Lyrics of Hazzard
By Kristen Tepfenhardt and Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer
July 22, 2005 1:35 am July 22, 2005 1:35 am
Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site.
Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students consider “popular” music and movies in today’s society. They then devise an updated version of a classic song of their choice for a popular movie and analyze their classmates’ choices.
Kristen Tepfenhardt, The New York Times Learning Network
Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City
Suggested Time Allowance: 1 hour
1. Discuss currently popular music and movies.
2. Consider a mixed-genre song developed for a current movie by reading and discussing “These Musical Genres Are Made for Mashing.”
3. In pairs, select a classic song for a current movie, and devise ways to update the song.
4. Critique their classmates’ song selections and decisions.
Students should write down the answers to these questions with respect to their song choice. They should then briefly prepare to explain to their classmates why they made they choices they did, taking into consideration appropriateness, creativity, performer style, performer popularity, demographics, the movie’s genre, etc.
At the end of class, each pair will “pitch” their song selection to the rest of the class.
4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Students will select a pitch made by another pair of students and use the criteria from the article and from the class activity to evaluate their selection. Is their updated song an appropriate choice for their movie? Would it work? Why or why not?
Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. Benchmarks: Applies reading skills and strategies to a variety of informational texts; Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts; Summarizes and paraphrases complex, implicit hierarchic structures in informational texts, including the relationships among the concepts and details in those structures; Determines the effectiveness of techniques used to convey viewpoint; Supports inferences about information in texts by referring to text features (e.g., vocabulary, text structure)
Music Standard 7- Understands the relationship between music and history and culture. Benchmarks: Knows sources of American music genres (e.g., swing, Broadway musical, blues), the evolution of these genres, and musicians associated with them; Knows various roles that musicians perform (e.g., entertainer, teacher, transmitter of cultural tradition) and representative individuals who have functioned in these roles