About This Lesson
As the lesson unfolds, students will get to investigate some of the ways listeners feel and relate to rhythms, focusing on the language used to describe “the beat,” and the manners in which rhythms connect to a deeper past and seem to anticipate particular futures. If “the beat” was a concern in 1950s America, it was again a concern for some, decades later, when Gangsta Rap began to dominate the Billboard charts. How far have we come? And how can we study the past to learn more about the future we’re making and the music we’ll make it with? This lesson gets to the heart of the conflicts that arise as particular rhythms get made, released, listened to, and loved.
