Civil War Songs Performance

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

5

Overview

In this activity, students will study the music of the Civil War to identify social, economic, and political conditions that affected the citizens of the United states during the Civil War. Students will explain how a performer performs a piece of music differently when he/she knows the social, cultural, or historical background of the piece.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 5 - Music

AE17.MU.5.10

Explain how context (such as social, cultural, and historical) informs performances.

UP:AE17.MU.5.10

Vocabulary

Rhythm
Melody
  • Pitch set: Do-centered diatonic
  • Treble clef reading (choral octavos)
  • Grand staff
  • Bass clef
  • Accidentals
  • Major scale
Harmony
  • Part singing/ playing
  • Chord progression (I, IV, V)
  • Arpeggio
  • Descant
  • Level bordun
Form
  • Rondo form
  • 12-Bar blues
Expression
  • Vibrato
  • Tremolo
  • Reggae
  • Blues
  • Timbre: soprano, alto, tenor, bass
Other
  • Age-appropriate audience and performer etiquette
  • Age-appropriate pitch matching (Ab3-F5)

Essential Questions

EU: Performers make interpretive decisions based on their understanding of context and expressive intent
EQ: How do performers interpret musical works?

Skills Examples

Performing
  • Sing a varied repertoire with accurate rhythm and pitch, appropriate expressive qualities, proper posture and breath control.
  • Sing intervals on pitch within a major diatonic scale.
  • Perform melodies on recorder while reading standard and/or iconic music notation.
  • Perform, on instruments, a varied repertoire with accurate rhythm and pitch, appropriate expressive qualities, proper posture and breath control.
  • Sing partner songs to create harmony.
  • Sight-read and prepare a performance.
Creating
  • Demonstrate appropriate use of legato and staccato in a song.
  • Create a personal playlist and explain why each piece was selected.
  • Improvise, compose and arrange music.
  • Use technology and the media arts to create and perform music.
Reading/ Writing
  • Read, write, and perform rhythms in 2/4, 3/4.
    • 4/4. and 6/8 meter signatures using whole notes through sixteenth notes, including dotted notes.
  • Read, write and perform diatonic melodies and the major scale on the treble clef staff.
  • Identify tempo markings such as allegro, presto, largo, and andante.
  • Identify ledger-line notes A, B, and C above the treble clef staff.
  • Identify whole and half steps of the major diatonic scale in printed music.
  • Recognize the difference between major and minor tonalities.
  • Write program notes to accompany performances.
Responding/ Evaluating
  • Discuss melodic and harmonic elements used in a piece of music.
  • Explain how a performer performs a piece of music differently when he/she knows the social, cultural, or historical background of the piece, (e.g., How does knowing the history of the American Civil Rights Movement affect the performance of "We Shall Overcome?"
  • Demonstrate appropriate audience etiquette at live performances.
  • Write performance reviews of performances.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
SS10.5.11

Learning Objectives

  • The students will compare and contrast the lyrics of Civil War songs from the North and the South.
  • The students will identify social, economic, and political conditions that affected the citizens of the Civil War.

Activity Details

1. Explain to the students that during the Civil War music became somewhat of a diversion for both the Northern and Southern troops.  Popular songs from the Civil War ranged from patriotic melodies for marching, songs for rallying the troops, and ballads that reflected the soldiers’ longing for home.

2. Then tell students they will choose a song from the Civil War to research.  They should be able to identify the song as one of the following: rallying song, recruiting song, popular entertainment song, campfire song, or patriotic song. The students should also be able to identify the song as Union or Confederate, or both.

Provide students with appropriate and approved links to listen to other songs from the Civil War.  (Links can be shared with students using an online bulletin board tool such as Padlet.com)

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Eatin' Goober Peas

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp

3. Have the students explain how a performer would perform the song they chose differently knowing the social, cultural, or historical background of the song.  Example: If it is a battlecry or rally - "How does that change the way they might sing or play the song?"

Assessment Strategies

Students will complete a Civil War Music Data sheet to identify their song, which side sang their song and list their sources used in research. 

Civil War Music Data Sheet - from The Kennedy Center ARTSEDGE. This is a free digital resource.

Students should also be assessed on their responses to the question, "How would a performer perform the song they choose differently depending on the type of song and the purpose of the song?" (i.e. Is it a rallying song, a campfire song, a battlecry, etc.) Students can respond orally or can write their responses in a journal or a separate sheet of paper. 

Variation Tips

This lesson can be extended by having students choose a song to perform as a soloist or in a group.  Students can sing, play an instrument, or choreograph a dance.  

This lesson can be adapted to study other time periods in history with prominent musical influences such as the Jazz Age of the 1920s or the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.  Students will identify the historical significance of the musician and/or song they choose to perform. 

 

Background / Preparation

The teacher should create a Padlet.com page to share links to appropriate and approved research sites for the project. Padlet is a free application to create an online bulletin board that you can use to display information for any topic.  

Example Padlet Page for Civil War Songs

Teachers can use the link for the example padlet page above with their classes, but teachers will not have access to edit or change links on the provided padlet.  If teachers create their own padlet, they can update links as needed and provide other resources specific to their own classroom. 

Teacher should also make copies of the Civil War Music Data Sheet before the lesson. 

Padlet
http://www.padlet.com

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

asiahester1
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