Marilyn Weiser [Minot]

Grade Level: Grade 4-8

GEOGRAPHY AND MUSIC: AN ADVENTURE ON THE PROUD MARY (sample lesson plan for song)

Lyrics to "Proud MAry."

PURPOSE: To explore the connection between geography and music. This lesson uses popular music to encourage students to form mental maps and images when listening to lyrics, rhythm, and style. It also engages students in activities which will foster an understanding of "perception and cultural" geography.

CONNECTION WITH THE CURRICULUM: Language Arts, Geography, Music, Art

GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4 (This lesson can be used with all grade levels by simplifying or adding more activities and research.)

GEOGRAPHIC THEMES: All

CONNECTION TO THE NATIONAL STANDARDS: THE WORLD IN SPACIAL TERMS *How we use mental maps to organize information about people, places and environments in a spatial context (Standard 2).

PLACES AND REGIONS: *Understand the physical and human characteristics of places (Standard 4). *How culture and experience influence people's perception of places and regions (Standard 6).

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: *How human actions modify the physical environment Standard 14).

THE USES OF GEOGRAPHY: *How to apply geography to interpret the past (Standard 17). *How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future (Standard 18).

MATERIALS:

• Tape player
• Construction paper
• Crayons, pencils, markers
• Copy of lyrics

OBJECTIVES: Students will: *Experience a variety of classroom strategies that examine song lyrics for their geographic content.

• Understand the meaning of "perception" geography by analyzing how geographic terms are used, perceived and interpreted.
• Gain insight into understanding human culture.
• Interpret the lyrics of a song and compare various perceptions of the composer/writer's message.

PROCEDURE:

1. Have students think of songs with geographic terms.
2. Categorize the titles and terms (rivers, mountains, cities, etc.)
3. Play "Proud Mary."
4. Give students a copy of the lyrics and have them underline geographic terms.
5. Discuss the impression and symbolism that the song created. Introduce the term-"perception geography."
   • Was the river a happy place? Why or why not?
   • What could be seen from the riverboat?
   • Why was this person on the riverboat? What was this person like?
6. Introduce the term "cultural geography." *In what way did people interact with the environment? *What does this song tell us about this place and region? *How does the composer feel about this place?
7. Discuss the style, mood and tempo of the song.

CLOSING: Re-play the song. Have the students draw a picture or map of their mental image. Have them write a summary of the image they have. This should include describing the river as a happy place, place of security or a place where there are no worries. Encourage the use of additional adjectives and verbs to describe the activity on and near the river.

EXTENDING THE LESSON: *Encourage students to research the song. They might want to know who the recording artist was, the year of the song's release, the hometown of the artist, etc. *Students can gather song titles and lyrics from their home collections. *Students can compare different styles of music. Do specific styles have more references to geography than others?

ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING: Have the students find a song and identify geographic terms. They will describe their perception of them and also explain how these images or symbols made them feel.

RESOURCE: "Geography and Music, Making the Connection," Journal of Geography, (November/December, 1994)

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