American Music History Museum Project

The Smithsonian Museum of American History is opening space for an exhibit about American Music. The Smithsonian Institution hopes to answer visitors’ questions such as:

• What are the earliest styles of music developed in America?
• Where did Jazz come from?
• How did American music change over time?
• What styles of American music are most important to the world?
• Where did Rock, Hip Hop, and Go-Go come from?
• Who are the most important American artists?

Your assignment will be to create a museum exhibit that answers these questions. Choose a modern artist/genre and trace the development of that artist’s musical traits throughout four time periods in American music history. Your exhibit will be on display in the classroom. The finished product needs to be a group of physical objects (photos, records, cds, articles of clothing, instruments, sheet music, etc) with labels explaining why each of these objects is important to the development of American music.

This project will take 9 days in class to complete. You will create an action plan to help you produce all of the parts of your project. You will have to work in class and at home to complete this project.

Deliverables:

• Proposal
• Thesis
• Draft of museum placards
• Museum Exhibit