About This Lesson
Teach with My Music with Rhiannon Giddens with Wu Man to introduce students to Chinese musician Wu Man, her instrument the pipa, Chinese music, American Transcontinental Railroad History and the experience of Chinese Immigrants. This lesson is great for Music and Social Studies classes.
About this Episode
In My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two Episode One, host Rhiannon Giddens performs and talks with pipa master Wu Man, a 2023 NEA National Heritage Fellow who has been part of Silkroad Ensemble since its founding in 2000 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Wu Man is a Grammy award-winning pipa virtuoso and ambassador of Chinese music. Her work strives to preserve and innovate pipa music through performance, education, and collaboration. Rhiannon Giddens and Wu Man talk about the origins of the pipa and discuss Silkroad’s multi-year “American Railroad” project.
About the Learning Guide
This learning guide can help you teach about:
- Chinese music and the pipa (Chinese string instrument)
- History of the American Transcontinental Railroad and Chinese 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 Chinese / Lunar New Year (early winter), Music in our Schools Month (March), Chinese Language Day (April 20), Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month (May), and International Music Day (October 1).
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.
