Music in Postwar New York City

Preview: Punk as Reaction

Preview: The Historical Roots of Hip Hop

Stay Connected

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Steven Van Zandt’s curriculum gives teachers the opportunity to immerse students in both music and the historical and cultural events surrounding that music. The project’s lessons and resources are sure to spark student interest and creativity. We are delighted to endorse this initiative!”

– Michael A. Butera, Executive Director National Association for Music Education

Dear Educator,

When I was in high school, a teacher noticed my interest in the music of Bob Dylan. But this teacher did something different from what other educators had done: she used the music I loved to make connections to a wider world of art and literature, of social and political life. Knowing I loved Dylan, she asked me if I’d ever heard of Allen Ginsberg, a poet who was a friend of Dylan’s and an influence on Dylan’s work. Because of her, I read Ginsberg’s 1955 poem Howl. That door opened other doors. I started seeing connections, making connections. She showed me that music was never just music, that it had a time and a place, had a history, is always part of life’s dense web of interconnections. She helped me to see that Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” had a bigger story than the record alone could convey, and, more importantly, that every song could be seen in this way. I was hooked. From that moment on, I saw how learning related to my life.

What the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation offers is a related approach to studying music. Rather than seeing music as a break from the core subjects, we approach popular music by looking at its context, its history, its connections to the past and the present. Our online curriculum, Rock and Roll: An American Story (teachrock.org) reaches beyond traditional music education by taking an interdisciplinary approach. Playing an instrument, learning songs on a guitar or keyboards, can be made to connect with what is being done in Social Studies classrooms, Language Arts classrooms, even Science labs. For me, it was as exciting to explore a song’s context and history as it was to play that song on guitar—and, with the help of that teacher, I saw that the two adventures were really one. Playing music and knowing its story could be simultaneous experiences.

Our collaboration with Little Kids Rock presents music teachers and their students with the unique opportunity to explore in depth the music that is at the heart of American life. If research has demonstrated that students with art and music in their classrooms are more engaged and achieve higher academic success across the board, together with Little Kids Rock, the RRFF aims to make music class the richest part of the school day. Our primary collaborator, of course, is the teacher. Thank you for joining in as we find new ways to educate and inspire young people through music.

Sincerely,

Steven Van ZandtFounder, Rock and Roll Forever Foundation

A Letter from our Founder:Steven Van Zandt

iv For More Information Please Visit teachrock.org & www.littlekidsrock.org

PUTTING MUSIC INTO CONTEXT

Our Approach: Learning to play a song on guitar, on piano, on drums, or on any other instrument is an experience like no other. Once a young person has felt that feeling of a piece of music coming through his or her mind, heart, and body, that person is hooked. It’s powerful. But, taking our approach, learning to play a song can become an experience richer still. When the student who learns a Jimi Hendrix song, a Bob Dylan song, or, say, a Ramones song, approaches it as a living piece of history, as a cultural fragment with stories embedded in it, that student can learn to “read music” in ways not always associated with music departments. Our approach is straightforward. We put the music in context. Every song, every recording, belongs to a moment, comes from a place, time, and a person. “Blowin’ in the Wind” was born into a changing world and a very particular situation. Using our approach, a song is a portal looking into that situation. Students who have learned to play “Blowin’ in the Wind” can thus use their experience of musical performance as a launching pad for another experience, one that looks more like Social Studies, like Language Arts—but this second experience will be shot through with the energy of the performance. The two worlds connect. They learn to play it, then they learn about the world of that song. And the energy of the first experience fuels the second, and the second fuels the first as the student then plays the song knowing more. In the four examples that follow, we take songs associated with the Little Kids Rock songbook, and we explore the categories of PERSON, PLACE, and TIME as they relate to those songs. These categories help to establish the context of any one song, help to situate a song historically, geographically, and socially.

PERSON:• What person or

people wrote and recorded the song?

• What is their background?

• How did their personal experiences inform the music?

PLACE:• Where was the song

written or recorded? • How might the

places associated with a song help us understand its impact?

TIME:• When was the song

released?• What was occuring

in history at that time?

• How may that backdrop have influenced the song, and vice versa?

SONG

vFor More Information Please Visit teachrock.org & www.littlekidsrock.org

PUTTING MUSIC INTO CONTEXT:You've learned to play it, now what?

Below we look into the PERSON, PLACE, and TIME of four songs: “Hound Dog,” “Twist and Shout,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “Chain of Fools.” Through this process we demonstrate the rudiments of contextualizing music, finally synthesizing our findings in a section we call PLAYBACK. In PLAYBACK, we bring together main ideas from the categories of PERSON, PLACE, and TIME to encourage a more comprehensive historical analysis of each song. Why did “Hound Dog,” “Twist and Shout,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “Chain of Fools” mean what they did when they did? In PLAYBACK we gather our answers to that question. Following PLAYBACK we offer short lesson plans that teachers can use in their classrooms, lessons that will ultimately help music instructors merge the playing and performance associated with Little Kids Rock with the interdisciplinary model of study devised by Steven Van Zandt and his Rock and Roll Forever Foundation team.

Resources and Learning Standards: All of the lesson plans in this booklet, including the short lessons based around LKR songs and the previews of Teachrock.org lessons that follow, have multimedia resources that bring the materials to life. From performance clips to archival journalism, these resources help students to do the work of contextualizing music.

Resources for the lessons in this booklet include:

Rich video resources, including live performances, artist interviews, and archival news footage from our media partners Reelin’ In the Years and ABC News.

Handouts for your students that include print journalism, charts and graphs, primary source documents, and interviews with musicians, in part provided by partner organization Rock‘s Backpages.

Song connections to build critical listening skills and provide playing opportunities for your students.

Historic photographs, including images from the Library of Congress, album covers, artist photo comparisons, and more.

To access the lessons, resources and standards referenced in this booklet, visit Teachrock.org and click on the Little Kids Rock icon on our homepage.

6 For More Information Please Visit teachrock.org & www.littlekidsrock.org

"HOUND DOG" : PEOPLE

Big Mama Thorton & Elvis Presley The first version of “Hound Dog” was released in March 1953 by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, an African-American Rhythm and Blues singer from Alabama. With her larger-than-life personality and earthy vocal delivery, Thornton was one of the Rhythm and Blues performers who helped usher in the Rock and Roll era. “Hound Dog” was written specifically for Thornton by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, a white, Jewish songwriting team with a love for R&B music, a genre generally associated with black audiences. The recording was produced by Johnny Otis, the son of Greek immigrants who grew up in an African-American community and identified as black. The mixing between races did not reflect the norms of segregated 1950s American life, but behind the scenes in music culture, such mixing was possible. The recording became the biggest hit of Thornton’s career, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and staying there for seven weeks.

In July 1956, Elvis Presley, a white singer from Memphis who as a teenager had developed a fascination with black music, recorded his own version of “Hound Dog” for RCA Records. Elvis combined elements of Country and Pop with R&B, ignoring racial classification in order to showcase the variety of genres he had absorbed growing up in the South. His recording of “Hound Dog” incorporated a fast tempo, prominent drumming, and a heightened vocal energy associated with the emerging Rock and Roll sound. As a white artist, Elvis released a version of “Hound Dog” that quickly overshadowed Thornton’s original, reaching the top of the R&B, Country, and Pop charts. The record became a massive crossover success that appealed to millions of young people, both black and white -- a significant achievement of racial mixing in pre-Civil Rights America.

