This collection of lessons emphasizes using primary sources, such as digitized sheet music and sound recordings, contemporary accounts, and photographs, to illustrate how American music reflects and influences the social and political history of a time period. Topics include: Minstrels Songs of Abolition Spirituals Blues Ragtime Musical Theatre Jazz Country Music Folk Music Classical Music

DONNA B. LEVENE has been an elementary and high school library media specialist in the Cherry Creek School District of Colorado for thirteen years, currently at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado. She also performs as a soloist and an accompanist as a member of a local music organization.