Table of Contents Paper – 3 Lessons Song Form – 16 Blues – 20 Three Types of –phony – 24 Instrumentation – 26 Variety Shows – 29 Baroque – 32 Cultural Appropriation – 35 Lieder – 38 Recording Technologies – 41 Tapes – 44 Extended Techniques – 47 Minimalism – 49 Covers Project – 52 Handouts Three Types of –phony – 58 Variety Shows – 59 Baroque – 60 Cultural Appropriation – 61 Recording Technologies – 63 Bibliography – 64 This project outlines a curriculum created to teach high school students through the music of The Beatles. In creating this curriculum I sought to write lessons that follow the Colorado State Standards for music education on the secondary level. The lessons adhere to the standards: teaching about the elements of music, music technology, and music history through The Beatles as a secondary focus for engagement. I chose The Beatles because of their popular appeal and their contributions to the advancement of recording techniques. Each lesson has two prongs: the Colorado state standard and a corresponding selection from The Beatles. This strategy gives the student two lenses through which to absorb the material, and makes connections between different disciplines of music. John Lennon and Paul McCartney began playing music together in their youths, as early as 1957. George Harrison was quick to join the gang on February 6 1958, when he got the chance to show off his skills for John at a show. Richard Starkey, commonly known as Ringo Starr, was the last to join in 1962.1 They boys started out as a rock band playing covers of songs by the likes of Little Richard and Chuck Barry. Lennon and McCartney soon started penning their own music and lyrics, starting with “Please, Please Me” (1962). Within five years of being signed to EMI Records The Beatles had gained international fame, filmed movies, and toured around the world. After releasing the album Revolver the band decided to quit touring due to the volume of their fans being larger than their live performances; plus, the music they were recording used techniques that could not be replicated live. At this point The Beatles retreated to the Abbey Road studios and spent hundreds of hours recording their next album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album changed the course of recording forever by showcasing the possibilities of new microphone placements, interesting instrumentations, and unconventional songwriting and arrangement in a rock and roll setting. 1 Spitz, Bob. The Beatles: The Biography. 2 I use The Beatles because of their tremendous impact on popular music, as well as popular culture. The Beatles' music is tonal and easy to follow, but also encompasses many musical traditions and instrumentations. Their unique timeline as a band, going from touring constantly from 1962-'66, to exclusively recording in the studio 1967-'70, was unheard of. After 1967 The Beatles were able to focus solely on albums, creating what is attributed as being the first concept album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Abundant time in the studio led to great advancements in recording techniques. Today, students are able to create music with hundreds of thousands of sound effects at their fingertips in fantastic computer programs. The Beatles exemplify the evolution of recording technology, by creating many layered and textured pieces of music before these effects were readily available. For these reasons, The Beatles stand out among bands of the 20th Century and exemplify the bridge between art music and popular music. The Beatles recorded within a short span of time, allowing the curriculum to focus on a microcosm of music history. This focuses the students within a decade: a span of time they can grasp as 15 to 18 year old students. This short span of time gives the students a reference point when referring back to other musical periods such as the baroque or romantic. The 1960s were also recent enough that the students can relate to the music and the culture surrounding it, while understanding the consequences of the loose behavior and irresponsible substance abuse. If a student asks about The Beatles alleged drug use I can then point to George Harrison’s lung cancer and John Lennon’s supposed fragile mental state as repercussions of their actions. Writing Lessons To write a cohesive curriculum I created a structure that would be flexible enough to 3 apply to each lesson. Each lesson follows four steps: introduction to new material, guided practice of the new material, individual practice, and then assessment. This outline allows the student to gather information and apply it in a group setting before having to use the material alone. Many of the lessons end with homework assignments that allow students to apply their knowledge outside the classroom. The homework assignments require students to write about music, and allow the teacher to check for understanding of the concepts covered in class. Similarly, each lesson plan follows the same template outlining the classroom set up, materials necessary, background research to perform before class, and then the activity. By following the same steps for each lesson, the plans are cohesive and understandable. Using similar models encourages routines in the classroom. As they become used to the teaching style they will expect the lessons to flow a certain way. For instance, the students will expect to follow along with scores while listening to new pieces, so as to adequately answer my detailed questions. Instead of teaching The Beatles chronologically, I decided to jump from album to album. This was a decision of convenience, as certain songs use pastiche to implicate other musical traditions. For instance, “Piggies” uses baroque style, so I use it to teach about baroque aesthetics. Similarly, Paul McCartney wrote “Honey Pie” and “When I’m 64” with a vaudeville aesthetic in mind, even though they were released on later albums. These song’s functions are rooted in the listener’s understanding of each song’s pastiche. Each lesson seeks to use The Beatles' music as supplementary material to art music or musical concepts. The lessons intentionally cover a wide variety of musical genres and eras so as to draw connections between all the types of music explored and demonstrate how art music and popular music are connected. Unlike much of the music taught in the lessons, The Beatles 4 wrote music and lyrics. The addition of lyrics will help engage students who are better with words than melody, retain the important points of the lessons. The curriculum focuses heavily on The Beatles music after Rubber Soul (1965). This focus happened naturally, owing to the saturation of musical innovation and texture used after 1965. The Beatles were the first major band to quit touring in order to exclusively record music. This focus on recording led to major innovations and experimentation in the recording studio, as well as a broader range of instrumentation, as the band members were no longer expected to perform the pieces live. The earlier lessons cover the earlier albums, as these lessons rely on the western tonal system that The Beatles employed early in their career. Creating a Classroom Culture In creating a curriculum for a hypothetical classroom I had to address who the students would be and what I would expect of them. The first lesson reviews the circle of fifths, time signatures and key signatures, but the rest of the lessons assume a basic knowledge of western notation and elements of music. In this way the first lesson helps the teacher gage the musical knowledge of the class and revise lessons accordingly. Each class of students contains its own strengths and weaknesses, so the lessons need flexibility in order to be practically implemented. The decorations and seating arrangement of the classroom can dictate whether students are productive or distracted learners. Everything on the walls must have purpose, or else the students will get lost in the wall decorations instead of the focus of the lesson. For instance, around the top of the classroom we will have a blank timeline the students will add to as we learn about different periods in music history. This will serve as a quick reference for dates when necessary, but will not detract from an everyday lesson. This “fill-in” method will help the students remember the material, give them a quick reference, but will not overwhelm them with 5 unnecessary information. Many visuals will be created as a class then posted as familiar references. For instance, the lesson on instrumentation asks the class to create lists of adjectives that describe the timbres of different instrument types. This will act as a quick reference when listening to pieces and trying to identify instrumentation. Establishing classroom routines is essential to keeping the class on task and moving forward. On the first day I will play music as the students enter. When I turn the music off I will grab everyone's attention and explain that class will start this way every day. I will ask students to answer a prompt about the entering music and use my eyes to direct their attention to the prompt on the board. The classroom will be set up with four tables or groups of desks and the students will have randomly assigned seating. In addition to group seating I will establish a choral sitting arrangement so that when we sing musical examples, students can sit in the section that caters most appropriately to their vocal range. On the first day they will simply split into male and female and choose the low or high part in that voice. Because they are high school students they may choose their voice part, and as the teacher I may suggest alterations as I see fit.