Introduction to Jazz: 1920s and 1930s

6th grade combined class

Day 1 of Unit 4
Beginning of Decades Sequence- 3 days of 20s-30s, then Blues
Standards
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and
disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
MU:Re7.2.6b: Identify the context of music from a variety of genres,
cultures, and historical periods.
MU:Cn10.0.6a: Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate
to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and
responding to music.
MU:Cn11.0.6a: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between
music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily
life.
Objectives
-Students will be able to make connections between the history of the
1920s and 1930s and how cultural changes and music affected one
another.
-Students will dance a modified Charleston and Swing Dance, and
understand how these dance related to the time periods and styles of
music.
Procedures
1. Students will listen to In the Mood or West End Blues while
walking in and finding a seat on the floor.
2. Students will share what prior knowledge they have about the
history of the 1920s, including information about the Industrial
Revolution, The Great War (WWI) ending in 1918, women acquiring the
right to vote in 1919, (prohibition 1919-1933), media and technology
developments, and fashions changing parallel to the changes in music.
3. Students will watch video clip with era clothing, music technology,
and Charleston dance moves, then learn the Charleston and dance to
Charleston recording.
4. Students will share what prior knowledge they have about the
history of the 1930s, including information about The Great
Depression, Black Tuesday and the Stock Market Crash, being in the
black and in the red, and bread lines and job lines. Students will vote in
a class poll on whether they think the music reflected times in the
mood- happier or sadder?
5. Students will watch video clip of 30s-style swing dance and notice
similarities and differences with the Charleston. Students will learn

swing dance and have a guided instruction of the optional move, the
pretzel, and will listen to the safety instructions for that move.
Students will dance Swing to Take the A Train.
6. Students will review facts about the 20s and the 30s and the
connections to the dances, music, and other cultural developments of
the time.
Assessment
Assessment is formative in this lesson, continuous and throughout,
asking students to vocalize connections that they are making between
history and music, and assessing their understanding visually as they
respond to the dance moves.
Continuation
This lesson is the beginning in a sequence of decades lessons,
connecting history and culture to music. Students will continue to learn
dances from different time periods, and learn more in the next lesson
about composers and stylistic changes throughout the 1920s and
1930s.

Continuation on Jazz: 1920s and 1930s

6th grade combined class
Day 2 of Unit 4
Second Day of first decades Sequence- 3 days of 20s-30s, then Blues
Standards
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and
disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
MU:Re7.2.6b: Identify the context of music from a variety of genres,
cultures, and historical periods.
MU:Cn10.0.6a: Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate
to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and
responding to music.
MU:Cn11.0.6a: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between
music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily
life.
MU:Re8.1.6a: Describe a personal interpretation of how creators and
performers application of the elements of music and expressive
qualities, within genres and cultural and historical context, convey
expressive intent.
MU:Re9.1.6a: Apply teacher-provided criteria to evaluate musical works
or performances.
MU:Pr4.2.6c: Identify how cultural and historical context inform the
performances
Objectives
Students will be able to make connections between the history of the
1920s and 1930s and how cultural changes and music affected one
another.
Students will dance a modified Charleston and Swing Dance, and
understand how these dance related to the time periods and styles of
music.
Students will learn about George Gershwins life and impact on music,
and will sing his most popular songs from the 20s and 30s.
Students will listen to Rhapsody in Blue and find ways that jazz and
classical symphony music came together.

Procedures
1. Students will listen to Summertime performed by Ella Fitzgerald,
as they walk in, and will discuss Ella Fitzgeralds relationship to jazz
and scat singing (How High the Moon excerpt) and will learn that
George Gershwin composed this song for the opera Porgy and Bess.
2. Students will review history and culture of the 1920s and 1930s,
and will review the corresponding dances.
3. Students will learn about the composer George Gershwin, his life,
and the changes he made to jazz music and treatment of symphonic
composing.
3. Students will sing Gershwins top hits from each of the decades,
Swanee and Ive Got Rhythm.
4. Students will watch the Fantasia video of Raphsody in Blue,
making connections to the Great Depression and Swing musics role in
society, while listening for the merging of jazz and symphony.
Assessment
Assessment is formative in this lesson, continuous and throughout,
asking students to vocalize connections that they are making between
history and music, and assessing their understanding visually as they
respond to the dance moves.
Continuation
This lesson reviews and expands upon the previous lesson learned
about history and culture of the 1920s and 1930s, and the dancing
and music of that time. In the next lesson, students will learn a new
dance and use it to bridge what they know about dancing from the
1920s and 1930s as well as what they know about contemporary
dancing. That lesson will connect jazz of the 1920s and 1930s to early
blues and 12-bar blues form.

Introduction to the Blues

6th grade combined class
Day 3 of Unit 4
Third day of first decades Sequence
Standards
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and
disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
MU:Re7.2.6b: Identify the context of music from a variety of genres,
cultures, and historical periods.
MU:Cn10.0.6a: Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate
to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and
responding to music.
MU:Cn11.0.6a: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between
music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily
life.
MU:Re7.2.6a: Describe how the elements of music and expressive
qualities relate to the structure of the pieces.
MU:Re8.1.6a: Describe a personal interpretation of how creators and
performers application of the elements of music and expressive
qualities, within genres and cultural and historical context, convey
expressive intent.
MU:Pr4.2.6c: Identify how cultural and historical context inform the
performances.
Objectives
Students will dance the Charleston Stomp and find connections
between this dance and the dances that they learned previously, as
well as connections to modern line dances, such as the Cupid Shuffle.
Students will learn about early blues artists and style, and will figure
out what the lyric form of a blues is.
Students will sing the roots for a 12-bar blues and then learn a walking
bassline for the 12-bar blues on their real piano apps.
Procedures
1. Students will learn the Charleston Stomp to and connect it to the
dances they have learned from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as
connect it to contemporary line dances such as The Cupid Shuffle.

2. Students will listen for lyric structure in Sweet Home Chicago,

performed by Roosevelt Sykes.
3. Students will learn about the rote tradition used in early blues, and
how Robert Johnsons music was preserved and passed down for later
artists to perform with the same or developed style.
4. Students will connect lyric form to the harmonic form of a 12-bar
blues. Students will learn how to use roman numerals.
5. Students will sing the roots of a 12-bar blues using numbers then
note names.
6. Students will learn the blues progression on their real piano apps,
playing the roots together as a class, then practicing the walking
bassline pattern on their own before playing as a class.
Assessment
Assessment is formative in this lesson, continuous and throughout,
asking students to vocalize connections that they are making between
history and music, and assessing their understanding visually as they
respond to the dance moves. Constant monitoring happens while
students have their iPads, walking around during independent practice
time and leading while listening for unison playing at other times.
Continuation
This lesson will continue into a blues composition unit in the next
rotation, where students will compose their own blues lyrics and
perform them in their own blues bands comprised of digital, electric,
or acoustic instruments.