“[Of slave songs:] Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.”
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ch. 2 (1845)
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged black history, music, united states history
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Chuck Berry. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. The sparest of introductions to this musical innovator, but one nonetheless that notes his influence on The Beatles and Bob Dylan.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review
“Wayne Shorter: (1933-2023) U.S. saxophonist and composer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he studied at New York University, He played with Art Blakey’s group 1959-64, acting as its musical director, then joined Miles Davis’s remarkable mid-1960s group, including Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams. In 1970, he and Joe Zawinul formed Weather Report, the most significant jazz-rock ‘fusion’ band of the 1970s, with bassist Jaco Pastorius. He has written many distinctive jazz standards.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
“Teddy Wilson (originally Theodore Shaw) (1912-1986) U.S. pianist and bandleader, the principal pianist of the swing era. Born in Austin, Texas, he began recording as the leader of small groups in 1935. These recordings, which featured Billie Holiday, are classics of small-group swing. Wilson joined Benny Goodman’s trio in 1936. After 1940 he worked primarily as a leader of small groups or as a solo pianist, showcasing his tasteful and refined amalgam of the styles of Fats Waller, Earl Hines, and Art Tatum.”
Excerpted from: Macey, David. The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory. New York: Penguin, 2001.
Posted in Independent Practice, Quotes, Reference
Tagged black history, music, readings/research, united states history
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Scott Joplin. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two relatively simple sentences and two comprehension questions. Just the basics on this innovative and groundbreaking African American pianist and composer.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Posted in Announcement, New York City
Tagged black history, film/television/photography, music, united states history
This week’s Text is a lesson plan on William Blake’s poem, from his book Songs of Innocence and Experience, “The Chimney Sweeper.” I started with Blake in high school, after learning of Allen Ginsberg’s (I was seriously into The Beats in those years) affinity for Blake and hearing The Fugs sing “How Sweet I Roam’d” and “Ah! Sunflower,” and have read him ever since.
Blake’s lyrics lend themselves to music, so Greg Brown’s record of Songs and Innocence and Experience came as little surprise to me when he released it in 1986. In researching this post, I was also not surprised to learn that Benjamin Britten composed a song cycle of Blake’s texts, Songs and Proverbs of William Blake.
In this suite of poems, to my mind, “The Chimney Sweeper” has always stood out. It still nearly brings me to tears every time I encounter it.
This Cultural Literacy worksheet on William Blake (half-page, four-sentence reading, three comprehension questions) opens this lesson. Of course you’ll need a copy the poem itself; and finally, here is the analysis and comprehension worksheet I prepared for the lesson.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
OK–after eight weeks of drafting these posts, this week’s Text is seventh and final lesson plan of a unit on writing reviews. Since this lesson concludes the unit and turns students loose to write their reviews, I have included four Cultural Literacy worksheets as do-now exercises with the idea that students will need at least four days to write and revise their compositions. So here are those documents on hyperbole, nuance, analogy, and paraphrase. Each of these worksheet is a half-page long with short readings and three or fewer comprehension questions.
At this point in the unit, students should have their thoughts on their review outlined, and, therefore, in a final state of organization. So this short organizer is the worksheet for this lesson, and simply asks students a few final clarifying questions on their planned paper. This is for their benefit, and one final clarifying exercise.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Here, in this Weekly Text, is sixth lesson plan, the penultimate lesson of the a seven-lesson unit on writing reviews. This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on cliche, the utility of which in a lesson on writing reviews I’ll assume needs no explanation. There are two worksheets for this lesson: the first is a mentor text on outlining; the second is a structured outlining worksheet.
And that it’s for this week. Come back next week for the final lesson in this unit.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Brian and Eddie Holland (originally Edward): U.S. songwriters and producers. In 1962 the Detroit-born brothers Brian (b.1941) and Eddie (b.1939) formed a team with Lamont Dozier (b.1941) which subsequently created a series of hits for almost every artist on the Motown label, and helped define its characteristic sound through blending elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues with elaborate arrangements. Their songs include ‘Baby Love,’ ‘Stop! In the Name of Love’ (two of the seven number one hits they wrote for the Supremes), ‘Heat Wave,’ ‘Baby I Need Your Loving,’ and dozens of other hit for such artists as Marvin Gaye and the Temptations.”
Excerpted/Adapted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
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