toculture

passportYour

2011 – 2012

Teacher’s Resource Guide

Generous support for SchoolTime provided,

in part, by

Rockapella • njpac.org

CONTENTSOn StageRockapella salutes Motown

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In the SpotlightFive guys who work in harmony

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Did You Know?How a cappella evolved

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Dance TalkA vocabulary list

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In the ClassroomTeaching Science Through Music and other activities

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More ResourcesRelated readings and other media

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FoundationKid Power!Through energy efficiency and conservation, kids can help preserve our planet’s rich natural resources and promote a healthy environment.

Tip Of ThE DaY

Clean-air counselInhale, exhale. The singers of Rockapella produce their unique sound by controlling the flow of air into their lungs. Oxygen is vital to our existence. When the air is clean, it’s easier for us to stay healthy and fit. You can fight air pollution by walking or bicycling, choosing air-friendly products and making a pledge to stay away from cigarettes. Made possible through the generosity of the PSEG Foundation.

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The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) Arts Education Department presents the 15th season of the Verizon Passport to Culture SchoolTime Performance Series.

Teacher’s Resource GuideThis resource guide will help you prepare your class for an enriching experience at our SchoolTime Performance. The guide provides discussion ideas, activities and reading resources that can promote arts literacy in your classroom. Permission is granted to copy and distribute this guide to any class attending a 2011-2012 SchoolTime Performance (all other rights reserved). You can find additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org.

NJPAC Arts EducationAt NJPAC, our mission is to join with parents, teachers and community to cultivate an appreciation of the arts in all children of New Jersey. We believe the arts provide an effective means of knowing and learning that helps children find the self-esteem, poise and confidence they need to succeed in every facet of life. Our innovative programs are designed to engage the artist in every child:

In-School Residencies Bring the joy of dance, music and theater directly into your classroom with teaching artists who create stimulating performing arts experiences that engage students’ imaginations and encourage their creative self-expression.

SchoolTime and FamilyTime Performances Open your students’ eyes to the worlds of music, dance, storytelling, theater, and puppetry through professional stage productions.

Arts Training Programs Students express themselves through after-school study of acting, dance, instrumental music, vocal music, and musical theater. Teaching artists with professional performing arts experience mentor the students at NJPAC’s Center for Arts Education.

ViSiT US ONLiNEFind additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org

On Stage

By Mark Mobley

Kids, parents and hipsters came to love the a cappella group Rockapella in the 1990s through the public TV sensation Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Today, as Rockapella tours the world, its road has led back to ‘60s Detroit.

Motown & Mo’ is the name of Rockapella’s new show and forthcoming album. High tenor Scott Leonard says focusing on the era of soulful pop hits was a natural step in the group’s evolution.

“Over the years we’ve prided ourselves on covering all the genres,” Leonard says. Rockapella was formed as a doo-wop group in 1986 and performed everything from barbershop to close harmony—à la the Mills Brothers—to the cheeky Carmen Sandiego theme.

“Over time, we’ve turned into a new Temptations,” Leonard says. “Choreography and singing are now very much a part of the show.”

Rockapella gets down with Motown Sound

3Rockapella • njpac.org

For Motown & Mo’, the group dips into the deep well of ’60s and ’70s jukebox pop and R&B, including Temptations hits like Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone, Just My Imagination, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg, and My Girl. The group also performs The Love You Save and Dancing Machine by the Jackson 5, as well as tunes by other groups.

In addition to launching stellar careers and serving as a shining example of an African-American-owned corporation, Motown had its own sound. “It’s got this infectious signature groove and rhythm,” Leonard says. While some a cappella lends itself to sitting and listening, he says, with Motown arrangements “it’s like you’ve got the radio on in the car.”

And with this music comes a message. The Motown era overlaps the height of the civil rights struggle, making it, Leonard says, “a really ripe educational period. Motown was the pulse of it, the heart of the movement.”

