Music.
Music was a crucial element in maintaining feelings of hope during the war. Through the study of the music of the time, students can get a palpable sense of what it was like to live through the time.
- Patriotic Music was the most popular genre of music during the war. This lesson helps students identify what elements made a song patriotic and helps them compare songs from the 1940s to those from today.
- I’ve got the Blues! takes students through the 12-bar blues form, helps them compose their own 12-bar blues lyrics and to compare the problems of the 1940s to problems of today.
- Listen Up! Swinging with Some Big Bands helps students analyze the instrumentation, formal structure and stylistic characteristics of the most popular music in the 40s – jazz.
- Swing Your Partner, It’s a Virtual Square Dance. While jazz was the most popular form of music, there were growing audiences for country music and western swing. This lesson allows students to design a virtual square dance.