Programs | Educational Resources

The Archives of African American Music and Culture uses its collection resources to develop educational materials, teaching guides, and other pedagogical aids. Print and web publications are available on a range of topics, for classroom use at all levels.

Curriculum Guides
The AAAMC also collects educational kits and curriculum guides from museum exhibitions, public radio series, and television programs with a focus on African American music. Examples include the following:

• Martin Scorsese presents The Blues (2003)
  Produced by Vulcan Productions, The Blues Teacher's Guide was designed as a companion to the Martin Scorsese film series and related products: The Blues website at PBS.org; the book Martin Scorsese presents The Blues: A Musical Journey; The Blues radio series presented by WGBH Radio Boston; and The Blues CD series on Sony Music's Columbia/Legacy label.
  
• Beyond Category: The Duke Ellington Educational Kit (1998)
  Produced by the National Museum of American History/Smithsonian Institution, the kit offers an exploration of the diverse musical styles of Ellington—jazz, popular, theatrical, motion picture scores, instrumental suites, and sacred music.
  
• The Jazz Age in Paris , 1914-1940 (1998)
  Developed to supplement the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition of the same title, the guide includes color slides and a CD.
  
• Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions (1994)
  A 26-part series on gospel music conceived and hosted by Bernice Johnson Reagon and produced by National Public Radio. Includes a poster, curriculum guide and four audiocassettes.

Instructional Websites
In spring of 2000 and supported by a grant from Ameritech, the AAAMC began constructing three instructional websites under the project title, Multicultural Multimedia on the Web: From Spirituals to Hip-Hop, the Music and Culture of Black America.  One website, Hip-Hop Music and Culture, has been completed and is now utilized in courses as an interactive “textbook.” During 2006-2007 we will complete and test a second website, African American Popular Music in a classroom setting. The third website, Survey of African American Music, is also under construction.

These web sites will be used in workshops co-sponsored by the AAAMC, the Ethnomusicology Institute, the African American Arts Institute, and in the course offerings of Continuing Studies.