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Grades 7–12
6 Sessions: 55 Minutes Each
Informational, Media, Narrative, Persuasive
Resource type iconProjects

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Motown Music & History

by Andrea Cisneros, Jeff Shi, Daniel Reck, & Frances Martin, 826michigan
1. Genre Study of Liner Notes
2. Listening Party
3. Close-Reading Lyrics
4. Research
5. Writing!
6. Revising, Editing, and Sharing
Students will use music as a lens to learn about a historical period and research primary and secondary sources to write their own liner notes.
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Genre Study of Liner Notes

In this session, students are introduced to the unit and conduct primary research on the genre of music liner notes; the class will work together to develop a list of genre conventions.
What Your Students Will Learn

We’ll be studying Motown music and diving deep into understanding the musicality, lyrics, and social and political factors that brought this music into being in a specific time and place. Because of the way history and music shape each other, music is a great lens for learning about different historical time periods and social movements. It is also interesting to learn about history and music together, because there is no one right way to interpret a particular song or musician or historical event. As thinkers and learners, we have the opportunity to form our own opinions and then use writing to inform and persuade others. You each have a particularly compelling perspective as young writers shaped by your unique life experiences, and we believe that people need to hear your voices.

What Your Students Will Produce

Each student will have the opportunity to select a song, study it, and form their own opinion on it—what the song represents, what it says about the people and time that created it, whether and how it still resonates with listeners today. Students will write their discoveries and opinions as music liner notes, found inserted into the sleeves and cases of albums.

What You Will Need

  • Access to music via internet, CDs, and/or speakers, and, most importantly, liner notes!
  • Liner Notes: A Not-So-Good Example — Handout
  • Liner Notes Example — Handout
  • Research materials in the Motown genre or an alternative music genre (library books, specific high quality websites, liner notes as examples), or those of an alternative genre chosen with the help of your students!
  • (Optional) Access to final publication opportunity (print or digital)

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