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Essential Question:
Essential Question:
How can music be used to fight against oppression and injustice?
How can music be used to fight against oppression and injustice?
Photo credits: Gabe Tiano
Photo credits: Gabe Tiano
Gabe Tiano is a San Diego native photographer and videographer who has been active in documenting recent protests and raising funds for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs are by Gabe Tiano and are used with permission.
Throughout US history, the disenfranchised have used music as a vehicle to promote their point of view. In this project, there will be three angles of inquiry from the viewpoints of history, science, and music. In their U.S. History course, students will explore examples of protest music in American history and its relationship to the societal and cultural movements which were present at a given time. In their 8th grade science course, students will investigate the physics concepts behind the creation of sound and the reasons that different sound waves produce music which has unique qualities. Finally, in their music course, students will compose a piece of protest music with lyrics that relates to a personal, current or past struggle of a marginalized group of people. They will also create either a video or an image to serve as the album cover for their piece of music.
Throughout US history, the disenfranchised have used music as a vehicle to promote their point of view. In this project, there will be three angles of inquiry from the viewpoints of history, science, and music. In their U.S. History course, students will explore examples of protest music in American history and its relationship to the societal and cultural movements which were present at a given time. In their 8th grade science course, students will investigate the physics concepts behind the creation of sound and the reasons that different sound waves produce music which has unique qualities. Finally, in their music course, students will compose a piece of protest music with lyrics that relates to a personal, current or past struggle of a marginalized group of people. They will also create either a video or an image to serve as the album cover for their piece of music.
This project encourages students to engage in activism by imagining themselves as artists addressing injustice and inequality in the hopes that their work will draw more attention to an issue or inspire change in a peaceful manner. Similarly, professional musicians who compose protest music would accomplish this goal by undertaking the same process; they would compose, record, and promote their own original protest music after identifying an issue in society that demonstrated injustice. A professional musician would also include imagery in the form of an album cover or a video which could be posted to social media or marketed.
This project encourages students to engage in activism by imagining themselves as artists addressing injustice and inequality in the hopes that their work will draw more attention to an issue or inspire change in a peaceful manner. Similarly, professional musicians who compose protest music would accomplish this goal by undertaking the same process; they would compose, record, and promote their own original protest music after identifying an issue in society that demonstrated injustice. A professional musician would also include imagery in the form of an album cover or a video which could be posted to social media or marketed.
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