VH1 Road to Fame: Harry Connick Jr. Lessons for Middle-Level and High School Keyboard Classes, Grades 7-12 A VH1 Save the Music Special Lesson 5 of 5

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• Students will describe the similarities and differences in the roles of keyboard musicians in different societies.

• VHS VCR Player
• Television
• Web-based lesson materials
• VH1 Cable in the Classroom program Road to Fame: Harry Connick, Jr.

• Students have seen videotape Road to Fame: Harry Connick, Jr.
• Students are familiar with such genres as Bach organ works, Scarlatti or Couperin harpsichord/clavichord pieces, and Liszt or Debussy piano pieces, as well as music of contemporary keyboard artists such as James Booker, Billy Joel, Herbie Hancock, Ellis Marsalis, and Harry Connick, Jr.
• Students have been assigned to work in groups of three, with one student in each group assigned to research the music of a keyboard artist in each of the past three centuries (eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth). They have been asked to consider the music (why and for whom it was written and played), how the composer/performer made a living, and what a typical performance situation would involve (including the keyboard instrument used).

1. Have the students meet in their groups and compare their findings about the music of various keyboard artists.
2. Have students prepare a presentation (oral report, class demonstration, or written report) demonstrating the similarities and differences in the subjects and their time periods.
3. If students are at a high enough performance level, designate one student in each group as the "player" who will perform a short excerpt of the music under study.

Indicators of Success

1. Students demonstrate an awareness of the changing roles of musicians, from church- or court-supported artists to teacher/salon artists performing for the aristocracy to twentieth-century concert/media artists.
2. Students describe the changes in keyboard instruments over the centuries as well as the changes in compositional style.

Follow-up
Arrange a collaborative effort within the arts that might result in an original production, complete with period costumes, music, and dance.

1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
   
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
   
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
   
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
   
5. Reading and notating music.
   
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
   
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
   
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
   
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.