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A PASSION FOR MUSIC
Curriculum Connections: Student Handout
Select one the projects below to further explore the power of music. Each project will require you to:
- Research a topic or idea that will take you deeper into what it means to be a musician.
- Plan or design something that allows you to communicate your new knowledge and understanding of music to others.
- Share your work through the presentation or display of the finished product.
Project #1: Music and Emotion
Curriculum Focus: Psychology
Johnny Cash
Country Music Legend
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It goes back to that music teacher when I was 12 years old. After the third lesson, I was singing some popular country song of the day. I forget the name. I think it was a Hank Williams, no, it was too early for Hank Williams, I guess. Whatever the song was, I didn't sing it like the artist had sung it on the radio. And she said, "You're a song stylist." She said, "Always do it your way." And from the age of 12, I didn't forget that. But that was the way I had to do it, because it was the way it was with me. I had to do it my way. I couldn't read those notes, singing those great songs, like a lot of those singers could, but I could do it my way -- the way it felt good to me. And that's what music is all about, emotion.
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[ Interview ] Johnny Cash |
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Challenge: A musician like a writer must find his or her own voice. The inspiration and motivation for that original voice comes from a variety of influences. To Johnny Cash it was the personal emotion and connection he felt to the music. He used the inspiration of emotion to sing the songs his own way. He made emotional statements with his music that caused emotional reactions in his listeners.
Outcome: Select a musician/singer from the program or one you particularly admire. Listen to their music and the way they sing their songs. What about their voice and style is unique? How much are they inspired by emotions? Which emotions? What kind of an emotional response do they create in you? Why? Develop a cluster web with the singer's name in the middle. Use the connecting circles to display the emotions they communicate when they perform.
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Project #2: Music Makes Memories
Curriculum Focus: History
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Challenge: People often associate songs or musical events with specific events. Survey people of different generations for examples from their lives. For example, for many people the fall of the Berlin Wall as seen by millions of people on television will be remembered vividly every time they hear Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which Leonard Bernstein conducted at the Wall. Many people associate specific songs with the Depression, the end of World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and many more historical events.
Outcome: Write a multimedia report "with audio clips if desired" that describes an historical event and the songs associated with it.
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Project #3: Shaping Beauty
Curriculum Focus: Careers
Wynton Marsalis
Pulitzer Prize for Music
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Wynton Marsalis: Well, let's say for example, somebody like Madonna. That makes me mad. Now it's not her, the person Madonna. It's the fact that somebody will stand in front of an audience of people, 50,000 people, and say "Everybody say 'fuck'." And, people will say "fuck." Like that will be an achievement. That makes me mad. I say, why is this an achievement?
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Challenge:Harnessing and developing musical talent takes work. Both talent and self-discipline contribute to a musician's professional success. In interviews Wynton Marsalis, the famous jazz and classical musician, talks about how the motivation to "be good" kept him going through long hours of practice when he was young. Review the program and musicians interviews in the Gallery of the Arts to identify the factors that kept them motivated and "honing" their talents.
Outcome: Write a tribute to a musician that serves as an inspiration to you. While you may not even have talent or desire for a musical career, what is it about their self-discipline and motivation that speaks to you? Why do you find their choices and actions motivating?
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