Teach the Music of the Harlem Renaissance with Music by Duke Ellington

Have you ever thought about teaching the music of the Harlem Renaissance? The Harlem Renaissance jazz musicians helped bring Black musicians and Black music into mainstream American culture, and are a critical part of music history and American history.

Today I would like to present to you a lesson on the music of the Harlem Renaissance, with a focus on Duke Ellington. We will learn about the history of the Harlem Renaissance, composer Duke Ellington, and do a rhythm play along to It Don’t Mean A Thing.

This song works great for Black History Month, Jazz Appreciation Month or just whenever you feel like doing a little jazz in your classroom.

Jazz and The Music of the Harlem Renaissance

I like to do a unit on jazz music for my students. We kick it off by doing an overview of jazz music, then learning a little about the Harlem Renaissance for some historical context.

Many students (and adults) don’t realize the historical significance of jazz music. I want my students to know that music doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is created and influenced by the world around it.

Introduction to Jazz

First, I give my students a quick introduction to jazz. I love this video which takes a song we all know – Happy Birthday – and plays it in a variety of jazz styles from ragtime to swing and beyond.

We talk about the types of instruments typically found in jazz music and some important characteristics such as improvisation and syncopation that are used in most jazz forms.

What Was The Harlem Renaissance?

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of growth in culture for Black Americans that began in the 1920s. Harlem, a section of New York City, was the epicenter of this cultural revolution, but the impacts spread throughout the country. The Harlem Renaissance was an important precursor to the Civil Rights Movement.

This was a time of huge cultural contributions from Black Americans in the fields of literature, music, fashion, politics and beyond. Black Americans began to build a sense of growing pride and cultural identity through the contributions of people like Zora Neale Hurston, Duke Ellington, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes and any more.

If you have access to BrainPOP at your school, there is a great video that helps to explain about the cultural significance of the Harlem Renaissance in kid friendly terms. I will give you heads up, though. The Harlem Renaissance was also called the New Negro Movement, and the BrainPOP video does mention the word Negro, and also acknowledges that it is not a term we use any more today.

Meet the Harlem Renaissance Jazz Musicians

Once we understand the cultural significance of the Harlem Renaissance, it’s time to meet some of its most famous jazz musicians.

We started off with Duke Ellington, the composer of the piece we are going to use.

If I need to keep the lesson short, I will usually just do a little PowerPoint slide with a blurb about him. If I have time to go deeper, this Meet the Composer: Duke Ellington Biography Set has tons of cool and interactive activities to help your students really get to know Duke Ellington.

We also talk about scat singing. This version of It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) has scat singing. It’s good to kind of explain the purpose of scat singing before they hear the song. It’s not just random words. It’s meant to imitate the sound of instruments and allow a vehicle for singers to improvise freely.

Although the version of the song that I used to create the listening map (It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra from The Essential Duke Ellington album on Apple Music) is not sung by Ella Fitzgerald, you really cannot talk about scat singing without talking about Ella. So we take a moment to talk about her contributions to the world of jazz as well.

Listening to It Don’t Mean a Thing by Duke Ellington

Now it’s time to get into the music of the Harlem Renaissance. We spend a lot of time on learning tempo and dynamic music vocabulary throughout the year. And I don’t want them to forget the words just because we are moving on, so with many of the songs we listen to, I ask them questions to incorporate the words.

As we followed with our listening map, I had them think about the tempo, dynamics and instruments they heard. Then they were able to share with their shoulder partner and then we had a discussion as a whole group.

Click here to grab the free It Don’t Mean a Thing listening map to add to your jazz today.

Rhythm Play Along

Finally, we add some rhythms. I kept it simple because there is a lot going on the song, so the rhythmic accompaniment should be simple. You do the A rhythm during the A sections and the B rhythm during the B sections.

After reviewing the rhythms by reading through them as a class, we add the piece de resistance – drumsticks (or rhythm sticks). You could even get fancy and tubanos or some other sort of percussion.

Whenever I do something like that, I recommend to doing small groups at a time versus having everyone playing all the way through. For example, you could have an A group and a B group. Or each line of the listening map could be a different group.

Free Listening Map for Music Class

Does this lesson sound like something you might want to do you in your classroom? I have the listening map and rhythm play along available for you for free. Fill out the form below to download them today and pair them with the other ideas I shared in this post.

More Black History Month Activities

Looking for more activities for Black History Month? Here are some I have used in the past:

Teaching Scott Joplin – 3 Elementary Music Activities Your Students Will Love

Martin Luther King – a song to teach MI RE DO

Martin’s Big Words – a song to go with this award winning book

Calypso Freedom – a call and response song about the Freedom Riders

Somebody’s Knocking at My Door – learn about famous Black Americans

Duke Ellington – read this book all about the life of Duke Ellington