MUSIC: THE CULTURE CONNECTION

 This is a project that Darryl K. and I have been working on for two days. We want to take students in a high school band setting and give them opportunities to explore the big idea:

How is music connected to culture? 

This big, driving question includes the questions:

• What is music?
• What is culture?
• Who experiences music in a culture and in what ways?
• What is the role of music in a given culture?
• What are the roles of people in relationship to music in their culture?

Working definition of folk music: music that is an expression of the people in a community.
We will approach folk music as the music of a community of a people so that the students don't automatically assume that this will be a project on American-Appalachian music.



The projects I am proposing are: Music Moves Us, Folk Tuning- In, The Musical Spy,
These projects will be part of a school culture fair. Students will share (perform) their projects as well as talk about their investigations and how they came up with the final product.

Students will also use their band journals to keep track of their progress. Whether these journals are paper or electronic would depend on the school's resources.

1. Music Moves Us - Do you have trouble sitting still when you hear music? So do people around the world! Students will choose a type of musical movement to perform. They will explore its connection to the culture in which it is found. This could be some type of dancing, marching, part of a ceremony or anything they discover. The students will answer questions like:

• Who participates in this kind of movement?
• What are its origins?
• Where can you this music? 
• When does the movement take place?
• What is the role of this kind of movement in the culture?

2.  Folk Tuning-In - Students will choose a piece that they will perform on their instruments. They will then investigate the piece. What are the origins of the piece?

• When was it made? 
• Who was it made for? 
• Does it have a special function in society? 
• Who listens to the piece today? 
• Does the piece have any special significance to the people for whom it was written? How about to the people who listen to it today?

3.  The Musical Spy - Students will choose a culture and explore it. They will then compose an original piece and have it performed. Investigate and undercover the secrets about this people's music. If you were placed into this culture and asked to write a piece of music in order to convince the people of that culture that in fact you are also a member, how would you do it? Students will compose and perform an original folk piece in the culture that they choose to study. Students will answer questions such as:

What are the common trends within the music of this culture?
What are the sounds this culture uses?
What are the performance practices of this culture?