The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder spoke not to just black Americans, but to a worldwide audience of all races and colors. “When I was a little kid,” Leonard says, “little Michael’s voice or little Stevie’s voice was what I wanted to sound like.” Now he gets to repay that debt onstage for an emerging generation of Motown lovers.

Mark Mobley has written for MSN.com, NPR, The Star-Ledger, The Virginian-Pilot and many other newspapers, magazines, websites and orchestras. He is a winner of the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism and was musical head of the public radio show Performance Today.

Rockapella’s Scott Leonard, center, says Motown was the “pulse” of the civil rights movement during the Sixties.

For more about Motown & Mo’, go to

rockapella.com.

arranges some of the group’s material. “I feel like I have to have some sort of a take on a song or approach to a song.” In this case, he has the group segue from Just My Imagination into John Lennon’s Imagine. Leonard says he almost can feel the audience exhale in delight.

At least the audience gets to rest. For the members of Rockapella, all of whom are veterans of the Disney live entertainment empire, the show is virtually non-stop. It’s challenging even for Leonard, who entered college on a baseball scholarship before turning to music as a career.

“The way the show has evolved, it’s really a workout,” Leonard says. “Screaming

high and moving hard. With a cappella there’s no instrumental breaks and a lot of breath support. I credit athletics with my being able to this.”

— M.M.

in the Spotlight

The voice as a golden-toned instrument

Rockapella • njpac.org4

Extra voices, hold the horns—vocal pop is in air as never before, thanks to TV shows like Glee and America’s Got Talent, as well as an ever-expanding network of college and high school a cappella groups.

Since 1986, Rockapella, originally formed by a group of former Brown University students, has pushed the limits of what singers can do when unencumbered by accompaniment. The group’s TV appearances have included specials with Spike Lee and Whoopi Goldberg and a spot in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Rockapella has also toured with the Boston Pops orchestra.

Rockapella is composed of high tenor Scott Leonard, tenors John K. Brown and Steven Dorian and bass George Baldi III. Vocal percussionist Jeff Thacher serves as the group’s “drummer,” providing percussion sounds by means of a system he designed himself. Thacher tapes tiny microphones made for guitars to his throat and they pick up more of the low end of his voice than a conventional hand-held or headset mic. This gives his version of a kick drum extra bass, definition and punch.

Though Thacher’s beats are an integral part of the Rockapella sound, not every song in Motown & Mo’ uses them. The Temptations’ classic Just My Imagination features just the four other singers.

“I don’t like to do a song just because it’s famous,” says Leonard, who also

“The best musical instrument of all is the human voice — if you’ve seen Rockapella you know that’s the truth.”

— USA Today

The singers of Rockapella, from left, George Baldi III, Jeff Thacher, Steven Dorian, John K. Brown, and Scott Leonard.

Meet the members of Rockapella at rockapella.com.

By Marshell Kumahor

Vocal music is among the oldest and most universal art forms. Since ancient times, cultures around the world have revered the human voice’s ability to soothe, ruffle and rouse the mind, the body and the soul. This ability originated and evolved without dependence on instrumental accompaniment.

Musically, the voice can stand alone. Drawing its power—as well as its mass appeal—from the singular nature of the human voice, contemporary a cappella has many musical antecedents as an American pop culture phenomenon.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, barbershops were an important gathering place for men of all ages in Euro-American communities. Barbershops were the sites of heated socio-political discussions as well as musical fun and games. As clients waited for their shave and haircut, they would improvise to popular songs and the term “barbershop singing” was coined.

The more formalized barbershop quartet—usually all male—became an increasingly popular source of entertainment. These ensembles were noted for their close harmonies, unconventional vocal arrangements and spirited improvisation—all done without instrumental accompaniment. Each member of the quartet sang a specific part: One person sang the lead melody supported by the tenor who sang the harmony line above the melody; the bass who sang the harmony line below the melody; and the baritone who sang

the harmony line between the tenor and the bass parts. In the 1920s and 1930s, at the height of Prohibition and the Great Depression, the formal barbershop quartet and community barbershop singing declined in popularity.