"HOUND DOG"

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7For More Information Please Visit teachrock.org & www.littlekidsrock.org

"HOUND DOG" : PLACE

Born in rural Ariton, Alabama, Willie Mae Thornton left home at 14 to pursue a career as a professional singer. In 1952, already signed to Don Robey’s Peacock Records and living in Houston, Texas, Thornton connected with bandleader Johnny Otis. In a Los Angeles recording session, Otis helped bring Thornton together with songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who presented her with the music and lyrics for “Hound Dog.” Working with Leiber, Stoller, and Otis, Thornton recorded “Hound Dog” at Radio Recorders Annex on August 13, 1952. The record was released in March of the following year.

Like Thornton, Elvis Presley was raised in the South. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up as an only child in a poor family. For much of Elvis’s early childhood, the Presleys lived in a series of rented rooms that were often in close proximity to African-American neighborhoods, where Elvis was exposed to black musical styles including the Blues, Gospel, and R&B. Combined with the spirituals he heard in church and the Country music his family listened to on the radio, Elvis’s musical education was diverse, and he absorbed it all.

In 1948, the Presleys moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis attended high school. Like much of the South before the Civil Rights movement, Memphis was a segregated city. The Presleys would soon be living in the Lauderdale Courts, a housing project for low income households that was restricted to white families, while Elvis attended Memphis’s all-white Humes High School. But Elvis’s musical curiosity often brought him to Beale Street, a predominantly black part of town, where he could witness the vibrant culture of Memphis’s African-American community. In 1954, when a 19-year-old Elvis made his first recordings at Memphis’s Sun Studio, his style displayed the variety of musical sounds, both white and black, that he’d heard growing up in Memphis. This mixing of musical cultures would remain prominent in his 1956 recording of “Hound Dog.”


"HOUND DOG" : TIME

The song “Hound Dog” does not directly comment on race relations in 1950s America. But when we consider the people who recorded the song, the places where these recordings were made, and the pre-Civil Rights era when these recordings were released, we can begin to see how “Hound Dog” reflected an important racial mixing that foreshadowed the changes that would be fought for in the Civil Rights era. Between Big Mama Thornton and Elvis’s respective releases of the song in 1953 and 1956, the country experienced some of the most significant early milestones of the Civil Rights movement that was just beginning, including Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Placed in this context, Elvis’s popular success with “Hound Dog,” a recording that drew heavily from both black and white musical influences, reflects the youth culture’s changing attitudes about race in the mid-1950s.

BIG MAMA THORNTON RELEASES “HOUND DOG”Issued by Peacock Records, the song, written for Thornton by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, resulted in a recording that reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and stayed there for seven weeks.

SUPREME COURT RULES ON BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATIONThe court strikes down state laws segregating black and white students, marking the end of the "separate but equal" doctrine laid out nearly 60 years earlier in Plessy v. Ferguson.

ELVIS RELEASES FIRST SINGLE ON SUN RECORDS Produced by Sam Phillips, who had earlier opened his recording studio to black artists including Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King, Elvis’s debut features covers of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's Rhythm & Blues song "That's All Right" and the Bill Monroe Bluegrass song "Blue Moon of Kentucky."

ROSA PARKS REFUSES TO GIVE UP HER SEAT ON A PUBLIC BUSIn refusing to give her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks’s symbolic act of defiance sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

ELVIS PRESLEY RELEASES “HOUND DOG” Elvis’s recording of the song, which had been covered by several artists since Thornton’s 1953 original, becomes the most successful version, reaching No. 1 on the R&B, Country, and Pop charts.

MARCH1953

MAY1954

JULY1954

DEC.1955

JULY1956


"HOUND DOG" : PLAYBACK

Elvis’s popular success with “Hound Dog” demonstrates the ways in which music culture has provided spaces where established ideas about race relations could be challenged. In 1953, Big Mama Thornton’s recording of the song reached the top position on the R&B chart, though as an African-American R&B singer Thornton was unable to crossover to a popular white audience. Just three years later, Elvis took the same song to the R&B, Country, and Pop charts, thus reaching a wide popular audience of both black and white listeners at a time when public schools, public transportation, and other institutions struggled to integrate. The story of “Hound Dog” foreshadowed the changes the Civil Rights movement would promote with regards to integration and racial equality.


Interdisciplinary Lesson Plans – Rock and Roll Forever Foundation & Little Kids Rock

LESSON PLAN: Hound Dog

Essential Question:How does the story of “Hound Dog” demonstrate music culture’s racial mixing as it differed from mainstream American life in the 1950s?

Procedures:

❶ Play a video of Big Mama Thornton performing “Hound Dog.” Ask students for any words or phrases they would use to describe Thornton’s sound. Next, play an audio clip of “Doggie in the Window,” a Pop song recorded by Patti Page in 1953, the same year Thornton released “Hound Dog.” Ask students to speculate: how might the general audience for Pop music have responded to Thornton’s sound? [Students might find the music “raw” or “gritty,” something that would unsettle the general Pop audience.]

❷ Display images of Billboard’s R&B and Pop charts from May 1953. Explain that in the 1950s, the R&B chart was associated primarily with black audiences, and, in turn, the Pop chart was associated with mostly white audiences. Ask students: On which of these charts does Thornton’s recording of “Hound Dog” appear? Do you think that Thornton was reaching a mostly black audience, or a mostly white audience? What does this racial separation on the charts suggest about race relations in 1950s America? [Note: Of the Top 10 R&B artists listed, all ten are African American. Of the Top 10 Pop artists listed, only Nat "King" Cole is an African American. The other nine artists on the Pop chart are white.]

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• Artists and producers who contributed to the success of “Hound Dog,” including Big Mama

Thornton and Elvis Presley• How the mixing of black and white styles in “Hound Dog” demonstrated the ability of

musicians to unsettle established ideas about race relations in segregated 1950s America

Be able to (skills)• Make connections between popular music culture and the social and political environments

in which that music is created• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using well-chosen details

and well-structured event sequences (Common Core State Standard: Writing 3)

Objective:



Procedures (continued):

❸ Thornton’s recording was released at a time when many public institutions in the country were segregated. Segregation had legally existed since Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. Ask students: What areas of American society do you know were segregated during the early 1950s? [Answers may include: schools, restaurants, public transportation, hotels, bathrooms, etc.] How do you think segregation would have affected an African-American touring performer?

❹ Play the video clip of Elvis Presley performing “Hound Dog” in 1956. Ask students: what are some differences you notice between Elvis and Thornton as performers? [Students may notice their differences in gender, race, physical movements, etc.]

❺ Display images from the 1956 Billboard R&B, Country, and Pop charts, and have students locate “Hound Dog” on each chart. Ask students: How does Elvis’s success with “Hound Dog” compare to that of Thornton singing the same song? What does Elvis’s appearance at the top of all three charts suggest about the size and racial makeup of his audience? [Note: Excluding Elvis, all artists on this Rhythm & Blues chart are African American. All artists on this Country & Western chart are white. And on the Best Selling Popular Records chart, all of the artists are white, excluding the Platters, who are an African-American group.] What are some reasons why a white artist may have been able to reach wider audiences than an African-American artist in 1950s America? While Thornton’s recording had been released three years earlier, Elvis’s version became the most commercially successful.

LESSON PLAN: Hound Dog

Essential Question:How does the story of “Hound Dog” demonstrate music culture’s racial mixing as it differed from mainstream American life in the 1950s?

Procedures:

❶ Play a video of Big Mama Thornton performing “Hound Dog.” Ask students for any words or phrases they would use to describe Thornton’s sound. Next, play an audio clip of “Doggie in the Window,” a Pop song recorded by Patti Page in 1953, the same year Thornton released “Hound Dog.” Ask students to speculate: how might the general audience for Pop music have responded to Thornton’s sound? [Students might find the music “raw” or “gritty,” something that would unsettle the general Pop audience.]

