Using Music in the Social Studies Classroom
Enhancing the History Lesson Plan With Period Songs and Other Tunes
Nov 27, 2008
The use of music in the history classroom has many advantages. Music represents another teaching methodology that particularly favors auditory learners. Musical pieces are original sources that tell a story or relay an opinion. Song lyrics enhance particular perspectives that may reinforce other forms of classroom instruction. Interspersing music into the lesson plan adds variety and spice to everyday learning.
From Revolutionary War to the Civil War
Everyone is familiar with Yankee Doodle and teachers have used this song very creatively to highlight popular culture during the Revolution. But equally interesting is The Battle of the Kegs, written by Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. While the period of the War of 1812 also offers a number of interesting songs, it is the Star Spangled Banner that enables teachers to incorporate music.
A number of good CDs reflect period music. Anonymous 4’s recent releases Gloryland and American Angels contain wonderfully sung folk songs, spirituals, and Gospel hymns. American Angels features selections from the 18th and 19th centuries including Amazing Grace, Shall We Gather at the River, and Sweet By and By. Digital History, a resource for teachers, offers an archive of historical music as well as other multimedia. Many good websites specializing in particular fields of American History include links to period music and songs.
Civil War songs are available on a number of CDs. Songs of the Civil War on the Columbia label contains an excellent selection of popular folk and war tunes reflective of both North and South. No More Auction Block For Me, for example, can be used to discuss the issues of slavery and emancipation. Oh I'm A Good Old Rebel, written after the war, has a certain shock value when discussing the short term effects of the Civil War.
Twentieth Century
National Public Radio’s “Milestones of the Millennium” series includes a CD focusing on “The Great War.” Highlighting classical pieces of the time period, the disc also features popular tunes like Over There and Alexander’s Ragtime Band. When studying the Roaring Twenties, the use of Jazz helps students to better visualize the significant changes in American culture at that time. Teachers should also consider YouTube. The classic cartoon, I Wanna Singa, though created after the twenties, is a brief way to introduce the social conflicts regarding Jazz.
World War II and the Vietnam War offer rich sources of music and song, from Let’s Remember Pearl Harbor to the Ballad of the Green Berets, popularized by the John Wayne movie of 1968. Allow students to compare the lyrics and the tone of this song with any number of popular anti-war songs written at the same time as an analytical exercise enjoyed by students because it legitimizes youth culture.
European History
The use of music when studying European History is equally as rewarding. No study of the 16th Century should be complete without comparing emerging Protestant hymns such as Luther’s A Mighty Fortress with the medieval Gregorian Chant. The weekly radio show Harmonia maintains a web site with hundreds of archived topics such as When Johaan Comes Marching Home Again (May, 2005), a brief segment detailing the relationship between music and the Thirty Years’ War. The site is full of very useful music/history topics.
While using La Marseillaise when teaching the French Revolution enlivens the experience, the brief scene in the film Casablanca illustrating the power of this national anthem adds another dimension to the on-going impact of the French experience in 1789. Classical music helps students to feel the time period. The final scene of Immortal Beloved focusing on Beethoven's Choral Movement of his Ninth Symphony is a powerful statement of Romanticism.
Music in the Classroom
Music in the history classroom is a fun and creative way to expand instructional goals. If history is, in part, the story of innumerable lives, then their music must be a part of the discussion. Additionally, the use of music complements music appreciation courses and allows students to bridge the curriculum, connecting concepts and points in various disciplines.
 |