Rooted in the African-derived musical styles of jazz and R&B, doo-wop became an a cappella music craze in the 1940s and 1950s in urban centers. Like barbershop quartets, doo-wop groups emerged as a community phenomenon with creative arrangements and vocal improvisation characterizing the style. However, these four- to five-member groups took to the streets, preferring busy corners and back porches to test their musical ideas.

The lead singer, falsetto/first tenor, second tenor, baritone, and bass voices worked together to create rich harmonies. A signature technique of doo-wop groups was the use of the voice primarily as an instrument. The bass singer mimicked bass lines and a tenor sang saxophone lines while the lead singer, often singing in his silkiest falsetto voice, entertained listeners with lyrical adventures in love.

Unique to doo-wop music was the use of invented lyrics, consisting of assorted, strung-together syllables like “doo-bedoo-be,” “sh-boom, sh-boom” and “doh-beh-doh-doh-doh.” This trademark echoed the current improvisational scat-singing of jazz vocalists of the bebop era.

As the commercial success of doo-wop groups grew, minimal instrumentation was used to enhance their sound. Groups like The Impressions, The Platters, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, and The Drifters made musical history in the doo-wop style.

Singular in its widespread appeal across color lines in the segregated 1950s, doo-wop grew to become part of the musical matrix—along with jazz, R&B, country, and gospel—that spawned the emergence of rock and roll in the late 1950s and 1960s.

In the 1980s, evolving a cappella groups like Rockapella, Take 6, The Bobs, and The Nylons honored their hybrid musical roots while developing even stronger, more musically diverse branches of Christian, R&B, pop-rock, and jazz a cappella. These ensembles contributed to the resurgent popularity of a cappella music, paving the way for chart-topping “boy bands” like Boyz II Men and ’N Sync to add to the ever-evolving conversation.

Although not adhering to a purely a cappella sound, such bands have been influenced by a cappella roots, as evidenced by their harmonies, vocal arrangements and repertoire. Rockapella artfully waters these musical roots while harvesting new possibilities for contemporary a cappella ensembles by further popularizing vocal percussion as a distinct voice part or making unusual meters swing.

Did You Know?

Singing the praises of vocal music

Rockapella • njpac.org 5

The Platters, a popular and influential singing group of the 1950s and early 1960s.

tenor — highest vocal register for a male singer.

vocal percussion — the use of the voice and mouth to mimic sounds created by the beating or striking of a musical instrument, or the clapping, tapping or snapping of one’s fingers

a cappella — a style of singing in which songs are sung without instrumental accompaniment.

arrangement — a new adaptation of an already existing musical piece.

baritone — vocal register for a male singer between tenor and bass.

bass — lowest vocal register for a male singer.

chord — three or more tones having a harmonic relation to each other and played or sounded together.

chorus — the part of a song or piece of music that is repeated at intervals.

dynamics — the interplay between loudness and softness and smoothness and “choppiness” of notes that are played or sung.

falsetto — a male voice in an upper register beyond its normal range.

harmony — the combination of certain musical intervals or chords that relate to each other and sound pleasing.

improvisation — performing or composing music extemporaneously.

lyrics — the words of a song.

melody — an organized succession of single musical notes arranged in a related and recognizable pattern.

meter — the basic recurrent rhythmical pattern of note values, accents and beats per measure in music.

polyrhythms — two or more different rhythms played or sung simultaneously.

register — the range between the lowest and the highest tone capable of being produced by a voice or instrument.

rhythm — a regular pattern produced by the length of strong and weak musical sounds at a particular speed or tempo.

solo — a musical composition or passage for an individual voice or instrument with or without accompaniment.

songwriter/composer — a person who writes songs.

tempo — the speed at which music is played or sung.

Music Talk

Terms to learn for Motown & Mo’

Rockapella • njpac.org6

Rockapella takes its name from the harmonious style of singing known as a cappella.

Rockapella • njpac.org

Before the Performance Teaching Science Through Music(Grades 6-12)By Sharon J. Sherman, Ed.D.

