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__ The importance of African Spirituals in the Classroom __

My unit was about the important role that African spirituals have played in the creation of the genres of Jazz and Blues, and why they have continued to be an important part of standard choral repertoire in a school setting today. We explored the practical uses of spirituals during the Underground Railroad, and how their messages can be interpreted in a variety of ways so they can be meaningful to a wide range of people.

__A Band of Angels__ by Deborah Hopkinson This book is a story about a woman, Ella Sheppard, who was born into slavery and was inspired greatly in her life by music. She was released from slavery upon the ending of the Civil War and traveled to Nashville to go to school for music. Through hard work and dedication, she became part of the school's chorus which began to travel in the North in order to raise money to keep the school afloat. The choir became known as the Jubilee Singers and they became famous for their singing of African spirituals. I've chosen to add this book to the lesson because it shows the importance of slave songs even outside of the context of the literal escape. It helps to display, from an emotional standpoint, why spirituals are still used as a standard part of choral repertoire today.

__Under the Quilt of Night__ by Deborah Hopkinson This book is an illustration driven journey of a young girl on her escape from slavery. It follows her from the night of her escape, all the way through to her freedom and every step in between. It is told from the point of view of the young girl, so between the words and the illustrations, it shows the emotions of someone who was running from slavery. The book includes beautiful illustrations which start of dark, and end with a bright sunburst, symbolizing the journey from the bound life of slavery, to freedom. I chose to use this book because although it only includes a small portion about music and singing, many of the codes used in spirituals are found in this book, and it would be a good tool to use as an example of how codes were used in a practical setting.

__Follow the Drinking Gourd__ by Jeanette Winter This is a book told from the point of view of an Underground Railroad conductor and the slaves that he is helping, and turns the slave song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" into a story. Peg Leg Joe is a man who spends his life teaching slaves the escape songs including "Follow the Drinking Gourd", and giving them signals and signs for how to escape to Canada. A group of slaves hear the call to escape and follow the signs from the song like the dead trees, and the peg foot. This would be a great book to use in conjunction with this lesson because it is full of messages and codes, and gives insight into how the songs were used.

__Freedom Roads: Searching the Underground Railroad__ by Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan

This is a non fiction book that explores many different facets of the underground railroad including a full chapter on spirituals. The book gives examples of several slave songs and the different practical uses that they had during the time of slavery, from escape, to prayer. It also discusses the codes that were embedded into the songs to help in escape and gives some of the possible deconstructions of these codes.This is a very useful book for this lesson because it uncovers many different aspects of the Underground Railroad and shows the importance that music played in it.

The last text I would use in my lessons are lyrics to popular slave songs, and songs made popular by the Jubilee Singers and Sweet Honey in the Rock. These songs would display the messages that were significant over one hundred years ago, and by making comparisons with some of the newer works, show why we still find them important messages today. Lyrics I would include would be "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", "Follow the Drinking Gourd", "Wade in the Water", "Oh Freedom", and "Im Gon Stand", to name a few. These texts can all be interpreted in different ways and they would be a great way to enjoy music while learning how to get a positive message from song.

Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching Music MUSEUM BOX The first tool I would like to use for students would be Museum Box. It is a tool where students can describe an event, create time lines, and place images and information together in an organized fashion. It seems like a very simple program to use and allows for students to organize their thoughts in a way that can be easily accessed and then shared with their peers. I would use this because it is a great way for students to collaborate and share their ideas. []

ClassTools.net is a website where students can create interactive time lines. Students can add pictures, and links to videos and mp3's to enhance their timeline. This tool could be used to create time lines related to the Underground railroad in connection with other historic events happening at the same time, or the way that spirituals fit into American music history. []
 * CLASS TOOLS **

Web Resources for Educators

[] This is where I got the original idea for lesson plan involving slave codes embedded in spirituals. There are many great tools for lesson plans on tons of different subjects on this site.

[] This is the website for the founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock. Her website has links to her music, stories, and projects.

[] This is a website that could be used as a companion to this whole unit. It covers every aspect of the African American spiritual. It follows the full history of this music and has links, and music to accompany it and enrich the resource.

[|www.youtube.com] Youtube has thousands of videos of just about any spiritual that could be thought of, as well as several videos that are historical journeys including pictures and audio that document events on the underground railroad.