Literature Review
As I was looking into music global educator projects, I reviewed projects at both iEarn and ePals. Both sites have wonderful global project ideas that I might consider joining in the future, however I was looking specifically for something linking to the Star-Spangled Banner. When I reviewed global projects created by past Loyola students, I did find one project that worked with National Anthems, however that was for middle school orchestra students. I am going to review three projects related to global music education below.
​
*Warning: If you do not have an account with iEarn or ePals, the title links will probably NOT open to the actual project. You might get directed to the home page or a URL not found.*
The Made in Mexico project through iEarn, is a global educator project helping students share information on their culture, food, traditions, lifestyle, landmarks, etc, while also learning and singing a traditional Mexican song in different languages. The project originated in Mexico and was created for students of all age brackets. The goal was to help students learn to be tolerant and live without stereotypes. The culminating event of the project was a video presentation of the song "Cielito Lindo," in your native language. Not only was this project cross-cultural, but it was also cross-curricular (social studies, science, art, music, English, and Spanish). Made in Mexico comes with sheet music and an instrumental track (to practice/perform with).
The Hamilton Experience takes the Tony Award winning musical, "Hamilton," and teaches students how popular modern music styles can be connected to different curriculums, ideas, stories, emotions, historical events, etc. Students learn about composition, historical figures, modern music genres, social events, and emotional connections all while creating their own musical work. The project gives a few resources including information on Rhythm/Rap, and historical works that teachers and students can utilize. This project is a great way to combine modern musical genres and historical events and people in a way students can learn both at once!
Mr. Matthew Boggs, a teacher in Howard County Public Schools, created a Star-Spangled Banner global education project for his middle school orchestra students. The students from three different countries in the world would connect and perform their National Anthems via Skype for their new classmates. Mr. Boggs wanted to give students performance experience, but also opportunities to have first hand musical experiences, and promote cultural understanding and awareness, all without having to leave their school, or community. The project has a lot of resources available, including assessment sheets, requirements, and a lesson plan with objectives, standards, and assessment goals for each portion of the project. Originally I was going to possibly participate in this project, but I decided to create something similar for students at the elementary level and with the vocal framework.