❷ Display images of Billboard’s R&B and Pop charts from May 1953. Explain that in the 1950s, the R&B chart was associated primarily with black audiences, and, in turn, the Pop chart was associated with mostly white audiences. Ask students: On which of these charts does Thornton’s recording of “Hound Dog” appear? Do you think that Thornton was reaching a mostly black audience, or a mostly white audience? What does this racial separation on the charts suggest about race relations in 1950s America? [Note: Of the Top 10 R&B artists listed, all ten are African American. Of the Top 10 Pop artists listed, only Nat "King" Cole is an African American. The other nine artists on the Pop chart are white.]



LESSON PLAN: Hound DogProcedures (continued):

❻ Explain that the class will now consider one specific example of how desegregation impacted life in 1950s America. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools are unconstitutional. Such institutions were thus required to desegregate, a process that was often tense in communities accustomed to the “separate but equal” life style born of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision. In some cases, National Guardsmen were called in to help escort African-American students into school buildings. Ask students if they understand what “separate but equal” meant to life in the American South, and why Brown v. Board of Education disrupted that?

❼ Break students up into small groups and hand out to each group the School Integration Worksheet. The worksheet contains two photographs from 1956 of a high school in Tennessee undergoing desegregation. Groups should investigate both photos and discuss the following questions: What range of emotions do you think the people in the photos are feeling? What do you think it felt like to be at school on that day?

❽ Continuing on the worksheet, groups should select two individuals from each photo for whom the group will be creating “thought bubbles.” Use the first-person perspective, with each thought bubble describing an individual’s internal feelings or reactions to the events that are transpiring on the school’s campus. When finished, invite volunteers from each group to present their thought bubbles to the class.

❾ Remind students that the Brown v. Board of Education ruling was decided in 1954, between Thornton’s release of “Hound Dog” in 1953 and Elvis’s recording of the same song in 1956. Have students write a journal entry answering the following prompt: In the fall of 1956 Elvis’s recording of “Hound Dog” topped the American Pop charts. At the same time, formerly all-white schools in some parts of the country were struggling with the process of integration. Why might a person accept racial mixing in popular culture, such as in music, but not accept racial mixing in cultural institutions, such as public schools? What does this say about the particularities and possibilities of racial mixing in music culture? How might music culture thus help lead the way towards integration in other areas of American life?

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“HOUND DOG”by Elvis Presley

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genre: rock n’ roll

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www.littlekidsrock.org© 2016 Little Kids Rock

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“HOUND DOG” (Easy Version)by Elvis Presley




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1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + rhythm O

Easier Pattern

Harder Pattern


For More Information Please Visit teachrock.org & www.littlekidsrock.org 23

"TWIST AND SHOUT" : PEOPLE

The Beatles In late-1950s Liverpool, a teenage John Lennon teamed up with Paul McCartney to form the Quarrymen, a group that by 1960 would become the Beatles. As teenagers, Lennon and McCartney were initially drawn to Skiffle music. Skiffle, which developed in Britain after World War II, was a kind of street music that relied on homemade or inexpensive instruments—often a washtub bass, a washboard, a banjo and an acoustic guitar—and combos generally played covers of Folk and Blues-style songs. Similar in ways to Punk and Hip Hop, Skiffle players were not always reliant on traditional venues, expensive equipment or in-depth knowledge of an instrument. Because of this, young musicians without much money or experience, including Lennon and McCartney, found the genre accessible. It was their door in.

By 1960, Lennon and McCartney had transformed their band into a more professional operation. Now calling themselves the Beatles, their ensemble included lead guitarist George Harrison and drummer Pete Best, who would later be replaced by Ringo Starr. The group had incorporated more Rock and Roll and Rhythm and Blues covers into their repertoire and were soon performing gigs in dancehalls and nightclubs. Between 1960 and 1962, the Beatles were hired to play several residencies at nightclubs in Hamburg, Germany, including the Kaiserkeller and the Indra Club. During this period, the group typically played multiple sets over four and half to six hours a night. Their shows leaned heavily on the repertoire of early American Rock and Roll artists, including material by Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly. In the process of playing so many shows and learning so many songs, the Beatles sharpened their skills as entertainers, as instrumentalists, and ultimately, as songwriters.

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"TWIST AND SHOUT" : PLACE

The Beatles grew up in Liverpool, England in the late 1940s and 50s in the years following World War II. The Beatles grew up in Liverpool, England in the late 1940s and 50s in the years following World War II. Unlike the United States, which did not directly experience combat on American soil, Great Britain struggled for many years to return to normalcy following the devastation caused by the war. Though the war had ended in 1945, rations on food and other material goods continued into the 1950s, and port cities, including Liverpool, had to rebuild much of their bombed-out infrastructure. Compared to the booming postwar years in the United States, life in Liverpool was bleak. Set against this backdrop, it was no wonder that the bright sounds of American R&B and Rock and Roll music proved attractive to teenagers like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. This new music came from a far-off country they had never visited, a place about which they had a vivid fantasy life based on images described in Chuck Berry and Little Richard songs. American Rock and Roll and R&B deeply affected the Beatles as they began to find their own musical style as a cover band.

After several years of developing their act in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany the Beatles signed to EMI in 1962. The group traveled to London to record their debut album, Please Please Me. The album showcased a band in transition, containing eight original songs including “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Love Me Do,” in addition to six cover songs including “Twist and Shout.” The collection portrayed the Beatles with one foot still in the world of the cover band and the other foot planted in their future as recording artists and original songwriters. Of the band’s first five albums, four included a mix of both Beatles originals and cover songs. But after 1965, the band recorded seven more studio albums, with only one cover song appearing on the cumulative track list. During this later stage in their career, the Beatles committed to crafting original songs and exploring new frontiers of recording popular music in the studio.


"TWIST AND SHOUT" : TIME

The Beatles’s fascination with American music culture can best be understood when considered in the context of teenage life in postwar Europe. The world in which Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr grew up was deeply scarred by war. Liverpool, an important shipping center in England, had been largely bombed out by the Germans, requiring years of rebuilding. Food rationing, which had once been a wartime necessity, continued for nine years after the war as the British economy recovered. American records, including the Isley Brothers’ 1962 hit “Twist and Shout,” provided the members of the Beatles with an escape from this everyday reality. By performing this song and others like it in their setlist, the Beatles were able to immerse themselves, and their European audiences, in an American sound driven by a youthful energy that symbolized another world of possibility.

WORLD WAR II ENDS While a marked period of prosperity and growth follows the war in the United States, in England, it’s a time of lingering deprivation and rebuilding.

THE MARSHALL PLAN SIGNED INTO LAWRolled out in 1948, The Marshall Plan commits U.S. economic support to ravaged European communities, including Liverpool.

RATIONING ENDS IN THE U.K.Britain ends food rationing, which had continued for over nine years after the end of WWII. During that same time, the U.S. economy had experienced a period of rapid growth and prosperity.

THE BEATLES PLAY HAMBURG, GERMANYThe group begins their first residency at Hamburg's Indra Club. Playing long hours on stage helps the group develop their musical skills and group image.

BEATLES RELEASE DEBUT ALBUMPlease Please Me includes original Beatles songs such as "Love Me Do” and “I Saw Her Standing There,” as well as covers including "Twist and Shout." The album tops the U.K. charts for 30 weeks.

BEATLES APPEAR ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOWIn one of the most significant moments in music and television history, a record 73 million viewers tune in, launching the group into U.S. superstardom. Within two years of their first appearance on American television, the band would transition away from mixing covers with original material and commit entirely to writing original songs.

