Podcast 4
In Tune: The Many Voices of The Guitar
What Students Will Do:
- Explore historical developments of the guitar as seen in the design changes, playing styles, and recording techniques of modern guitar music.
- Learn about guitar sounds and textures that are associated with blues, country, jazz, and heavy metal music
National Music Education Standards Addressed:
- Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
- Standard 7: Evaluating music and music performances
- Standard 9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture
Time/Materials Required:
- 15-20 minutes
- Digital media player or computer access to the Internet
Activity Summary:
Like many popular instruments, the guitar has evolved and experienced many design developments over the years. These changes emphasize the versatility of the guitar and explain why it has become such an important instrument in today's musical compositions. In this activity, students will hear examples from a wide variety of guitar types, playing styles, and digital processing effects that are associated with popular musical genres, such as jazz, country, punk rock, heavy metal, and blues. Students will also be asked to listen critically to various guitar arrangements and describe compositional techniques use in their production.
Download Audio Activity and Worksheet:
Click on the link below to download and listen to this activity. Print the student worksheet and distribute to students; instruct them to input their answers while listening to the activity.
Click here to download this podcast
Click here to download Student Worksheet
Click here to download Teacher Worksheet (Student Worksheet with answers)
Vocabulary:
acoustic guitar: a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but generally strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound.
blues: a genre of African American music that often expresses sadness, frustration, or longing
distortion: a deformation of an audio waveform which can create a desired effect in electrical guitar music.
electric guitar: a guitar whose sound is amplified by electrical means.
phrase: a musical thought-a series of pitches that make sense.
pitch: the highness or lowness of a sound determined by its frequency of vibration.
register: the high, middle, or low section of the vocal or instrumental range.
slide guitar: a technique for playing the guitar in which a slide is placed upon the string to vary its vibrating length, and pitch.
texture: the way sounds are woven together.
waveform: a graphic representation of the shape of a sound wave.
Additional Teaching Strategies
Use the activity vocabulary and Web link resources as a discussion motivator, or the extension activity as an engaging, in-class project.
Extension Activity:
Early blues music, called Delta blues, typically featured solo performers and acoustic, rather than electric, guitars. As people flocked to cities and electricity became more widespread, electric guitars became more common. Artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf assembled popular blues ensembles that included electric guitars. With the class, research the history of blues music within the context of urbanization. In addition to the shift from acoustic to electric guitars, what other blues changes did urbanization encourage? To find out, take a look at shifts in subject matter, arrangement of compositions, number of performers involved, amplification, recording, dress styles of artists, and venues. Find examples of visual artists, such as Jacob Lawrence, who also addressed the urbanization movement in their work.
Web Link Resources:
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