Imagination and intuition drive the work of artists, and skill and discipline turn their ideas and notions into meaningful, quality creations. A similar case can be made for the work of the scientist who experiences the richness and excitement of knowing about the world and, with skill and discipline, understands how it functions.

According to the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards, students in the middle grades should understand science explanations, generate scientific evidence through active investigation, reflect on scientific knowledge, and participate productively in science. These four practices represent the knowledge and reasoning skills all students must acquire to be proficient in science.

Here is an activity, incorporating music, that can help students strengthen their understanding of how scientific knowledge builds upon itself over time. It enables students to monitor their own thinking as they refine their comprehension of science concepts (5.1.8.C.1).

Have students in the middle grades predict the acidity of precipitation in the local area. After collecting data and graphing amounts of precipitation, pH levels and weather conditions, they can provide scientific evidence to support or refute their predictions.

After this initial exercise, your students can investigate the effects of rain on our environment. For example, many marble statues throughout the world are being ruined by acid rain. Have students search the Internet for examples.

They can create slideshows documenting the effects of acid rain on the environment and set them to music. Also ask them to research a poem on environmental responsibility and write an anthem. Performing the compositions for their peers enables students to analyze and critique their work together.

High school students studying earth systems science learn that natural ecosystems provide an array of basic functions that affects humans. In class, there is instructional focus on the role of human beings as part of the earth’s ecosystem. Human activities can alter equilibrium in ecosystems, either on purpose or inadvertently. Students can create podcasts set to music that provide examples and demonstrate understanding of this concept.

Sharon J. Sherman, Ed.D., is Dean of the School of Education and Professor of Teacher Education at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.

The Teaching Science Through the Arts content of this guide is made possible through the generous support of Roche.

After the Performance1. Motown was both a barometer and a catalyst for American and world culture. Assign (or have each student select) a song from the Rockapella show or another Motown song and write a brief essay on the song itself or current events from the week it was released. (The length and breadth of the essay should be adjusted for grade level.) The essays can focus on particular topics, such as the civil rights movement. If an oral component is desired, the students can present some or all of their essays in chronological order. (1.2)

2. Have the students brainstorm their responses to the concert and then write them on a word wall. Invite each student to characterize what he/she saw, heard and felt during the concert using one noun, one verb and one adjective until the word wall is filled with their impressions using these parts of speech. Ask the students to write one sentence (or story, poem, etc.) about their theater experience using the word wall for vocabulary and content ideas. Then, have the students draw pictures that further elaborate their responses. (1.1, 1.3, 1.4)

* Numbers indicate the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standard(s) supported by the activity

1. The rise of hip-hop has increased the use of sampling—the process by which a songwriter or producer isolates a small portion of an existing song and incorporates it in a new song. James Brown’s Funky Drummer, The Winstons’ Amen, Brother and Lyn Collins’ Think (About It) are among the most sampled songs. (Visit whosampled.com for examples.) Thanks to its blend of quality songwriting, polished production and rich orchestration, Motown has been a fertile source of samples. Play Motown songs from the Rockapella set list and newer songs that sample them. These include The Temptations’ My Girl, sampled in Raheem DeVaughn’s Friday (Shut the Club Down); The Temptations’ Get Ready, sampled in Fergie’s Here I Come; and The Jackson 5’s Dancing Machine, sampled in Girl Talk’s Like This. Does sampled music give extra meaning to a song? Ask students to write an original verse using a lyric from a Temptations hit, such as Just My Imagination. (1.1, 1.2, 1.3) *

2. Beginning with the Freedom Rides campaign in 1961, familiarize students with the presence of African-American music in the 1960s and its influence in spreading the message about the fight for civil rights. Verizon’s thinkfinity.org is a content partner with the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Edsitement! website (edsitement.neh.gov), which features lesson plans titled “Freedom Riders and the Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement.” Go to Activity 5, “Examining the Popular Music Landscape,” for a selection of activities and resources.

