K-12 students will have a chance to learn a little more about their Louisiana musical heritage thanks to a curriculum assembled by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
Nine musicians were selected, one from each region of the state, and LEH VP of Content Erin Greenwald says the course shows just how unique, and prolific the state’s musical culture has always been.
“Of course here in New Orleans we talk about Jazz, but 20% of the musicians who have been inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame are from Louisiana,” says Greenwald.
Some of the nine include Lead Belly from northwest Louisiana, Little Water in Central Louisiana, Kenny Neal in Baton Rouge, and Nathan Williams Jr. in Acadiana.
The current curriculum only really covers the roots of Jazz in New Orleans, but Greenwald says this will give teachers the option of showing their students a wide range of contributions.
“Blues musicians play a big part in our history and culture as do Cajun and zydeco musicians, and then more recent folks, people like Amanda Shaw who are little bit more fusion,” says Greenwald.
Modules on two of the nine musicians are currently available with the rest scheduled for release throughout the year.
The lessons are structured so that they can fit right into the teacher’s existing lesson plans, without compromising the rigorous standards public school education needs to meet.
“We made sure that they were aligned with existing CORE content standards so that they could be used in the classroom whether it was in English and language arts, or history, or social studies,” says Greenwald.
You can check out the lesson plans at 64-parishes-dot-org.
