Voices Across Time: Teaching American History Through Song

FAIN: ES-50181-07

University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA 15260-6133)
Deane L. Root (Project Director: March 2007 to August 2009)

A five-week institute for twenty-five school teachers that would explore topics in American history, including American values and attitudes, through the lens of music.

"Voices Across Time: Teaching American History Through Song" is a five-week summer institute for 25 secondary school teachers to explore topics in American history through the lens of music. Participants will utilize popular songs as primary source documents to enrich discussions of American history, while field trips and authentic performances will offer a uniquely engaging evocation of an historical context. Aided by the perspectives of historians, musicologists, and teaching performers, participants will both strengthen their skills as historians and develop innovative strategies to integrate music into their teaching of American history. This proposal is for a third Institute; previous Institutes were held in 2004 and 2006.