Year 8 Music Semester 2 2009
Major Project
MusicLand Theme Park
You are a team of theme park designers
assigned to build a new music theme park in
your city. MusicLand will have different
"Lands" for each of the following musical
genres: Musical Theater, Early Jazz (Ragtime,
Dixieland, and the Blues), New Jazz (Roaring
'20's, Swing, and Be-bop), Rock and Roll,
Country & Folk, and Pop music. Each design
team (4 to 6 members) must choose a Land to
develop and make it as realistic as possible.
Remember, the more authentic you make
MusicLand the more tourists you will attract!
The Task
Your team is assigned the task of researching, designing, and creating a blueprint or
model of your section of the music theme park. Things of interest to appear in your
design should include:
 Performing talent that looks and acts like the musical artists of your chosen
musical style.
 Musical selections to be used as background music throughout your Land.
 A timewarp entryway establishing the historical setting of the music.
 A restaurant that features the type of food that was a favorite during the time
period of your MusicLand genre.
 A souvenir shop that carries reproductions of instruments and recordings that
are unique to the musical art form of your chosen era.
 Theme park rides or activities that creatively use music terms and ideas and
involove persons or events related to your MusicLand genre.
 As part of your presentation you will also present a piece of music that you
compose that will be your themepark’s Theme song. Of course it has to fit
into the music characteristics of your Genre.
Have fun with this!
The Process
1.
Decide as a group the musical genre you would like to feature in your MusicLand region.
Your choices are: Musical Theater, Early Jazz (Ragtime, Dixieland, and the Blues), New Jazz
(Roaring '20's, Swing, and Be-bop), Rock and Roll, Country & Folk, or Pop. If you can think
of another genre you would like to study ask Mr. P. Start a project journal to record important
information, questions, thoughts, and ideas during the project. Begin the journal by writing
questions you have about the music and time period. What are some things you will have to
know to complete your task?
2.
3.
4.
As a team, research the musical genre you have selected, recording answers to your questions
and other helpful information in your journal. Add new questions to your journal as you think
of them.
Choose a time period that your group thinks is the definitive time period for your genre. Also,
choose a location that was the center of creativity for your genre in the time period you chose.
For example: if your genre was Pop, you might consider disco music to be definitive and so
choose New York in the 1970's as your location and time era. Include in your presentation an
explanation of why you chose both the time period and the location in which your Land is set.
When you have finished researching, use the information to complete each part of the project.
Remember to record thoughts, ideas, explanations for decisions, etc. in your journals.
Divide the following tasks between your team members:
A. Compose a short musical composition that has musical elements from your genre.
B. Choose musical artists who will "perform" in your Land. Pick musical artists you feel
are important to the history of the music genre you have chosen and that would have
lived in the time period and location you have chosen. Identify the characteristics and
mannerisms of these artists and decide how the entertainers you hire will imitate
these performers. Design costumes for the entertainers.
C. Choose ten different musical selections to be used as background music throughout
your Land. The music chosen must be typical of the genre and time period.
D. Create a timewarp entryway establishing the historical setting of the music. People
will walk through this display when they enter your region of Musicland. It will
provide a brief glimpse of important historical events in that era to give your visitors
a mindset when experiencing your section of the park. You can use audio, video,
pictures, newspaper clippings from the time period, etc.
E. Plan a restaurant that features the type of food that was a favorite during the time
period Land. Name your restaurant and design a menu. Design costumes for the
employees.
F. Plan a souvenir shop that carries reproductions of instruments and musical recordings
that are unique to the musical genre you are focusing on in your Land. To represent
this shop, you can create a diorama with pictures of the instruments and posters on
the wall advertising the music. Or, create a catalog of your items that you could send
home with customers who want to
buy later.
G. Develop theme park rides or
activities that creatively use music
terms and ideas. Name your park
attractions after famous musicians,
their music, or musical terms.
H. Create a blueprint or 3D model of
your MusicLand region. The park
design can be presented on paper, video, multimedia format, or another creative
method you think of. Submit ideas to your supervisor (your teacher) prior to doing
this to make sure it meets his/her desired specifications.
I. When all parts of the task are complete, plan a presentation to your investors (your
class) to convince them to fund this fantastic, profitable venture! Consider using any
media you have available, wearing costumes, role playing, etc. Make it exciting and
fun! Use props, costumes and even prepare food that is appropriate to your genre.
Learning Advice
The success of your theme park design is dependent upon the contributions of all members.
Therefore, take careful notes as you do your research and remember that your goal is to design
an authentic music theme park. Make sure that the attractions and park atmosphere reflect the
musical genre, time period, and location you have chosen. When researching music, use all of
the resources available to you, including CD's, laserdiscs, audio tapes, encyclopedias (yes,
they still work!), books from your library, etc. Here are samples of the kinds of questions you
may want to ask as you are researching music related topics:
o Who were the most influencial and dynamic musicians of the time? (ie. musicians of
the royal court, Grammy award winners, billboard magazine chart toppers, etc.)
o What were the popular songs of the musical genre?
o
o
o
What events took place during this time period that may have influenced the music
that was being composed and performed? What was the political climate?
What were the customs and fashions of this time period? (ie. clothing styles, food,
architecture, etc.)
What other art forms were current and significant to the music topic? (ie. paintings,
print ads, theatrical releases, etc.)
Resources
Internet
15. Genres:
Infoseek: Music Genres
Worldwide Internet Music Resources: Genres
Yahoo! - Entertainment:Music:Genres
Artists:
Artist-specific Internet Sites
Individual Musicians (All Genres) and Popular Groups or Groups and Ensembles
(Except for Popular) from Indiana University.
Infoseek: Artists and Bands
Yahoo! - Entertainment:Music:Artists
Musicology:
EUCHMI Catalogue Volume 3 contains the electronic photo gallery of the Edinburgh
University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments.
Fiske Museum Home Page contains photos of some vintage musical instruments.
Ethnic and National Music from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana
University, contains links to resources on music from all over the world.
Yahoo! - Entertainment:Music:History
General Music Resources from Indiana University.
Research and Study of music, from Indiana University.
American Music Center Home Page has many links to music-related pages.
Books
There are heaps of books in our “pile” near the teacher desk
Video
o
o
Marsalis on Music: "From Sousa to Satchmo"
The Mix: "Musical Visions of America"
Evaluation
Your project will be evaluated on the following criteria:
18. Does the music selected to be performed and played accurately represent the musical
genre, time period, and location?
19. Is the choice of time period and location appropriate to the musical genre and based
on research?
20. Do the performers closely portray the musicians, their characteristics, and
mannerisms ?
21. Do the fashions (architecture, furniture, clothing, etc.) resemble the time period?
22. Does your project journal show how you used historical information to recreate the
time period?
23. Does your timewarp entryway convey the significant events that influenced the
music?
24. Do the restaurant and souvenir shop reflect the food, instruments, and songs of this
genre, time period, and locale?
25. Are the rides and attractions exciting and creative? Are they related to the musical
genre?
26. Does the model or blueprint clearly show what your team wants to create?
27. Could a team of investors learn what your Land is like from examining all of your
materials?
Conclusion
How is the music that we listen to a reflection of the times in which we live? How do
historical events influence composers and the music that they write?
Reflection
This will be supplied later