LESSON 1: Bamboula: The mixing of African music with the music of Europe and America.

    In this lesson students are exposed to a composition by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a composer of Creole ethnicity from Ante-Bellum New Orleans. Examining the reading will give the teacher sufficient background to assist the students.

    They will hear the selection, respond to it in discussion, read a short scholarly examination of the influence of African music on Gottschalk, and perform a short graded activity.

    The lesson concerns the influence of African musical traditions on pre-jazz music in New Orleans. Later lessons will look at subsequent developments in the genre.

 

OBJECTIVES: Students will

·         Come to appreciate the connections between various styles of music.

·         Appreciate the fact that modern American music developed from earlier forms.

·         Appreciate the contributions of various ethnicities to the development of American music.

·         See that African slaves in America succeeded in maintaining links to their cultural past.

·         Read a selection on the Gottschalk and answer question through justification.

 

MATERIALS NEEDED:

·         CD player or some other method of playing an audio CD.

·         The two CD set Songs of the Lower Mississippi Delta (free from the New Orleans National Jazz Historical Park,  http://www.nps.gov/jazz/index.htm

·         A board or some means of projecting a document.

·         One copy for each student of the reading “Bamboula” .

·         One highlighter per student.

 

ACTIVITIES:

 

1.      Play selection #3,  Bamboula, from Disc 1.

·         Play the piece through one time as students listen

2.      Next, students take out a sheet of paper. The piece is played again. On the second hearing the students are to write down at least five adjectives that they feel describe either the piece or their reaction to it.

·         They are to do this at certain times during the piece. On their paper have them number 1 through 5

Section 1 is the first 15 seconds. This is a section of driving beat reminiscent of the beginning of the African dance.

Section 2 is the next 30 seconds. This section begins to use more European style piano techniques while continuing the strong African influenced beat.

Section 3 is the next 35 seconds. In this section we hear a more traditional piano piece which makes less use of driving rhythm, but has a gentle beauty.

Section 4 is the next 15 seconds. It maintains the European theme, but strongly incorporates the African rhythm.

Section 5 is the remainder of the song, which totals 1 minute 10.

3.      Move to whole class discussion as the adjectives are written on the board or typed into a computer for projection on a screen.

·         Play the song again.

·         At this point the class could engage in a discussion about the song, and their agreement or disagreement with the adjectives they have chosen.

·         The recording could be stopped at the end of each section for discussion. To what extent is there agreement or disagreement among the students? It might also be interesting to discuss the extent to which students with musical training react differently to the piece than students with no training.

4.      At this point the students will read a selection that discusses the influence of African music on Gottschalk. The selection is found under READINGS.

·         Depending upon the academic level of the students, the reading could be done whole class, in groups (this site will randomly arrange a list of student names: http://www.random.org/lists/ ) , or individually.

5.      After reading the selection, students answer the questions given at the end of the reading. The questions have been designed to use with the system of justification using highlighters in which they highlight text as a way of answering the questions.. Instructions are included with the reading. Alternatively, students could simply answer the questions in the usual method of writing answers.

6.      After grading the exercise, or after completion and before grading, the song could be played again for another discussion now that the students have greater understanding. It might be interesting to play the song again to see if students’ view of the song has changed.