ViSiT US ONLiNEFind additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org

in the Classroom

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8 Rockapella • njpac.org

Writers: Mark Mobley Marshell Kumahor

Editor: Linda Fowler Laura Ingoglia

Design: Pierre Sardain 66 Creative, Inc. 66Creative.com

NJPAC Guest Reader: Jeffrey Griglak

NJPAC Teacher’s Resource Guide Review Committee: Judith Israel Mary Lou Johnston Amy Tenzer

Copyright © 2012 New Jersey Performing Arts Center All Rights Reserved

One Center Street Newark, New Jersey 07102Administration: 973 642-8989Arts Education Hotline: 973 353-8009artseducation@njpac.org

Photo of The Platters on page 5 courtesy of fayetteconcerts.org

More Resources AcknowledgmentsBooks for Teachers

Early, Gerald Lyn. One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture. University of Michigan Press, 2004.

Hoffer, Charles R. Introduction to Music Education. Waveland Press, 2001.

CDs

A Rockapella Holiday. Shakariki Records, 2011.

Bang. Shakariki Records, 2010.

Live in Japan. Shakariki Records, 2004.

Comfort & Joy. Amerigo Records, 2002

Websites

rockapella.com. The official website of Rockapella.

casa.org. The Contemporary A Cappella Society’s website with information about its services and links to other a cappella sites

thinkfinity.org. Verizon Foundation website for classroom educational resource material.

DVDs

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, The Learning Company, 2002.

Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?, The Learning Company, 1995.

Compilation CDs Featuring Rockapella

Carmen Sandiego: Out of This World. Zoom Express/BMG Kidz/Fight Records, 1993.

Muppet Beach Party. Jim Henson Records/BMG Kidz, 1993.

as of 01/18/12

NJPAC Arts Education programs are made possible by the generosity of: Bank of America, The Arts Education Endowment Fund in Honor of Raymond G. Chambers, Leon & Toby Cooperman, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Amy C. Liss, McCrane Foundation, Merck Company Foundation, Albert & Katharine Merck, The Prudential Foundation, PSEG Foundation, Marian & David Rocker, The Sagner Family Foundation, The Star-Ledger/Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Verizon, Victoria Foundation, Wells Fargo, John & Suzanne Willian / Goldman Sachs Gives and The Women’s Association of NJPAC.

Additional support is provided by: Advance Realty, C.R. Bard Foundation, Becton Dickinson and Company, The Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation, Allen & Joan Bildner, Bloomberg, Ann & Stan Borowiec, Jennifer Chalsty, Chase, Edison Properties, Veronica Goldberg Foundation, Meg & Howard Jacobs, Johnson & Johnson, The MCJ Amelior Foundation, The New Jersey Cultural Trust, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Novo Nordisk, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Pechter Foundation, PNC Foundation on behalf of the PNC Grow Up Great program, The Provident Bank Foundation, E. Franklin Robbins Charitable Trust, Roche, TD Charitable Foundation and The Blanche M. & George L. Watts Mountainside Community Foundation.

Find additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org or scan the QR code displayed here.

For even more arts integration resources, please go to Thinkfinity.org, the Verizon Foundation’s signature digital learning platform, designed to improve educational and literacy achievement.

ViSiT US ONLiNE

William J. Marino.……............................…………………………………………………………………….Chairman John Schreiber.............…....……..................…………………………………..President & Chief Executive Officer Sandra Bowie………….………........................……………………………………..Vice President of Arts Education Sanaz Hojreh.……………......................….……..………………………..Assistant Vice President of Arts Education Verushka Wray Spirito.............….………............………….........................…Associate Director of Performances Chamie Baldwin Graff.............….………............……………................…Director of Marketing, Arts Education Caitlin Evans Jones…………..........................……….………………………….…Director of In-School Programs Jeff Griglak......………......................……………….………………………………..……..Director of Arts Training Constance Collins........…….….........................Administrative Assistant and Office Manager for Arts EducationLaura Ingoglia…………........................….……………………....…………....Editor of Teacher’s Resource Guides Linda Fowler..…………........................…….…………………....…………....Editor of Teacher’s Resource Guides