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"TWIST AND SHOUT" : PLAYBACK

When the future members of the Beatles were still teenagers learning to play their instruments, they taught themselves to play songs that they had heard on records and on the radio. The American Rock and Roll and R&B records they heard growing up in 1950s Liverpool, and later performed together as a professional cover band, offered them an escape from the depressed post-war landscape around them. When the Beatles finally graduated from the clubs of Liverpool and Hamburg to Abbey Road Studios in London to record their debut album Please Please Me, they would devote nearly half their record to American material they had played as a cover band, including tracks such as “Twist and Shout,” “Boys,” and “Anna (Go To Him).” The band’s many hours studying records, learning the songs, and performing in clubs gave them the skills and discipline necessary to become successful songwriters and performers in their own right. For the first half of their recording career, the Beatles would regularly include some cover songs on their albums. By their sixth album, however, the band had abandoned covers, and for the rest of their career would almost exclusively record songs they wrote themselves. The Beatles had grown from being a working cover band to arguably the most celebrated songwriters and recording artists of the 20th century.



LESSON PLAN: Twist and Shout

Essential Question:What role did cover songs like “Twist and Shout” play early in the Beatles's career, and how did their experiences growing up in post-WWII Liverpool and performing in Hamburg nightclubs help them to develop as a professional musical ensemble?

Procedures:

❶ Display an image from 1942 of Liverpool after a German bomb attack during World War II. Mention that Liverpool is where the future members of the Beatles grew up. It is also an important port city in Northern England which made it a target during the war. For contrast, display an image of a suburban family in postwar America. Study both photos as a class, then ask students: What do you think it might have felt like to live in a place that looked like Liverpool after the war? Compare that to what it might it have felt like to grow up in a house in an American suburb, untouched by the war. How might everyday life have felt different? Why might a teenager growing up in post-war Liverpool have harbored fantasies about living some place else, such as the U.S.?

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• The impact of German bombing and post-war economic struggles on life in 1950s Liverpool• Ways in which American musical styles reached British teenagers, including radio broadcasts

and records imported by merchant sailors and U.S. Air Force soldiers• The importance of the “Hamburg years” to the professional and musical development of the

Beatles• How musical ensembles often learn their craft through the performance of “cover” songs

Be able to (skills)• Analyze and draw conclusions from musical performances and interviews (Common Core

State Standard: Reading 7)

Objective:




❷ Play a clip of musician Gerry Marsden discussing how American records arrived in Europe, followed by one of musician Graham Nash discussing the emergence of Skiffle music in postwar England. Ask students: How might growing up in a port city such as Liverpool have contributed to the Beatles's early education in American music? Why might a working-class teenager in post-War Liverpool, such as John Lennon or Paul McCartney, have been attracted to Skiffle?

❸ Play the audio clip of “Twist and Shout,” recorded in 1962 by the American group the Isley Brothers. Explain that the Beatles performed this song during their early period as a professional “cover band,” the term for a band that plays songs written and first recorded by other performers. Ask students: Thinking back to the postwar landscape of Europe, why do you think a song like “Twist and Shout” might have appealed to the Beatles? What do you think a recording like this made the Beatles think about life in the U.S. compared to their lives in postwar Europe? [Students may answer that given the devastation caused by the war, “Twist and Shout,” as an American product associated with Rock and Roll culture, might have stood as a symbolic contrast to the bleakness of life in Europe, and might have triggered a fantasy about life in the United States.]

❹ Present the class with the following scenario: Imagine that you are a member of the Beatles in the early 1960s, when the band was beginning to play professional gigs. You’ve just heard “Twist and Shout” for the first time. At band practice that night, how would you describe the song to the rest of the group? How would you make your case to convince your band to cover it at your next show?

❺ Explain that between 1960 and 1962, the Beatles played a series of residencies in Hamburg, Germany, where they were hired to perform in nightclubs, playing multiple sets over four-and-a-half to six hours a night, six or seven night a week. Distribute the worksheet that includes a series of quotes about the Beatles in Hamburg and have a volunteer read the introduction aloud to the class.

❻ Divide students into small groups of three or four. Direct groups to take turns reading the Beatles quotes aloud, underlining any words and phrases that describe how the band improved as a musical ensemble during their time in Hamburg. After reading through the quotes, groups should discuss the questions and fill in the answers on the second page of the worksheet. Once everyone has finished, invite groups to share out something the Beatles learned about being professional musicians from their time in Hamburg.

❼ Play a video clip of the Beatles performing “Twist and Shout” live in 1963. Ask the students: What reaction do you think the Beatles were trying to elicit from their concert audience? How might the band’s experience playing covers in Hamburg have prepared them for the larger audiences they would see as they became more successful?





❽ Display an image of the album cover and list of songs the Beatles's recorded for Please Please Me, their debut album from 1963. Ask the students to identify and count the cover songs on the album, material not credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Discuss as a class: What does the inclusion of six cover songs (all by American artists) on this record suggest about the Beatles’ relationship to American music culture and American life?

❾ Play a video interview with musician Steven Van Zandt discussing the early career of the Beatles and how playing covers can help shape the identity of a band. Discuss as a class: What specific things does Van Zandt believe a group learns from playing covers? Do you think the Beatles would have been as successful later on if they had not spent this time playing together in Hamburg? Why or why not?

❿ Ask students: As a music class using the Little Kids Rock methods, why do you think we spend time learning to play cover songs? What connections can we make between what we are doing as a class and what the Beatles did in their early days as a band? [Note: Teacher may opt to have students write a short paragraph reflecting on these questions in place of, or in addition to, discussing as a class.]


30

IN THESTYLE OF...

“TWIST AND SHOUT”by The Beatles


Song Form: Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Ahhhs, Chorus, Verse, Ahhhs


1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + rhythm C

1 2 + 3 + 4 rhythm F

Easier Pattern

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Solo Scale

3

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D major pentatonic

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IN THESTYLE OF...

“TWIST AND SHOUT” (Easy Version)by The Beatles




1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + rhythm C

1 2 + 3 + 4 rhythm F

Easier Pattern

Harder Pattern


Solo Scale

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IN THESTYLE OF...


Verse Pattern

Solo Scale

Solo Scale

LEFT

RIGHT

BEAT: 1 2 3 4+ + + +

11

LEFT

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BEAT:

HOLDg

1 2 3 4+ + + +

44Verse / Chorus Pattern Ahhhs Pattern





/ // // // /

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DD

1 3 5

A7

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AA

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IN THESTYLE OF...


D Major Scale

Root notes42 =

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36


Iconic Notation

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AMajorPentatonic

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1 1 11

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9fr.




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1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + rhythm C

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37

"BLOWIN' IN THE WIND" : PEOPLE

Bob DylanBorn Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, Bob Dylan is revered by many as one of the most influential figures in Folk and Rock. He is often credited with establishing a new understanding of the “singer-songwriter,” combining poetic lyricism with a sometimes confessional, sometimes enigmatic, and often compelling delivery. In the mid-1950s, Bob Dylan was a teenager when Rock and Roll broke onto the American musical scene. He and his high school band, the Golden Chords, were avid fans of early Rock and Roll and would cover songs by artists like Little Richard and Elvis Presley. However, by the time Dylan graduated high school, his early musical influences had been eclipsed by an obsession with Folk singer Woody Guthrie. Unlike Rock and Roll combos, Guthrie performed solo on guitar and at times lived an itinerant lifestyle, travelling the country and singing his songs. Furthermore, much of Guthrie's music had a clear social and political message. Dylan would follow Guthrie’s path, eventually moving to New York City to immerse himself in the Greenwich Village Folk music scene. It was while living there, surrounded by artists and in a politically-charged 1960s climate, that in 1962 Dylan wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Dylan’s early socially-conscious songs, which in addition to “Blowin’ in the Wind” include “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” and others, were enmeshed with the 1960s antiwar and Civil Rights movements. In 1963, he was one of the artists invited to perform at the historic March on Washington, taking the stage along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though in the mid-1960s Dylan’s work began to shift away from social activist issues, his early works are an expression of the desire for social and political change that distinguished 60s youth culture.

