Hello!
You are on this webpage because you are are either bringing your classroom to the National Jazz Museum in Harlem or you already brought your students to the Museum. We have put together a series of videos, activities, and worksheets that you can use with your students. These resources are designed by teachers, teaching artists and musicians to best meet the feedback we have gathered from teachers over the past several years. We have designed these resources to be used in grades 2-6 but they can easily be adapted for use in younger and older grades.
The Fundamentals: This video series will introduce four of the key fundamentals to understanding jazz and what we do here in our workshops.
Harlem
Improvisation
Rhythm
The Blues
These four topics will provide key knowledge that will be built upon during your on-site visit. Each video introduces a topic and then provides an activity that you can do in your class. You do NOT need to be a musician or have a deep knowledge of jazz to do these activities with your students. Have fun, be creative, and build excitement for your field trip to the Museum!
Improvisation is a tool jazz musicians use to express themselves!
Rhythm is the beat! Let’s learn about it!
Harlem is a neighborhood in New York City!
The blues can be a feeling or a style of music, or both!
After you Visit the Museum: Our Post-Visit Resources
Did you enjoy yourself? Did you sing? Did you move your body? We hope you came back to your classroom with a new understanding of jazz, Harlem, and what makes African American music and culture so vibrant! Here are some additional videos that you can use to expand your students understanding of the many different styles of jazz that exist today. Each video has a short reflection activity at the end.
Activity Sheets for Download: