Penn Literacy Network

The Muse Project

Muse Home Page | Article: Tapping the Power of Music
Article: Humming History's Tune | Sample Lesson: Indian Removal Act

The Muse Project: Teaching music across the curriculum
The Muse Project is a curriculum development project created by Lynda Roth, a composer from Laguna Beach, California. The project’s mission is to develop programs for music and the arts across the curriculum.

The first program of The Muse Project, “America Revealed,” is a choral curriculum derived from original texts in American history and literature. The material is organized into various modules, some chronological, others thematic. For example, the Origins Module sequentially traces four centuries of formative events from Columbus to the Constitution. The Manifest Destiny Module follows a thematic approach in examining the irrepressible expansion of America west.

Each module is organized into two separate choirs: The Vision Choir sings lyrics based on seminal documents in American History; The Reality Choir sings lyrics based on important literature, poetry, and speeches found in the Native American tradition, the Women’s Movement, the Labo r Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, etc.

By studying the documents and literature in class, then engaging the text through music, students discover how the reality of America and the vision of America have impacted one another. They come to understand that the vision of America had an effect on real people, and these people in turn altered the vision of America, continually, back and forth over the course of our history. For example, in the Manifest Destiny Module, Thomas Jefferson had a vision of a growing American population, which would require more geographical space for development. Thus, he purchased the Territory of Louisiana. This impacted the lives of immigrants coming to America, as musically expressed in the piece, “The Expansion.” In 1830, Andrew Jackson led the way to the Indian Removal Bill (“You Will Go”), to again make room for an immigrant population filled with hopes and dreams of a better life. The final piece, “Chief Seattle,” expresses the reality of the Indian holocaust, which still impacts us in our own times.

Currently, the music is written for the secondary and college levels. However, it can be adapted to the middle school and elementary levels as well. Recordings of the material are also available. Students at all grade levels, whether singers or not, may engage with the material by listening, discussing, and critiquing, then creating their own lyrics, songs, poetry...or drawing and painting their own pictures…or writing their own skits or plays, all based on the original text material.

Studies show that music is stored in a distinct portion of the brain separate from other memory and learning centers. (Individuals with advanced dementia, who can no longer speak or remember their own names, will sing every word to an old song from years past.) And of course, how did we all learn our “ABC’s?” No one told us to go home and memorize A to M this week, N to Z the next. “America Revealed” applies this concept to the study of American history and literature.

Currently, we are in the process of aligning The Muse Project with the Penn Literacy Network. Their staff is developing a PLN/Muse Project workshop for teachers. By adding the musical component to the exploration of informational texts, we expand the framework to develop strategies for helping students access and produce the academic language of content area texts.

The power of music to evoke emotion, illuminate hidden meaning, and elicit contemplative, creative and critical thinking is enormous. Let’s tap this power. Let’s give our students an invaluable tool, enabling them to become creative and critical thinkers as well as responsible citizens.

Contact: Lynda Roth (949) 497-1061 lyndaroth@verizon.net lyndaroth.com