Year 9 Most Influential Musicians

1. Create a powerpoint presentation entitled ‘The Most Influential Musicians of All Time’.

2. Choose one of the following influential musicians or groups of musicians:

Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Radiohead, Nirvana, Madonna, The Notorious B.I.G, Grandmaster Flash, N.W.A., Tupac Shakur, Metallica, R.E.M., Blur, Oasis, Jay-Z, Eminem, Bjork, Coldplay, Kanye West, Michael Jackson, Greenday, The Prodigy

Or other musicians of your choice

3. Using words and images, create a presentation explaining how and why this musician or group of musicians and their music became so influential. 

4. Select one piece of music which best represents their work. This piece of music will be played whilst your presentation is shown to the class.

5. For this reason, make sure that you include all of the relevant information on the screen. Make sure that the text is big enough to read. (The music and presentation will be shown simultaneously without any speech).

6. Your presentation should answer the following questions:

Context

(a) When and where did this musician live?

(b) What was the prevailing cultural, social and political climate at that time and place?

(c) What were the prevailing musical styles at that time and place?

(d) Which other significant musicians were creating music at that time?

Influences

(e) What are the details of the musician’s life?

(f) Which of these things may have led to them becoming musicians?

(g) Which of these things may have led to them pushing boundaries in their music?

(h) Which other musicians may have influenced or mentored them at the time? 

Music

(i) In what style did this musician create their music? How was it similar to existing styles and the music of contemporaneous musicians?

(j) How did the music created by this musician differ from that created by their contemporaries? How did this musician ‘push the boundaries’?