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How AmPopMusic Can Help You Meet

Your Music Standards: "Responding" and "Connecting"
For high school music teachers, meeting the National Music Standards of Creating and Performing are part of what you do every rehearsal – every day – every semester.
But, what about those two other National Standards – “Responding” and “Connecting”? Are you finding the time, resources, or assistance to have your students in choir, band, orchestra, guitar, or other ensembles meet them on an advanced level?
We can help!
ampopmusic.com can help you meet the “Responding” and “Connecting” Standards. With hundreds of chapters, quizzes, practice tests, and printable materials, and over a thousand audio and video examples, music teachers and students have the resources necessary to read, listen, view, evaluate, analyze, gain knowledge, and develop their critical thinking skills.
Here are some sample activities of how teachers are using AmPopMusic with their music students to achieve “Responding” and “Connecting” success. Email us for more ideas. Or check out other “Features for Teachers”.
Anchor Standard #7:
“Perceive and analyze artistic work.”
AmPopMusic Helping to Meet Anchor Standards #7

Essential Questions: How do individuals choose music to experience? How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a response?

Sample Activities to Meet
Anchor Standard #7

Assign AmPopMusic chapter reading (e.g., 19th century America, early jazz, ’50s rock ‘n’ roll, beginnings of rap/hip-hop, etc.) and supporting audio/video examples of each.

  • How was the music available to the consumer and musicians built on the music of the immediately preceding decade(s)?
  • What was the purpose of the music and how did it fit into or challenge the existing culture?
  • How was the musical structure or instrumentation unique from music 20, 50, or 100 years later? 
  • How did the music meet a need in that time and with that demographic group that could not be met in any other way?

Essential Questions: How do we discern the musical creators’ and performers’ expressive intent?

Sample Activities to Meet
Anchor Standard #8

Assign AmPopMusic reading of the life of one whose contributions reshaped popular music in America (e.g., Louis Armstrong, Stephen Foster, John Philip Sousa, Elvis Presley, Sean Combs, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan) and supporting AmPopMusic audio/video examples of each.

  • What was the genre, sub-genre, and time period in which they contributed?
  • How was their contribution different or unique from those preceding or their contemporaries?
  • How were those musicians following them influenced by their artistic decisions?
  • In what ways is their impact still felt in popular music today? 
Anchor Standard #8:
“Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.”
AmPopMusic Helping to Meet Anchor Standards #8
Anchor Standard #9:
“Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.”
AmPopMusic Helping to Meet Anchor Standards #9

Essential Questions: How do individuals choose music to experience? How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a response?

Sample Activities to Meet
Anchor Standard #9

Assign AmPopMusic listening/viewing examples (e.g., bebop, Sousa marches, ’50s doo-wop, bluegrass, etc.) and the supporting chapters for each of the examples.

  • How were there similar characteristics in each of those performances? 
  • How were there common elements of structure? 
  • Was there common or similar instrumentation? 
  • What performance techniques reoccured in each example?
  • What innovations were brought about by this style or these artists?
  • How did these examples build on previous works?

Essential Questions: How do musicians make meaningful connections to creating, performing, and responding?

Sample Activities to Meet Anchor Standard #10

Assign AmPopMusic reading from chapters surrounding time periods of cultural change in America (e.g., ’50s & ’60s rock, rap in the ’80s, jazz in the 1910s through the 1950s, etc.) and supporting AmPopMusic audio/video examples of each.

  • How did jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie play a role in the evolving relationship of races in America with their music?
  • How were early rock pioneers like Elvis Presley and Little Richard instrumental in reshaping the culture of the first generation of teenagers?
  • What role did street musicians in cities like Philadelphia and New York City play in the emergence of rap music and a hip-hop culture?
  • What role did Stephen Foster play in establishing the popular music industry in America?
Anchor Standard #10:
“Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, historical
context to depend understanding”
AmPopMusic Helping to Meet Anchor Standards #10
Anchor Standard #11:
"Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experience to make art."
AmPopMusic Helping to Meet Anchor Standards #11

Essential Questions: How do the other arts, other disciplines, contexts, and daily life inform creating, performing, and responding to music?

