The sounds of history on PBS Kids Jazz website
March 4, 2009
At the end of African American History Month, I always find myself thinking about how to make the study of African American history a year-long effort rather than a token month of celebration. PBS Kids offers an attractive jazz website for kids that could be used to integrate African American history into a writing, art, or music unit any time of the year. The site complements the terrific selection of beautiful and rhythmic children’s books about jazz greats that are already out there and creates an opportunity to talk about race in the context of musical history.
The PBS Kids Jazz website introduces the basic concepts of jazz. Video clips allow kids to hear working musicians discuss their craft and to listen to variety of jazz styles — bebop, cool jazz, and swing — so kids can observe the differences in rhythm and pacing. Finally, students can try their own hand through Band Leader, an interactive program that allows kids to put different combinations of instruments together to play a jazzy version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Warning: a few poor instrument choices and the clip sounds AWFUL, but kids will love it anyway.
In terms of the history of race, the website allows children to explore the chronology and geography of jazz through interactive time lines. They can also read biographies of seven jazz greats and their roles within the jazz movement and the history of race in America. Throughout the site, women are quite under-represented. You might make up for this shortcoming by pulling from the more robust selection of biographies, as well as audio clips, on the linked companion PBS website for Ken Burns’ Jazz.
Finally, do not miss the lesson plans page, which provides five impressive K-8 plans. It’s exciting and not so common to find high-quality lesson plans that aggressively hit national standards, but also allow kids to engage their creativity and self-expression to learn about music and African American history. Just because February is over, the study of African American history doesn’t have to be. -ABBY MARTIN
Related stuff:
In Motion: The African American Migration Experience
Drop Me Off in Harlem: Learn how people and culture intersected in the Harlem Renaissance
