About This Lesson
Introduce students to Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist to teach about her instrument the harp, Irish / Celtic music, American Transcontinental Railroad History and the experience of Irish-American Immigrants. This lesson is great for Music and Social Studies classes.
About this Episode
In My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two Episode Two, host Rhiannon Giddens shares a musical visit with Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist in a historic North Carolina train station. They discuss the harp’s place in different musical traditions and talk about Maeve’s original composition for Silk Road Ensemble’s “American Railroad” project.
About the Learning Guide
This learning guide can help you teach about:
- Irish / Celtic traditional music and the Celtic harp
- History of the American Transcontinental Railroad and Irish-American Immigrants
- History through Music
- Music Lessons
This learning guide contains background context about the Transcontinental Railroad, a Pre-viewing Activity, and Active Viewing Recommendations.
It also includes glossaries / lists of useful terms, discussion questions, related resources, and extended learning activities.
The extended learning activities can include our supplementary Music Listening Handout and Song Analysis Handout.
About the Series: My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season 2
Pulitzer Prize and Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens hosts a half-hour series of musical performance and conversation with multicultural musicians in the Silk Road Ensemble’s American Railroad project. The outstanding guest artists of the series are innovative and accomplished musicians and storytellers who have forged unconventional paths to find their voices. My Music with Rhiannon Giddens brings US history alive to explore the development of the Transcontinental Railroad during western expansion in the United States. The series also deepens understanding and connection and can build community around the cultures that were first connected by the building of America’s Transcontinental Railroad.
This is a great resource to teach with for Music in our Schools Month (March), Irish-American Heritage Month (March), the International Irish Language Festival / Seachtain na Gaeilge (March 1-17), and World Harp Day (October 20).
Get the Google Slideshow version of this presentation and learn more about teaching with My Music with Rhiannon Giddens, including where to watch it, from Journeys in Film.
