Blog Post #3

I recently decided to change my blog topic to a focus on comprehension of music history texts. My target group would be high school students in an urban setting. The time of history that I chose to focus on is folk music. Folk music in America has a rich history in the civil rights movement so my text set centers on the lyrics of Bob Dylan, the role that folk music played in this time in history, the civil rights movement, as well as the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

1. "Bob Dylan speech at the Bill of Rights dinner, 1963" (multimedia, culturally relevant). Youtube. 2005. Web. Oct. 27, 2016. 
2. "Bob Dylan Biography" (Multimedia) Biography.com Editors. A&E Television Networks. Oct. 13, 2016. Web. Oct. 27, 2016. 
3.  "Bob Dylan - The Times they are a-changin' Civil Rights Music Video" (multimedia, culturally relevant). Youtube. December 16, 2015. Web. Oct. 27, 2016. 
4. "Separate is not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education" (multimedia, culturally relevant). Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Web. Oct. 27, 2016. 
5. Roy, William G.. Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology : Reds, Whites, and Blues : Social Movements, Folk Music, and Race in the United States. (Print, multicultural). Princeton, US: Princeton University Press, 2010. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 27 October 2016.
6. The Story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers; with their songs. J.B.T. Marsh, 1839-1887; in The Story of the Jubilee Singers, With Their Songs (Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1881), 16-24 
7. "Fisk Jubilee Singers in Nashville, TN. 

"Bob Dylan - The Times they are a-changin' Civil Rights Music Video"

Summary: This video is a slideshow of photos taken during the civil rights movement with Bob Dylan's "The Time's they are a-changin'" playing. Bob Dylan is an iconic folk singer who brought to light the struggles of the African American community at this time in history. 

Text Complexity: This text was difficult to analyze because I had to convert song lyrics to full sentences, which made the sentences a little wonky. StoryToolz put this text at an average of grade 6-7. Bob Dylan's lyrics are pretty simple in terms of language. The average syllable per word is about one. What makes this text more difficult in my opinion is the metaphors Bob Dylan uses to describe the Civil Rights Movement. For example Bob Dylan sings, "for he who gets hurt will be he who has stalled" which refers to those people who are standing in the way of the progress that is being made. Another example is when he sings, "the slow one now will later be fast as the present now will later be past" which I believe refers to the oppressed rising up and how one day all this struggle will be just a distant memory. The difficulties of this text, and something that I would take time to talk through with my students, lie in the ability to interpret the lyrics and how they relate to the civil rights movement. 

"The Promise of Freedom" 

Summary: This is a great website that gives short and concise information about the civil rights movement and the amendments which were passed (13th, 14th, and 15th amendments) as a result of this movement. 

Text Complexity: StoryToolz rates this text as an average 14 grade level. This text is a great source for information that allows students to get the gist of what was happening without having to read through a lengthy article. If I were to use this in my classroom, I would want to talk about the three amendments that came out of the civil rights movement. I believe that it's important not only for them to see their struggles but to also see the end product of all that suffering. Although I would not expect them to believe that everything was perfect after these amendments were passed, I would like them to see what hard work and determination can do. 

"The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with their songs"

Summary: This text gives a history of the most iconic African American singers in history: the Fisk Jubilee Singers. This group was formed in one of the first higher education institutions for African Americans and inspired a world that was riddled in racial conflict.

Text Complexity: StoryToolz placed this text at a grade level of 13. It has some tricky passages which compare the Jubilee Singers to "the Agronauts who sailed with Jason on that famous voyage after the Golden Fleece," as "fire-breathing bulls," and the "warrior that sprang from the land sown with dragons' teeth." This is a great text for showing the adversity that these singers had to face as a result from blatant racism and how they thrived because they had their music.