Sample Activities to Meet Anchor Standard #11

Assign appropriate chapters/sections in AmPopMusic relating to specific periods of cultural change in America (e.g., jazz in the ’20s and ’30s, rock in the ’50s and ’60s, rap in the ’80s and ’90s, country & western in the ’40s and ’50s) and supporting AmPopMusic audio/video examples of each.

  • How did styles of dance reflect the musical styles evolving during this period in this genre?
  • What literary examples influenced or were influenced by this period and genre?
  • How was the performance of these examples presented and in what venues?
  • What technology aided in the popularization of these examples?

To find out more about ampopmusic.com and how it can help your students achieve success, click the “Contact” button above or email us at contact@ampopmusic.com

Site licenses are available for as low as $4 per student per year.

Trial subscriptions are available to qualified teachers – just ask!

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    Study and Test

    Testing Library

    Watch and Learn

    Audio/Video Room

    READ AND HEAR​

    Study Units

    An Overview

    Ch. 1: Understanding Pitch

    Ch. 2: Understanding Musical Pulse

    Ch. 3: Understanding Volume

    Ch. 4: Understanding Tone

    Ch. 5: Understanding Melody

    Ch. 6: Understanding Harmony

    Ch. 7: Understanding Rhythm

    Ch. 8: Understanding Bass

    Ch. 9: Understanding Countermelody

    Ch. 10: Understanding Structure

    Ch. 11: Understanding Instrumentation

    Ch. 12: Understanding Tempo

    An Overview

    Ch. 1: 19th Century: Pre-Foster

    Ch. 2: Folk Music by the People

    Ch. 3: Popular Music in its Infancy

    Ch. 4: Stephen Foster – “Father of American Popular Music”

    Ch. 5: The Importance of Stephen Foster

    Ch. 6: Scott Joplin – “King of Ragtime”

    Ch. 7: The Player Piano – Automated Music

    Ch. 8: John Philip Sousa – “The March King”

    Ch. 9: John Philip Sousa – Recording Artist and Activist

    An Overview

    Ch. 1: John Lomax – Recording American Roots Music

    Ch. 2: Woody Guthrie – “Father of Modern American Folk Music”

    Ch. 3: Leadbelly & Pete Seeger: End of the First Wave

    Ch. 4: The Kingston Trio – Beginning of the Second Wave

    Ch. 5: Joan Baez – “First Lady of Folk Music”

    Ch. 6: Peter, Paul & Mary – Balancing the Message

    Ch. 7: Robert Zimmerman – The Beginning of an American Icon

    Ch. 8: Dylan in New York City

    Ch. 9: Dylan after Newport

    Ch. 10: The Importance of Dylan

    Ch. 11: Folk Music in the 21st Century

    An Overview

    Ch. 1: The Roots of Country

    Ch. 2: Bristol Beginnings

    Ch. 3: The Grand Ole Opry

    Ch. 4: Cowboys and the Movies

    Ch. 5: Western Swing

    Ch. 6: Bluegrass: Hillbilly on Caffeine

    Ch. 7: Honky-tonk: Merging Two into One

    Ch. 8: The Nashville Sound: Country-Pop

    Ch. 9: Rockabilly – Country meets R&B

    Ch. 10: Country Feminists Find Their Voice

    Ch. 11: The Bakersfield Sound

    Ch. 12: Austin “Outlaw” Country

    Ch. 13: Neo-Traditionalists at the end of the 20th Century

    Ch. 14: Mainstreaming Country in the ‘90s

    Ch. 15: Redesigning Country in the 21st Century

    An Overview

    Ch. 1: What is Jazz?

    Ch. 2: Before It Was Jazz

    Ch. 3: Jazz is Born!

