What Do You Use to Play the Blues?

Brief Description

As part of a study of the blues, students will work in groups to design and create a musical instrument and then write a report explaining how their design met the challenge of making music from "found" materials.

Objectives

Students will learn about the blues, develop an understanding of how musical instruments have changed over time, and learn to describe the shapes of a variety of musical instruments.

Keywords

The blues, musical instruments

Materials Needed

Computer with Internet access, Web sites such as Making a Shoe-Box Guitar, Tour the Instruments, and Learn about Instruments, plastic cups, craft sticks, tacks, elastic bands

Lesson Plan

For more information about the history of the blues, see A Brief History of the Blues and How the Blues Affected Race Relations in the United States.

Overview.

Explain to students that:

• The blues, a musical format that originated in the southern United States, developed from work songs sung by slaves.
• Blues musicians sing about life experiences, such as love and the effects of poverty.
• Although blues originated in the United States, the music is known worldwide.
• Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and Muddy Waters are all famous blues singers.
• Today, blues musicians play pianos, drums, and guitars. In the past, they created instruments from whatever materials were available, including pots and washboards.

Focus and Motivate.

Have students look at a picture of a musician playing a guitar. Ask them to name musical forms found in the United States in which guitars are used. Teach.

• Arrange students into groups of four.
• Distribute to each group one plastic cup, several craft sticks, tacks, a ruler, and elastic bands.
• Explain to students that they will solve a problem experienced by early blues musicians by making a musical instrument out of available materials.
• Tell them that after they make the instrument they must prepare a written report and oral presentation that includes the measurements of their instrument, the reasons their group chose a particular design for their instrument, the contemporary instrument that inspired their design, an illustration of the contemporary instrument, and a list of resources they used, including at least three Web sites.

Assessment

Students will be evaluated on the quality of the instrument they create, as well as their written report.

Lesson Plan Source

Submitted by: Clyde Winters, ([email protected]) Bennett-Shedd, Chicago, Illinois

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