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"BLOWIN' IN THE WIND" : PLACE

The Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York City is widely considered one of America’s centers of bohemian culture. In the decades before Bob Dylan’s 1961 arrival in New York City, the “Village” was a gathering place for artists. Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac frequented — and sometimes wrote about — life in the Village. Clubs including Cafe Wha?, the Gaslight Cafe, and Gerde’s Folk City served as venues for up-and-coming Folk artists, including Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, who would take their turns on the stages playing both traditional songs and, in some cases, original material. Bob Dylan had moved to the city in 1961 to follow in the footsteps of his musical role model, Woody Guthrie. Dylan even went to visit Guthrie's family home in Coney Island, along with visiting Guthrie himself (who had been confined to a hospital in New Jersey by that time). In New York City, Dylan wasted no time trying to become a part of the Village Folk scene. In fact, it was at Gerde’s Folk City, in the spring of 1962, when a still relatively-unknown Bob Dylan walked onto the stage to perform a song he had recently written called “Blowin’ in the Wind.” He went on to record the song at Columbia Records the following year.

39

"BLOWIN' IN THE WIND" : TIME

The lyrics to “Blowin’ in the Wind” are structured as a series of open-ended questions. The song asks, “How many years can some people exist, before they’re allowed to be free?” Providing no clear answers, the questions alone command attention and encourage reflection. Looking at the time period in which “Blowin’ in the Wind” was written can help us place the song’s open-ended questions in context. With the U.S. embroiled in struggles surrounding both Civil Rights and escalating tensions with the Soviet Union, Dylan’s song had particular resonance.

LUNCH COUNTER SIT-IN IN GREENSBORO, NCFour college students stage a lunch counter sit-in at the Woolworth’s department store in Greensboro, N.C. to protest segregation in cafes and restaurants. This sparked a wave of other sit-ins in college towns across the South. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced "snick"), was created.

BOB DYLAN ARRIVES IN NEW YORK CITYAt 19 years old, Bob Dylan arrives in New York City. One of the first things he does is visit Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village to try and secure a gig.

FREEDOM RIDERS TRAVEL TO THE AMERICAN SOUTH An integrated group of protesters begin their trip riding buses throughout the South to test new court orders that outlaw segregation on interstate public buses. Non-violent black and white riders are beaten by mobs in several cities.

RUSSIANS TEST HYDROGEN BOMBTsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon to ever be detonated, is exploded in the Arctic Ocean, north of Russia. Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S., both armed with nuclear weapons, escalate heavily.

MARCH ON WASHINGTON &BOB DYLAN RELEASES “BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND”Several hundred thousand Americans participate in the historic Civil Rights march, featuring Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Musical acts also perform throughout the day, including Bob Dylan. That same month, Dylan releases a recording of “Blowin’ in the Wind.” The song establishes him as a powerful singer-songwriter capable of penning and performing his own material.

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"BLOWIN' IN THE WIND" : PLAYBACK

In 1962, When Dylan took the stage at Gerde’s Folk City to perform “Blowin’ in the Wind” for the first time, his song’s chords and melody were relatively simple. Many have suggested that it was his lyrics, rich with symbolism and poetic inquiry, that most captivated his audience. To gain a deeper understanding of the song, students can examine “Blowin’ in the Wind” within the era in which it was composed. During the early 60s, youth culture was becoming more explicitly politicized, giving songs like Dylan’s heightened importance. Although “Blowin’ in the Wind” has never been tied to one specific cause, lyrics such as “How many ears must one man have, before he can hear people cry? / Yes and how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows, that too many people have died?” seem to point to the issues of racism and war that the country was struggling with at that time. Some argue, however, that the brilliance of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” lies in the fact that the lyrics seem almost timeless. The song can apply to multiple moments in history, including the present day. As students learn to play “Blowin’ in the Wind,” set against the backdrop of today, ask them how the lyrics can be said to address issues in our own time.



LESSON PLAN: "Blowin in the Wind"

Essential Question:How does the song “Blowin’ in the Wind” use poetic devices to communicate an open-ended yet powerful message about the human condition, without ever losing its historical specificity?

Procedures:

❶ Play an audio clip of Bob Dylan performing “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Explain to the students that it is a song he wrote and first performed in New York City in 1962. To generate classroom discussion, ask the students how the song and its recording compare to the pop music of today.

❷ Distribute a handout of the lyrics to “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Invite one student to read the lyrics aloud. Ask the students: How would you describe the message or mood of this song? [Answers may include: the singer sounds like he’s addressing a particular group, the singer is posing provocative questions to the listener, the mood is straight-forward or somber, etc. You may also want to discuss the simple instrumentation and how that affects the delivery.]

❸ Read the following quote from Bob Dylan to the class: “I consider myself a poet first and a musician second.” Ask students: What do you think is the difference between a poem and a song? A poet and a songwriter? With those answers in mind, what do you think Bob Dylan is getting at in describing himself and his music in this way? [Answers may include: A songwriter sets lyrics to music, while a poet sets words upon the page. Songs may have a clear rhyming structure and repetitive verses, while poems may not. Dylan may be trying to assert that he takes his words, or his lyrics, very seriously, etc.]

❹ Direct students to the song lyric, “How many years can a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea?” As a class, discuss the image of the “mountain.” Within the context of the song, do you think this is a literal mountain, or is the mountain a symbol for something different? Have students defend their answer.

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• The political and social climate of the early 1960s, including the Civil Rights movement and

the United States's escalating tensions with the Soviet Union• How the lyrics to “Blowin’ in the Wind” employ poetic language and can be interpreted in

multiple ways Be able to (skills)• Identify rhetorical questions and symbolic language within the lyrics of a song• Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word

meanings (Common Core State Standard: Language 5)

Objective:

“I consider myself a poet first and a musician second.” – Bob Dylan




❺ Break students into small groups. Distribute to each group a handout featuring a timeline of the early 1960s. Have groups read through the timeline before referring back to the lyrics of “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Ask students to discuss the social and political issues that were prominent around the time Bob Dylan composed “Blowin’ in the Wind.” How might these issues connect to the song lyrics?

❻ Read aloud the following lyric to your students: “How many ears must one man have, before he can hear people cry? / Yes and how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows, that too many people have died?” Using the timeline as a reference, groups should discuss the following question: What is one issue or event on the timeline that these lyrics may have symbolized to listeners of “Blowin’ in the Wind” in the early 1960s, and why? [Note to teacher: answers may include one specific event, or broader themes such as segregation, injustice, the threat of war, etc.] Invite groups to share out their responses. Ask the class, why do you think different groups were able to come up with different interpretations of the lyrics?

❼ Discuss as a class: If you were to perform a cover of “Blowin’ in the Wind” today, what are some current social issues, or events in our community, to which the song might apply? Write suggestions and generate a list on the board.

❽ Have individual students pick an issue from the list. In a one-paragraph response, students should explain specifically how the issue they have selected may be applied to lyrics from “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

❾ Play through the song together as a class. Invite students to share how their interpretation of the song has changed since the start of the lesson.

LESSON PLAN: "Blowin in the Wind"

43

IN THESTYLE OF...

“BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND”by Bob Dylan


Note: On the original recording there is a capo on the 7th fret, making it sound in the key of D. In most live versions, he played the song without a capo.

genre: Folk

1 2 3 4 rhythm D

Strum Pattern Strum PatternSolo Scale

Solo Scale

2

O

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O

3

G Major pentatonic

OO

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3Root notes30 =

tempo: 180 Bpmkey: G major

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Accent on beats 2 & 4!

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IN THESTYLE OF...


