Teacher Pages

RELATIVE Sam Gilliam, 1967

Objectives:

Students will recognize style and form of the listening and dance units Students will be able to identify the use of improvisation within the artwork and jazz listening units Students will be able to identify the instrumentation of the great jazz groups of the twentieth century.

ART

Studio Activity
Some research should be carried out into different methods of suface fabric decoration in preparation for the studio activity.

Students will look at samples of different fabrics and explore the various properties of each.
Students to decide on the fabric they wish to choose for their own hanging.

Various methods of decoration, such as painting with dyes, tie-dyeing, batik, stamping and relief printing to be considered, and one or more methods chosen to decorate the fabric.

Students engage in folding and draping the fabric, before hanging their piece on a suitable surface.
All pieces should be hung together so that consideration can be given to the composition of the whole as well as the individual piece.

Assessment
Ask students to apply appropriate vocabulary terms, applicable in both art and music to describe the wall hanging, such as: improvisation, harmony, unity, rhythm, variety, form. Students should have a clear understanding of how these terms relate to the piece.
Ask students how the work they have done resembles a performance and elicit the depth of understanding they show in relating this to performance in music and dance.

Enrichment
Have students use their group hanging as a background for a dance performance, which they choreograph to fit in with the mood and color of the artwork.

Explore the work of the artist Claes Oldenberg with particular reference to "Clarinet Bridge', a soft sculpture. Compare his fabric work with that of Sam Gilliam.

MUSIC

Listening and Dance:

Listening: Excerpts from "The Smithsonian Collections of Classic Jazz."
To include: Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five "West End Blues."
Benny Goodman Trio "Body and Soul." (Listen to a sound clip here)
Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra "He's Funny That Way."
Ella Fitzgerald "You'd Be so Nice To come Home to."
Count Basie and His orchestra "Doggin Around." Sonny Rollins Quartet "Blue 7."

Dance:
Rock and Roll and Locomotion Unit: "Dance Hits Through The Decades," Hal Leonard Publishers.
(Listen to a sound clip here)

Reading:
A history of Jazz Taken from http://encarta.msn.com

Procedure:
Engage the students in finding web sites that give the historical background of the main performers (e.g. Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins)

Engage the students in a dance unit on Rock and Roll and The Locomotion, using music from the 1960's era.

Listen to the musical performances and discuss the instrumentation that was used in each performance.

Discuss how jazz became one of the most popular forms of musical expression for the African American people.

Bring into the classroom an African American speaker to engage the students in a conversation about the historical and cultural events that took place in America in the twentieth century.

Assessment:
Have students work in groups to write a description of the similarities between the artwork and the listening units.

Have students write a paragraph on what they understand "improvisation" to mean (relating it to art and music.)