American+Beat




 * Essential Question:**
 * How has music affected people in America over the generations?**

//Challenge:// Our objective is to find out how music has affected the way Americans act, dress and perform.

//Guiding Questions:// 1. Has the music you listen to affected the way you dress? 2. Has the music you listen to affected your confidence in everyday situations? 3. Has the music you listen to affected your relationships with family and friends? 4. Do you feel changing the type of music you listen to changed your personality? 5. Do you feel like watching a person perform in public (concerts etc.) affected you more than listening to your iPod/mp3 player?

//Guiding resources:// 1. Link 1 Explanation: In this site, they talk about how music has influenced kids since they were young because it was a big part of children's television. When your a kid, your parents are concerned about what you watch and hear, but as you get up into the teenage years, they don't pay attention as much. Much of the music today influences teenagers because it talks about drugs, suicide, graphic violence, and sex. They use all of these in the songs because it's some of the things that teenagers talk about, so the record companies think they should be used in songs because it is what is most talked about among teens. Although songs may describe some things listed above, some times are not phased by it because they live a healthy based life. Others are phased by those things, which is why some people believe that parents should be a little more informed on what their kids watch and listen to. 2. [|Link 2] Explanation: In this site, they talk about how music lyrics talk about past events in history such as war which is a part of the genre, rock. It also talks about culture such as pop and how it shaped people and their lives. There are many cultures that are described in music which gives music different genres such as pop and traditional. Music influences mostly everyone because there are so many different genres for so many different people. It gives everyone a chance to listen to something related to the way they live.

//Notes:// We plan on conducting a survey about how music affects peoples lives. We plan on asking 4 or 5 survey questions. We will use the results to come to a conclusion on the effects music has on people's individual lives. We have interviewed Mrs. Safari, one of the PV music teachers, about music influence. We are currently in the process of developing our solution/action and iMovie presentation.

//Survey questions:// 1a. How many of you listen to music for **two hours or more** per day? 1b. How many of you listen to music for **two hours or less** per day? 2. How many of you enjoy going to concerts? 3. How many of you prefer concerts to your iPods? 4. Would you feel compelled to dress the way your favorite artist dresses? 5. How many of you feel music has affected your lives overall?

//Survey results://
 * Question || Result (Hands) ||
 * 1a || 160 ||
 * 1b || 94 ||
 * 2 || 186 ||
 * 3 || 133 ||
 * 4 || 7 ||
 * 5 || 186 ||

__**Expert Interveiw**__

Mrs. Safari

Influential music groups
 * The Beatles
 * Influenced her playing music.
 * Influenced her changing career to a music teacher.
 * Took their ideas and made them her own.
 * She did not follow their trends.
 * She was devastated when the two Beatles died.
 * Michael Jackson
 * Looked up to him as a musical hero.
 * Did not follow his trends.
 * When he died she was devastated, she cried profusely.

__**Solution:**__

How has music affected people in America over the generations? We have collected data from students and music professionals. Our data has proven that music plays a big role in the lives of students as well as teachers'. The professionals we interviewed said, "Music played a big role in my childhood, and seeing students and their passion for music today influenced me to become a music teacher" (Mrs. Safari). We have found that music affects the listeners' confidence level and changes their mindset. What we have found surprising is how little the percentage of people who change their attire to match that of their favorite artist was. We had assumed that music played a big role in students' lives but had no idea how much it had impacted the music & other teachers here at PV. Mrs. Safari spoke about how she did not enjoy Mozart or Bach, but as time passed and as her perspective towards classical music changed, she began to love this type of music. She also found a new appreciation for classical music. Musical groups, in a sense, become almost like a part of your family, and when they break up or possibly die, it devastates the listeners. Mrs. Safari explained how she remembers when Michael Jackson died and how absolutely devastated she was.

Musicians are affected by music twice as much as non-musicians are. Musicians base their whole careers off of their favorite musicians. We as a group think that being a musician is highly influenced by the music that musician listens to. The way music affects non-musicians is different. They might listen to their favorite artist and say that they love the way they express their lyrics and how easily they relate to the moral of the song no matter what genre of music they listen to. We have found that music affects Americans lives so much that the music we listen to should be used to do more then just entertain us. During class, instead of listening to the teacher go on and on for 48 minutes we should incorporate music into our everyday lessons. Teachers should use music to get their points across it will help us relate to the lesson plan better. Overall most people do not realize how much music is the center of their own universe.