    Ch. 4: Early Jazz Musicians

    Ch. 5: Louis Armstrong

    Ch. 6: Chicago and Harlem – Hub of 1920s Jazz

    Ch. 7: Big Band – Jazz Swing!

    Ch. 8: Big Band Musicians and Singers

    Ch. 9: Jump Blues and Bop

    Ch. 10: Cool Jazz

    Ch. 11: Hard Bop

    Ch. 12: Free Jazz – Breaking the Rules

    Ch. 13: Fusion – The Jazz-Rock-Funk Experience

    Ch. 14: Third Stream and World Jazz

    Ch. 15: New Age & Smooth Jazz

    Ch. 16: Summary – Jazz Lives!

    An Overview

    Ch. 1: Blues – The Granddaddy of American Popular Music

    Ch. 2: Where Did the Blues Come From?

    Ch. 3: What Are the Blues?

    Ch. 4: How to Build the Blues

    Ch. 5: Classic Blues – The Early Years

    Ch. 6: Delta Blues – Authentic Beginnings

    Ch. 7: Blues in the City – Migration and Power

    Ch. 8: Blues in Britain – Redefining the Masters

    Ch. 9: Contemporary Blues – Maturity and Respect

    Ch. 10: The Relevancy of the Blues Today

    Ch. 1: Timelines, Cultures & Technology

    Ch. 2: Pre-Rock Influences

    Ch. 3: Rock is Born!

    Ch. 4: Rock is Named

    Ch. 5: Doo-Wop

    Ch. 6: Independent Record Labels

    Ch. 7: Technology Shapes Rock ‘n’ Roll

    Ch. 8: The Plan to Mainstream Rock ‘n’ Roll

    Ch. 9: Payola – Rock ‘n’ Roll’s First Scandal

    Ch. 1: Crafting Sound in the Studio/Producers and Hit Songs

    Ch. 2: West Coast Sound: Beach, Surf, and Teens

    Ch. 3: The British Invasion: Two Prongs – Pop & Blues

    Ch. 4: Motown and the Development of a Black Pop-Rock Sound

    Ch. 5: Soul Music: Gospel and R&B in the Deep South

    Ch. 6: The Sounds of Bubble Gum Pop-Rock

    Ch. 7: The Arrival of Folk-Rock

    Ch. 8: Psychedelic Rock ‘n’ Roll

    Ch. 9: Early Guitar Gods of Rock

    Ch. 10: Rock Festivals: The Rise and Fall of Music, Peace, and Love

    Ch. 11: Anti-Woodstock and Shock Rock Movements

    Ch. 1: Technological Breakthroughs

    Ch. 2: Electronic Dance Music

    Ch. 3: Hip-Hop & Rap – An Introduction

    Ch. 4: The Beginnings of Rap

    Ch. 5: Old School Rap – Up From the Streets

    Ch. 6: Rap’s Golden Age

    Ch. 7: East Coast – Political Rap

    Ch. 8: West Coast – Gangsta Rap

    Ch. 9: The Fragmentation of Rap – Pop, Party & More

    Ch. 10: Further Fragmentation – Different Directions

    Ch. 11: The Importance of Rap

    Ch. 1: Musical Stage Productions in America before the 1800s

    Ch. 2: Minstrel Shows and Melodramas

    Ch. 3: Stage Presentations in the Late 19th Century

    Ch. 4: Early 20th Century: Revues and Operettas

    Ch. 5: The Arrival of the Modern American Musical

    Ch. 6: Great Partnerships in Book-Musicals

    Ch. 7: Musical Theatre Composers in the mid-Century

    Ch. 8: Fresh Voices on the Stage in the 1960s

    Ch. 9: Two Dominant Forces at the End of the Century

    Ch. 10: New Voices at the End of the Century

    Ch. 11: New Voices, New Sounds in the New Century

    Ch. 12: Musical Theatre Glossary

    Ch. 13: Is it “Theatre” or “Theater”?

    Study Units also have “Playdecks” – containing hundreds of chronologically organized audio examples of music in the study units, and “Study Qs” for unit chapters.