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Tutorial Videos: Class Piano 1

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Our Class Piano & Piano Pedagogy teaching professor Dr. Janci Bronson has created a YouTube education channel designed to support student virtual learning within group piano and/or private lessons. The educational channel covers the following key topics: beginning keyboard technique, sight-reading, transposition, scales, arpeggios, chords, harmonization, & improvisation. Note: each video comes with closed captions, brief descriptions, suggestions to related videos, and chapters (“show more” under the video description). We hope you may find these supplemental videos helpful to share with your group piano students. We welcome your feedback and suggestions to continue improving the videos.

Material Type: Lesson, Module

Authors: Iowa State University, Janci Bronson

Songwriting and Recording | Media Arts Toolkit

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Jonathan Stovall, now an assistant principal at Adairville School in Logan County, Kentucky, started using songwriting with his fourth-grade math students at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary in Bowling Green and found that student engagement and scores improved so much that he now uses it across grades and subjects. Students learn key concepts in math, science, and other subjects while learning music, creating songs and lyrics, working together, and learning about recording and engineering.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Strange Fruit: Abel and Billie

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This video segment explores how the song Strange Fruit became one of the best-known and most enduring songs of protest. In 1939, the legendary blues singer Billie Holiday performed the song as a daring criticism of the commonplace practice of the lynching of African-Americans. Civil rights groups such as the NAACP had made countless appeals, but it was Holiday’s haunting rendition that made it impossible for white Americans and lawmakers to ignore the widespread crime. A second video segment includes the story of Abel Meeropol, son of Russian Jewish immigrants and a high school English teacher in the Bronx neighborhood where he was born, wrote a poem entitled Strange Fruit. This video discusses how the poem would later be performed by the legendary Billie Holiday as a song of protest, bringing national attention to the crime of lynching. https://opb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/bf09.socst.us.prosp.songborn/abel-meeropol-billie-holiday-and-a-song-born-in-protest/ Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Material Type: Primary Source

Zitkála-Šá | Unladylike2020

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Learn about Zitkála-Šá, also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, a Yankton Sioux author, composer, and indigenous rights activist in this video from the Unladylike2020 series. Taken from her community at age 8 to attend a boarding school as part of the assimilationist policy of the U.S. government to educate Native American youth under the motto: "Kill the Indian to save the man," she used her education to advocate for American Indian rights. She trained as a violinist at the New England Conservatory of Music, and in 1913 wrote the libretto for what is considered the first Native American opera, The Sun Dance Opera. As an author, she published in prestigious national magazines such as Harper’s and The Atlantic, writing about American Indian struggles to retain tribal identities amid pressures to assimilate into European American culture. She joined the Society of American Indians, edited its publication American Indian Magazine, and in 1926 co-founded the National Council of American Indians to lobby for voting rights, sovereignty rights, and the preservation of Native American heritage and ways of life. Support materials include discussion questions, research project ideas, and primary source analysis.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

Let's Use Our Five Senses | Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike

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Learn about the five senses. Mary and Mike are out and about, using their five senses to explore a city park. Mary collects leaves and watches the squirrels busily gathering acorns, while Mike eats snacks from his bag. Back in the studio, they find new ways to make music and even try some improvisation. Special guest, Ms. McCollough, shows us how to make our very own fizzy volcanoes. How will you be brave and curious today? More About This Resource Presented by VPM. Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike uses music and story as the joyful pathway to learning for young children while integrating and modeling the state's new EC learning standards for literacy, math, and social-emotional learning as well as the National Standards for Music Education. The show forges connections across the greater community by featuring guest teachers, artists, musicians, authors, and community members. With every music selection, book selection, and guest spotlight, Mary and Mike strive for a rich, diverse, beautiful representation of all people and cultures. The message to beautiful learners is clear: they are loved, they are valued, and they can do amazing things.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

The Sounds of Cuba | Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike

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Learn about Cuban music. Mary and Mike learn about Cuban culture and music. Gustavo Pellon, a University of Virginia professor originally from Cuba, teaches us about this unique country, tells a childhood story, and shares a poem. Dr. Mike Davison, a trumpet player and University of Richmond professor, plays his trumpet and demonstrates the clave rhythm, the foundation of Cuban music. Come learn with us! More About This Resource Presented by VPM. Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike uses music and story as the joyful pathway to learning for young children while integrating and modeling the state's new EC learning standards for literacy, math, and social-emotional learning as well as the National Standards for Music Education. The show forges connections across the greater community by featuring guest teachers, artists, musicians, authors, and community members. With every music selection, book selection, and guest spotlight, Mary and Mike strive for a rich, diverse, beautiful representation of all people and cultures. The message to beautiful learners is clear: they are loved, they are valued, and they can do amazing things.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

Let's Spin Together | Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike

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Learn to sing a song that reminds us of a big spinning wheel. We will also meet a new instrument that makes its sound by spinning—a hurdy-gurdy! Then watch as our special guest, Ms. Thomas, shows us how to make our very own spinning toy—a whirligig! Come spin with us! More About This Resource Presented by VPM. Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike uses music and story as the joyful pathway to learning for young children while integrating and modeling the state's new EC learning standards for literacy, math, and social-emotional learning as well as the National Standards for Music Education. The show forges connections across the greater community by featuring guest teachers, artists, musicians, authors, and community members. With every music selection, book selection, and guest spotlight, Mary and Mike strive for a rich, diverse, beautiful representation of all people and cultures. The message to beautiful learners is clear: they are loved, they are valued, and they can do amazing things.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

The Sounds of Night | Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike

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Learn about the sounds of the night. Mary and Mike stay up late to explore the magic and music of nighttime. We sing songs about the beauty of the night and a young pianist plays Clair de Lune under the light of the moon. Our friend, Dr. Lerdau, teaches us about nighttime creatures who are making music of their own: owls, crickets, and even plants! Enjoy a lovely evening with us as we discover the simple beauty of our surroundings. More About This Resource Presented by VPM. Songs and Stories with Mary and Mike uses music and story as the joyful pathway to learning for young children while integrating and modeling the state's new EC learning standards for literacy, math, and social-emotional learning as well as the National Standards for Music Education. The show forges connections across the greater community by featuring guest teachers, artists, musicians, authors, and community members. With every music selection, book selection, and guest spotlight, Mary and Mike strive for a rich, diverse, beautiful representation of all people and cultures. The message to beautiful learners is clear: they are loved, they are valued, and they can do amazing things.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

How James Brown Invented Funk | Sound Field

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James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, created the DNA for funk. Musicians LA Buckner and Nahre Sol explore how he created funk music, as well as how Brown's music influenced hip hop. They break down the sound of the genre, and create their own funky original song in the process. Activity: From soul music and R&B, James Brown created a new genre: funk music. Funk, in turn, inspired hip-hop and trap music—genres that give voice to the life experiences of impoverished and oppressed peoples. By examining videos and text and doing research on the links between music and social justice issues, students will be prepared to collaborate on their own socially conscious rap and create a community activity to work for social change.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: PBS Learning Media

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