The Arts · Grade 9

Active learning ideas

Global Musical Traditions: Africa and the Americas

Active learning helps students connect abstract concepts like geography and history to tangible experiences with instruments and scales. By handling materials, comparing sounds, and creating remixes, students build durable understanding that moves beyond memorization to true engagement with cultural narratives.

• Ontario Curriculum Expectations
• MU:Cn11.1.HSII
• MU:Re7.2.HSII

• 30–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Stations Rotation
• 45 min · Small Groups

Stations Rotation: Instrument Materials Stations

Prepare four stations with videos and samples of African drums, mbiras, American flutes, and guitars. Groups rotate every 10 minutes to observe materials, play recordings, and note how geography influences construction and sound. Students sketch findings and discuss cultural ties.

How does the available natural material in a region influence its musical sounds?

Facilitation Tip

During Instrument Materials Stations, circulate with the mbira and kora to highlight how string and harp instruments are made and played, countering the drum-only misconception immediately.

What to look for

Provide students with images of two instruments, one from Africa and one from the Americas (e.g., a kora and a charango). Ask them to identify one material used to construct each instrument and hypothesize how the region's geography might have influenced its availability.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Museum Exhibit
• 30 min · Pairs

Pairs: Scale Listening Comparison

Provide audio clips of pentatonic scales from African griot music and American folk traditions alongside Western major scales. Pairs chart differences in intervals, link to regional histories, and improvise short melodies. Share one insight per pair with the class.

In what ways does music preserve the history of a community?

Facilitation Tip

When students compare scales in pairs, ask them to map the tones to their instruments’ geography, making the connection between sound and place explicit.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'How might a song passed down orally through generations in a community serve as a form of historical record?' Facilitate a brief class discussion, encouraging students to connect musical elements to storytelling and memory.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Museum Exhibit
• 40 min · Small Groups

Small Groups: History Song Analysis

Assign songs like West African griot epics or Indigenous American storytelling chants. Groups research lyrics' historical context, map preservation elements, and perform excerpts. Conclude with a class timeline of musical histories.

Analyze how globalization has changed the way we define traditional music in these regions.

Facilitation Tip

For the Globalization Remix Challenge, assign roles like 'historian,' 'geographer,' and 'musician' so each student contributes to the creative process and deeper discussion afterward.

What to look for

Display a short audio clip of a modern fusion genre (e.g., Afro-Cuban jazz). Ask students to write down one traditional element they hear and one element that suggests globalization or external influence.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Museum Exhibit
• 50 min · Small Groups

Whole Class: Globalization Remix Challenge

Play fusion tracks like Fela Kuti's Afrobeat or Buena Vista Social Club. Students brainstorm modern influences, then create and record a short group remix using classroom percussion and apps. Present and vote on most innovative blends.

How does the available natural material in a region influence its musical sounds?

Facilitation Tip

Have small groups analyze a History Song by tracing its lyrics and melody to specific historical events, ensuring students see music as a living record of change.

What to look for

Provide students with images of two instruments, one from Africa and one from the Americas (e.g., a kora and a charango). Ask them to identify one material used to construct each instrument and hypothesize how the region's geography might have influenced its availability.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should approach this topic by grounding abstract ideas in hands-on, sensory experiences before moving to analysis or creation. Students need multiple modes of engagement—touch, sound, sight—to overcome misconceptions and build schema. Avoid starting with definitions or lectures; let students discover patterns through structured exploration and guided questions.

Successful learning looks like students confidently explaining how materials and environment shape instrument design and sound. They should also articulate how cultural exchange and globalization alter musical traditions over time, supported by evidence from listening, analysis, and creation tasks.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Instrument Materials Stations, watch for students assuming African music relies only on drums and percussion.

  Use the station with the kora harp to redirect students, asking them to identify the strings and wooden frame, then connect these materials to the West African savanna environments where they originated.

• During History Song Analysis, watch for students assuming traditional music in these regions has stayed unchanged over time.

  After pairs present their song’s evolution, ask them to point to specific lyric or melodic changes that reflect historical events, linking oral tradition to cultural adaptation.

• During Scale Listening Comparison, watch for students assuming instruments develop solely from available materials, ignoring cultural choices.

  Have students adjust the mbira’s tines during the task to hear how tuning reflects spiritual or communal values, then discuss how this intentional design contradicts material-determinism.

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Methods used in this brief

• Stations Rotation
• Museum Exhibit