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genre: Folk


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1st & 3rd Time:

2nd Time:

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CX XX

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CX XX

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Root notes30 =

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genre: Folk

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Cho

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IN THESTYLE OF...


genre: Folk


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G

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IN THESTYLE OF...




genre: Folk

1 2 3 4 rhythm D

Strum Pattern Strum PatternSolo Scale

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44

33

1 1 11

Root notes41 =

7fr.


Cho

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/ / / // / / // / / // / / /

/ / / // / / // / / // / / // / / // / / // / / // / / /

Verse 3X

1st & 3rd Time:

2nd Time:

Chorus

Accent on beats 2 & 4!

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49

"CHAIN OF FOOLS" : PEOPLE

"C

hain of Fools"1 9 6 7

Aretha FranklinAretha Franklin is the daughter of a minister. According to her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, she “inherited” the tradition of Gospel music. As a young girl, Aretha moved with her family to Detroit, Michigan. Her father had been hired as the pastor for New Bethel Baptist Church. Aretha, along with her siblings, would sing every week in the choir at her father’s church. In 1956, at fourteen years old, she released her debut studio album. It was a Gospel record titled Songs of Faith.

At eighteen, however, Aretha Franklin decided to “cross-over” from recording Gospel to popular music. She wanted to follow in the footsteps of Sam Cooke, a member of the Gospel group the Soul Stirrers, who had released his first Pop single in 1957. Her transition from singing about God for a faith-based audience to singing about secular topics (love, romance, heartbreak) was a sensitive one. But her father supported her decision, and in 1960, Aretha moved to New York City to record with Columbia Records.

While at Columbia, Aretha initially recorded a range of styles, including show tunes and popular jazz standards. When she moved to Atlantic Records, however, much of her Gospel heritage resurfaced. As she achieved success as a R&B performer, the Gospel in her performance style would become a defining characteristic in an emerging Soul sound, including her commanding vocals, heightened emotions, and the frequent use of “call-and-response” arrangements between Aretha and her backup singers. All of this is evident in her recording career at Atlantic Records during the late 1960s, including her release of “Chain of Fools” in 1967.

"CHAIN OF FOOLS" : PLACE

At the time of Aretha Franklin’s childhood, Detroit, Michigan was experiencing a major growth in its African-American population, largely spurred by the second wave of the Great Migration which began around the Second World War. Blacks in the South were moving to Northern industrial centers in search of opportunities and jobs. Between 1941 and 1943, more than 50,000 African-Americans moved to Detroit alone. They brought with them traditions from their own communities, including Southern Gospel music. Reverend C.L. Franklin’s 2,500-seat church was growing rapidly during that time, as new African-American residents sought not only centers of faith, but centers of community.

When Aretha was 18 years old, she moved from Detroit to New York City, carrying with her the Southern Gospel traditions that had been a mainstay of her childhood. In the late 1960s, when she was recording “Chain of Fools” at Atlantic Records, her recording career seemed to tap deeply into her Gospel roots. As her producer at Atlantic, Jerry Wexler, once said, “There’s a much stronger influence of Gospel in contemporary Rhythm and Blues, or Soul music, than there is of Blues.” Certainly, Aretha’s catalog reflects this close relationship.

51

"CHAIN OF FOOLS" : TIME

Through the lens of “Chain of Fools,” we can examine the influence of Gospel music and black style on the mixed-race audience of the 1960s. During the Civil Rights movement in particular, music became a space where ideas and preconceptions about race could be called into question. As African-American comedian Dick Gregory said in reference to Aretha Franklin’s prominence on the radio, “You’d hear Aretha three or four times an hour, you’d only hear King on the news.”

THE SECOND GREAT MIGRATIONBetween 1941 and 1970, more than five million African Americans moved from the South to the North, Midwest, and West. Often seeking greater employment opportunities, blacks were drawn to burgeoning industrial centers.

MARCH ON WASHINGTON HELDSeveral hundred thousand Americans participate in the historic Civil Rights march, which features not only Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, but also musical performances by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and other artists.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIGNS CIVIL RIGHTS ACT The landmark legislation outlaws racial discrimination in employment and racial segregation in public places, ending the "Jim Crow" era.

ARETHA FRANKLIN RELEASES “CHAIN OF FOOLS”Aretha’s popular song “Chain of Fools” demonstrates her roots in Gospel music and goes on to garner her a Grammy award for Best Female R&B Performance in 1969.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ASSASSINATED The civil rights leader, who’d galvanized a movement with his calls for nonviolent resistance, is shot to death by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. Dr. King was 39. Aretha Franklin sings Dr. King’s favorite Gospel hymn, “Precious Lord Take My Hand,” at one of his memorial services.

1941 -

1970

AUG.1963

JULY1964

JULY1967

APRIL1968

"CHAIN OF FOOLS" : PLAYBACK

Gospel music is a music of faith. When performing Gospel, vocalists like Aretha Franklin try to foster a direct communication between the congregants of their church and God. Even after she “crossed-over” and began recording Pop records, Aretha Franklin still summoned an emphatic vocal delivery and a heightened emotional power in her performances. Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement, Aretha Franklin’s commanding delivery, with such profound traces of Gospel style, set the stage for an emerging 1960s Soul sound in a changing society.



LESSON PLAN: "Chain of Fools"

Essential Question:How did Aretha Franklin’s foundation in Gospel music influence her recording of “Chain of Fools,” helping to establish a Soul sound and bringing black culture into mainstream America?

Procedures:

❶ Project a map illustrating African-American population change in the U.S. between 1940 and 1970. Explain to students that this period was known as the second wave of the Great Migration, a term referring to the massive internal migration of Blacks from the rural American South to urban centers in other parts of the country. During this time span, an estimated 5 million blacks left the South. Ask the students: Which areas of the map show an increasing black population? Which areas show a decreasing black population? Which states and cities experienced large African-American population gains? [Please note: Students may identify that Dallas and Houston, both located in the South, experienced a population gain during this time. This reflects how the Great Migration also signaled a shift of African-Americans moving from rural areas to urban centers.]

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• How the Great Migration brought Southern black traditions, such as Gospel music, to Northern industrial cities

• Aretha Franklin’s roots in Gospel music and how her recording of "Chain of Fools" blends Gospel with Rhythm and Blues, helping to establish the emerging Soul sound.

Be able to (skills)• Analyze musical performances and draw connections between different genres of music and

culture• Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the style and interpretation of a piece of music

(Common Core State Standard: Reading 6)

Objective:




❷ As a class, locate Detroit, Michigan on the map. Next, display the graph titled “Change in Detroit's Black Population (1940 - 1970).” Ask the class: What trend do you notice in the African-American population of Detroit between 1940 and 1970? What do you think were some of the reasons why African-Americans left rural areas for industrial cities during this time? [Answers may include: to look for employment opportunities as the work force became more mechanized, to seek a better quality of life, to leave behind racial injustice in the rural areas, including “Jim Crow” laws that remained in effect in some areas into the 1960s, etc.]

❸ Explain to the students that Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1942. In 1946, her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, accepted a position as pastor at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Imagine moving to a new city, such as Detroit, during the Great Migration. What role might a spiritual center, like a church, play in your life? How might a major move inspire a feeling of dislocation, or a desire to connect with others? [Answers may include that in addition to spiritual guidance, a church can provide a strong sense of community, you may feel united in music and faith with other congregants, etc.]

❹ Explain to the students that although Aretha Franklin came to be known for her career as a Soul singer, Gospel music played a significant role in her upbringing. As a girl, each week Aretha sang in the New Bethel Baptist Church with her siblings. Play the video clip titled "Aretha Franklin and Gospel Influences," excerpted from a 1968 ABC News special. As students watch the clip, ask them to take notes about the ways in which Gospel music is described in the video. [Answers may include that Gospel music has a religious or spiritual feeling, Gospel singing is described as “uninhibited expression,” it is a tradition in Southern black churches that was brought to the North and Midwest with the Great Migration, etc.]

