Summary
Students will explore the lives of a variety of jazz musicians and become familiar with the social and historical events that were current during the life times of these musicians. They will listen to and become familiar with examples of the different musical styles of the artists. The lesson will conclude with a talk show that the students create and original music performed spotlighting the lives and styles of these musicians.
TIPC Ratings
Student groups constructed interview questions they wanted to “ask” the musicians they were researching. These questions were a part of the talk show they created. Students had to find their own reliable resources to research and organize this information to meet the requirements of the assignment. The students had to present this information in a different format depending on which role they had; either musician or talk show hosts. Sources were cited. Students created original works of music that would be appropriate to the information and styles of the musicians researched.
Students formed their groups and collaboratively created their own questions to ask their selected musicians. They then assigned roles to each student, that of hosts or musicians. They designed their talk show and determined which digital tool was best for communicating their researched information to the public. Each “talk show” was viewed and evaluated by the students.
Groups created their own questions, according to their research, that would be appropriate to the talk show format. They created original works of music according to the researched style of each musician. These questions and music were then applied to their assignment allowing each musician to “come alive” for their audience. The hosts of each show had to ask the questions created by the group in the best possible way to gather the desired answers from the musicians. The student “musicians” had to “know” their musician and his/her style in order to answer the questions asked with the appropriate responses.
Students created their own talk show in which “musicians” were interviewed. Each student in a group assumed either the role of a talk show host or a musician. The hosts of the talk shows had to assemble the questions and ask the questions in a manner in which the information required was gathered. Those assuming the roles of the musicians had to be aware of all aspects of their musicians’ lives in order to answer the hosts’ questions. Original works of music were created by the students to accompany their musicians and represent their musicians’ style. This music was performed during the talk show taping.
Student Artifact
Miles Davis Interview from HCPS Instructional Technology on Vimeo.
