Protest in Song:

 A Webquest on the Vietnam Era

 

Step 1: Your Job

For this project you will work in groups of four. Please assign one role for each member of your group:

• Historian: responsible for historical accuracy and style
• Protester: responsible for making your cause hear
• Lyricist: responsible for writing song.
• Marketing: responsible for creating album cover

 Step 2: Find a Cause

You can’t protest without having a reason. Pick a cause from the Vietnam era (the war, civil rights, government, universities, human rights, women’s rights, the environment, etc.…) Find two song lyrics that share your cause.

Hint: Good places to start looking include:

The History of Music: www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/history.html   

Music with Meaning: www.hippy.com/php/article.php?sid=4

As always, you are free to use with Google or other search engines

Other useful things to investigate: Woodstock, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, "One Tin Soldier," "The Eve of Destruction," Bob Dylan, The Kingston Trio, Folk-Revival,

Be sure to print a copy of your songs and if possible, listen to it. Be able to describe what the song is protesting and how.

Step 3: Learn about the protest

Conduct 10 minutes of research, gathering as much information about your protest topic as you can find. This information will be beneficial for the next steps, but don’t get stuck here; you still have lots of work to do!

Step 4: Become Part of the Protest

As a team, compose a short original protest song. You do not have to put the lyrics to a musical, but it might be nice if they had a melody (the melody does not have to be original). Prepare to market your song for nationwide distribution by creating an album cover. (Be sure to name your band and song.)

Step 5: Jam with Other Artists

                Share your work with other artists (your classmates)

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