James Reese Europe & “Castle House Rag”
A series of episodes exploring how one musician served his community, his country, and helped introduce the world to Jazz.
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About this Episode
James Reese Europe was a groundbreaking composer and orchestra conductor of the early 20th century. An influential Black man, he introduced international audiences to some of the foundations of African-American music.
Students will explore how James Reese Europe borrowed from the emerging popular music known as ragtime jazz, incorporating "syncopated" rhythmic variations that were unusual in the orchestral world
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.
To assign this Episode in your LMS:
Copy one of these links and paste it into your assignment page.
To link to this episode page: https://www.musicofus.org/episode/jre
To link directly to the episode: https://forge-stage.muzzylane.com/share/1f4fa9
Teacher Guides
The Music of US teacher guide provides information, standards alignment and tips for all Music of US resources.
A teacher guide for the James Reese Europe episodes is being written.
More James Reese Europe: coming soon
We will be adding episodes exploring the incredible range of James Reese Europe’s impact; from creating the first professional agency for Black musicians, to inventing a dance step, to serving his country in WW1, where he introduced the world to jazz.