❺ Play the 1968 clip of the New Bethel Baptist Choir performing “The Lord Is Blessing Me.” While they watch, students should write down any descriptive words or phrases that they associate with this performance and the Gospel tradition. Poll the class for their reflections on Gospel music and list student responses on the board.

❻ Divide students into small groups of 3-4 and distribute Handout: Gospel Music History and Glossary. Each student group should read through the handout aloud, alternating paragraphs.




Procedures (continued):❼ In their groups, students will watch a video clip of Aretha Franklin performing "Chain of Fools” in 1968. Groups

should discuss the following questions: Why might “Chain of Fools” be considered a secular Soul song, as opposed to a Gospel song? [Answers may include: because the song’s lyrics are not religious in nature or because it is not being performed during a church service.] Although this song is not religious, what possible Gospel influences can you hear in Aretha’s performance of “Chain of Fools”? Have groups share out their answers with the class. [Answers may include a call-and-response dynamic between Aretha Franklin and her backup singers, Aretha’s powerful vocal delivery, etc.]

❽ Read aloud the following quote by Dick Gregory, “You’d hear Aretha three or four times an hour, you’d only hear King on the news.” In their groups, students will examine the “Chain of Fools” Timeline. Groups should discuss: What do you think Dick Gregory meant by his quote? Why do you think Aretha’s success as a performer was significant in the late 1960s? [Answers may include that sometimes music may reach an audience in ways an activist, even one as powerful as Dr. King, could not. With the right song and the right performance at the right time, perhaps Aretha embodied the spirit of a late 1960s fight for racial and gender equality.]

❾ Tell the groups that they will work together to compose a short call-and-response refrain. Although their compositions should be secular, remind students that the call-and-response style of singing is an integral part of the Gospel tradition. When sung between a lead vocalist and the congregation, a call-and-response section can foster a sense of community through music. In their refrains, students must include a “call” (a vocal phrase) and a “response” (a vocal phrase or rhythm the group can reply with). If the students are looking for topics, you could suggest a current event or community issue that students want to address. The call-and-response refrain should be performed over a steady beat, or if possible, using the chords to “Chain of Fools” (Cmi or Emi).

❿ Invite student groups to perform their call-and-response refrains with the class; the entire class should take part in the “response” sections. After all the groups have performed, discuss how the call-and-response refrains, although not religious, still utilized a Gospel music tradition to create a strong connection between the vocalist and the audience. Ask students: How was this exercise similar to Aretha Franklin’s recording of “Chain of Fools”?

⓫ Have the students reflect on the following prompt and respond by writing a one-page journal entry: The emerging Soul sound of the 1960s had close ties to Gospel music and brought black culture into mainstream American life. Why was this important during the 1960s? Why might it still be important today?


56

IN THESTYLE OF...

“CHAIN OF FOOLS”by Aretha Franklin


genre: r&B

1 2 3 4 rhythm D

1 2 + 3 4 + rhythm P

Easier Pattern

Harder Pattern


Solo Scale

3

1

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4 44

C minorpentatonic

111 1

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8 fr.

Root notes41 =

tempo: 120 Bpmkey: EB major

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Verse 8X

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other ways to play!

other ways to play!

EASIER KEY


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39 60

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genre: r&B


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genre: r&B


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1 2 3 4 rhythm D

1 2 + 3 4 + rhythm P

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MAKING INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS

When Music (and the Music Teacher!) Makes Connections Across the Curriculum:For those music teachers who want to do more in contextualizing the music their students are learning through Little Kids Rock, we recommend the following: ❶ Collaborate: find a teacher in Social Studies, Language Arts, Media Studies or any other

discipline who wants to bring music into their own classroom. With that teacher, select a “set” of songs that students can learn to play and study. Create a dialogue between classrooms, with the intention of presenting a final performance that combines music and talk. Base the event around the “set” of songs, with students first playing, then contextualizing the music through the PERSON, PLACE, and TIME categories.

❷ Increase the writing component in your music class. For students that want to

“graduate” to the next level of performance, ask them to write an essay about an artist, supported by research, who they feel is musically, socially and culturally significant. Have them perform and contextualize two of the artist’s recordings. Teachrock.org has a number of primary source documents that can be used for research purposes. Encourage students to do research that demonstrates their understanding of the difference between primary and secondary resources.

❸ Dig into the resources available at Teachrock.org. We have over seventy lesson plans

with more coming. Create music classes that look past the traditional boundaries separating General Music from Social Studies, Language Arts, Math and Science. Let the music take you there.

LANGUAGEARTS

SOCIALSTUDIES

GEOGRAPHY SCIENCE

MEDIASTUDIES

M

USIC CLASS

63

MAKING INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS

There are currently over seventy lessons offered free-of-charge on Teachrock.org. Below is a sample list of some of the lessons available, all of which feature multimedia resources and rich archival materials. On the following pages, you'll find a preview of four different lesson plans with learning objectives, sample activities, discussion questions, and song connections.

• The Blues: The Sound of Rural Poverty

• The Birth of the Electric Guitar

• World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble

• Rock and Roll and the American Dream

• Chuck Berry

• Bo Diddley’s Unconventional Sound and Its Anticipation of Hip Hop

• Fear of the American Teenager

• Dion and the Teen Idols

• Television and the Twist: Rock and Roll Dance Goes Mainstream

• The Rise of the “Girl Groups”

• The Beach Boys and the Sound of the Suburbs

• Car Culture and Rock and Roll in Postwar America

• The Memphis Sound: A Case Study of Music and Integration in Mid-Century America

• Richie Valens and the Birth of Latino Rock

• Assembling Hits at Motown

• The San Francisco Scene, 1967

• The Music of the Civil Rights Movement

• Youth, Mass Culture, and Protest: The Rise and Impact of 1960s Antiwar Music

• The Roots of Country Rock

• Seventies Soul: Soundtrack of Turbulent Times

• A Song Of Their Own: Female Singer-Songwriters of the Early 1970s

• Mainstream Metal, Parental Advisories, and Censorship

• Glam: The Return of the Teenager

• Funk Asserts Itself: Black Art for Black Audiences

• Introducing New Wave

• Divergent Paths in the 1990s: Gangsta Rap and Conscious Hip Hop

64

TEACHROCK.ORG LESSON PLAN PREVIEW

LESSON: BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER(excerpted from the original lesson at Teachrock.org)

Complete lesson plan, including audio clips, archival photographs, and historical magazine advertisements available on:

Teachrock.org/Lesson/Birth-of-the-American-Teenager/



Birth of the American Teenager: TEACHROCK.ORG Lesson Preview

Essential Question:How did teenagers become a distinct demographic group in the 1950s, and how did that social group’s emergence overlap with early Rock and Roll?

Sample Activities:

Students will compare and contrast a series of historical images depicting teenagers before World War II and in the 1950s, writing down observations about how the postwar economic boom allowed many white, middle-class teenagers more leisure time and spending power than previous generations of young people.

The class will analyze a recording of Chuck Berry’s 1957 song “School Days,” discussing how Berry’s lyrics characterize the teenage experience of the 1950s with a central focus on school, driving, and listening to Rock and Roll music on a jukebox or radio.

Sample Discussion Questions:• What audience do you imagine Chuck Berry had in mind when he recorded “School Days” in 1957? What kind of lifestyle does

the song capture, and what does it seem to say about Rock and Roll’s emerging teenage audience?

• If teenagers in the 1950s were able to spend more money on themselves than teens in earlier times, how do you think this might have affected their relationship with their parents?

• Overall, do you think teens have less, more, or the same influence over popular culture as they did in the 1950s?

Song Connections:To further explore representations of teenage life in 1950s America, your students can play “School Days” by Chuck Berry, “Teenager in Love” recorded by Dion and the Belmonts, and “Summertime Blues” recorded by Eddie Cochran.

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• The growth of teen purchasing power in the 1950s• The ways American business marketed goods to the new teenage

demographic• The effects of growing teen independence on the American family in

the postwar era• The influence of Chuck Berry and others on the representation of

teenage life

Be able to (skills)• Relate popular music to the social context in which it was produced• Characterize social, economic, and cultural change over time• Write a narrative from the perspective of a teenager in the song

"School Days," including details from the readings and photos in their short response (Common Core State Standards: Reading 1; Writing 3; Speaking and Listening 2)

Objective:

66


LESSON: LATIN MUSIC IN POSTWAR NEW YORK CITY(excerpted from the original lesson at Teachrock.org)

Complete lesson plan, including audio clips, lyrics, demographic charts, and artist interviews available on:

Teachrock.org/lesson/The-Influence-of-Latin-Music-in-Postwar-New-York-City/



Latin Music in Postwar New York City: TEACHROCK.ORG Lesson Preview

Essential Question:How did the growth of New York City’s Latino population in the 1940s and 50s help to increase the popularity of Latin music and dance in American culture?

Sample Activities:

The class will read the lyrics and listen to the song "America" from the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story. Students will examine the lyrics, looking for references to life in Puerto Rico and life in the United States, after which they’ll discuss how the song conveys complicated feelings about the immigration experience. In groups, students will take a simulated tour of musical locations in 1950s midtown Manhattan, where they will watch videos and listen to audio excerpts of musical performances influenced by Latin culture. Using a graphic organizer, students will take notes at each stop, noting instances of cultural mixing and reflecting on how the musical landscape of postwar New York City was shaped by the contributions of a growing Latino population.

Sample Discussion Questions:• How do the lyrics to “America” from West Side Story capture the ambiguity of the immigrant experience, conveying

both a feeling of excitement for living in America and a loss in leaving one’s homeland in Puerto Rico?

• If you were a resident of New York City during the 1940s and 50s, where might you have encountered Latin musical styles that were then prevalent in the city?

• Which rhythms, genres, artists, or instruments were prevalent in your own family background? Does this exposure influence your choice of music today, and if so, how?

Song Connections:To further explore how Latin rhythms, percussion, or other sounds crossed over into early 1960s Pop music, your students can play “This Magic Moment” recorded by the Drifters or “Spanish Harlem” recorded by Ben E. King.

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• Economic conditions that encouraged Puerto Ricans to relocate to the

U.S. during the 1940s and 50s• The importance of New York’s El Barrio in forging a sense of community

for immigrants and their families, and how those neighborhoods have affected NYC culture

• How artists including Leonard Bernstein, the Drifters, and Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman incorporated Latin dance rhythms into Broadway musicals, Pop songs, and other genres of music in the 1950s

Be able to (skills)• Analyze data to discern demographic changes in New York City,

determining the effects of immigration on metropolitan life and culture• Evaluate and discuss the extent to which Latin-American artists influenced work created by

non-Latino Pop songwriters and composers• Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media formats, including visually and

quantitatively, as well as in words (Common Core State Standard: Reading 7)

Objective:

68


LESSON: PUNK AS REACTION(excerpted from the original lesson at Teachrock.org)

Complete lesson plan, including performance clips, artist interviews, and discussion guides available on:

Teachrock.org/Lesson/Punk-as-Reaction/



PUNK AS REACTION: TEACHROCK.ORG Lesson Preview

Essential Question:How was Punk Rock a reaction both to the commercialization of Rock and Roll and to the social climate in both late 1970s Britain and New York City?

Sample Activities:Students will work with a partner to create and present an album cover using cut-and-paste techniques for a fictional British Punk band in 1977. Students will view a series of interviews with American and British artists including the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and Patti Smith. Each viewing will be followed by a guided analysis of the “Punk attitude” as embodied in each artist’s self-presentation.

Sample Discussion Questions:• Why might young people living in economically-depressed Britain or nearly-bankrupt New York City in the late 1970s have

turned to music to express themselves? How might someone living in either situation have gone about expressing themselves through music, even if they didn’t have any money or musical training?

• What message do you think the Sex Pistols and the Clash were trying to convey with their early album cover artwork? Did the bands make these images because they couldn’t afford professional artists to design their covers? What other reasons might there be?

• How might you craft an argument either for or against Punk Rock being a form of protest music? Provide evidence for your argument based on the historical context of the music, the style of playing, and the general attitude exuded by Punk musicians and their audience.

Song Connections:To explore the musical character of Punk, your students can play “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” by the Ramones, “Garageland” by the Clash, or “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day.

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• The historical events surrounding the birth of the Punk Rock

movement in both New York City and Great Britain• The political and social nature of Punk Rock’s emergence• Punk Rock’s participatory fan experience as it differed from the

“Arena Rock” of the period

Be able to (skills)• Compare and contrast visual and musical elements of Punk Rock

with the so-called Arena Rock of the 1970s.• Trace musical expression to the specific historical context from

which it emerged• Evaluate content in text, pictures, and videos and analyze

the point of view of the speaker/author (Common Core State Standards: Reading 7; Writing 9; Speaking and Listening 2; Speaking and Listening 3; Language 6)

Objective:

70


LESSON: THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF HIP HOP(excerpted from the original lesson at Teachrock.org)

Complete lesson plan, including archival news footage, demographic data, and performance clips available on:

Teachrock.org/Lesson/The-Historical-Roots-of-Hip-Hop/



THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF HIP HOP: TEACHROCK.ORG Lesson Preview

Essential Question:What are the historical roots of Hip Hop and the situation of the music’s emergence?

Sample Activities:Students will analyze a map, photos, and demographic data of New York City in the late 1970s. The class will discuss how changes in population and the construction of a major highway system might have affected life for the residents of the Bronx.

Using a timeline of New York City in the 1960s and 1970s as a guide, students will analyze “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, making connections between the historical points on the timeline and how these points are reflected in the Rap lyrics.

Sample Discussion Questions:• In what ways do you think the construction of a highway through the

middle of the urban South Bronx affected the community physically, socially, economically, and environmentally?

• How did Grandmaster Flash utilize turntables and vinyl records to build a new musical sound without the use of traditional musical instruments?

• How did “The Message” reflect the social and economic conditions of New York in the 1970s? Think about both the equipment that was needed to produce the song and the themes reflected in its lyrics.

Song Connections:To explore how a guitar can be used more percussively to emulate the sound of early Hip Hop music, your students can play “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, “The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow, and “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang.

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: Know (knowledge)• How early Hip Hop reflected the social and economic conditions of America’s inner cities, particularly the

Bronx in New York City • Important events in the history of New York City in the 1960s and 1970s, including the construction of the

Cross Bronx Expressway and a major Department of Sanitation strike• The contributions of early Hip Hop artists including DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash• Key vocabulary relating to the rise of Hip Hop, including such terms as “scratching,” “rapping,” “MC” and “DJ”

Be able to (skills)• Make connections between artistic movements and the social and economic conditions from which they

emerge• Connect song lyrics to contemporary events• Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually,

quantitatively, and orally. (Common Core State Standard: Speaking and Listening 2)• Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make

effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. (Common Core State Standard: Language 3)

Objective:


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Thank you to all of the teachers, to the teams at Little Kids Rock and the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation, and, most of all, to Steven and Maureen Van Zandt for bringing two organizations together for an unprecedented collaboration!

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