Fletcher Henderson: Changing the Tune: Black Americans and Popular Music in the 1920s
Architect of Swing
Explore seminal recordings to discover how Henderson and his Orchestra broke through music industry segregation to influence popular music across the country and the world.
Episode will open and play in a separate browser tab.
About this Episode
Fletcher Henderson, the composer of “Far Away Blues,” went on to change the popular music of the 1920s by charting a course from the “ragtime” style that dominated early jazz toward a more sophisticated sound, which would become known as “swing.”
In this episode students will explore how influential musicians, including Fletcher Henderson, navigated the segregation of the music industry in the 1920s and created a new style of music that crossed boundaries.
In each branch students interact with music and associated primary sources, and record their own thoughts. As they explore, sources are collected to a Journal, and the student draws on these sources to consider a final reflective question.
Students will:
Explore Henderson’s career and impact through primary-source photographs, newspaper advertisements (including Race Records ads) and music.
Analyze Fletcher Henderson’s “Do Doodle Oom”, an early Fletcher Henderson recording where one can hear early hints of what would become Swing Jazz.
Episode Implementation
Open the Teacher Guide (below) for ideas on using this Episode with students.
The Episode will open in the browser, and runs on PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks. It is not designed for small (phone screens)
The Episode can be integrated with your LMS through a simple link, or students can play from this website. No student sign-in is needed.
Teacher Guides
The Music of US teacher guide provides information, standards alignment and tips for all Music of US resources.
The Fletcher Henderson: Architect of Swing teacher guide provides tips, background information and sources for the Architect of Swing episode.
Screenshots from the episode:
