THE BLUES™ NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH CAMPAIGN
In 2003, PBS, in conjunction with the Experience Music Project and a select group of teachers skilled in the strategies of teaching blues music and culture, created a teacher’s guide to assist in the integration of blues music, culture, and history into American classrooms for students in grades 9-12. It was developed in conjunction with Martin Scorsese’s 2003 production of The Blues documentary film series. This teacher’s guide and accompanying CD was originally distributed to nearly 25,000 high school educators throughout the United States.
We all know the blues is one of America’s greatest treasures, a roots music form that evolved out of African American work songs, field hollers, spirituals, and country string ballads more than a century ago. Blues music is the foundation of virtually every major American music form born in the 20th century, including jazz, rhythm & blues, rock & roll, and hip-hop.
As profound as the blues has been to the national American music experience, it has only occasionally entered the American classroom, mostly through individual teachers who were committed blues fans and who created their own methods to integrate the music into curricula.
A Blues Educational Outreach Advisory Board was created to assist in the development of classroom materials and lessons were designed to meet National Education Standards. The Blues educational outreach campaign was endorsed by the National Association for Music Education, The National Council for Social Studies, and The National Council of Teachers of English.
We wonder if some of those students who were exposed to this curriculum went on to become blues music artists. View the teacher’s guide here: https://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom.html
Here is a collection of music that was included in the 2003 documentary: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoM4LAiKzCdViZnxrNE3fI4ytQldxfZ1t
Check out the Media Kit here, it’s full of interesting information regarding the release of The Blues documentary.