Advertisement

“That was wicked sweet!” he said.

Turner wasn’t wistfully recalling his days at Woodstock; he’s only in sixth grade. And he wasn’t watching the clip on YouTube with friends; he was in the middle of the library at Rose Kidd Elementary School in Sterling Heights.

The students, under the direction of media center teacher Helena Foust, were participating in a multimedia distance-learning program conducted by educators at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Instructors John Goerke and Susan Oehler met with the classes on three days last week to teach about how rock music influenced social change, the growth of rock music over the decades and how hip-hop and rap took advantage of changing technologies over the years. Students met in the school’s media center; Goerke and Oehler never left Cleveland, speaking from the Hall of Fame with students via electronic cameras and projectors.

The project, Foust said, was a way to integrate new and important technology in a fun and interesting way.

“We have the opportunity to do these distance-learning projects and we were doing podcasting, and using Garage Band to put it on iTunes, which is how all of this got started, so in a way we’re published,” said Foust. “I think this is how they’re going to be doing work meetings in the future, without ever having to leave their buildings, so we wanted to get them involved in programs like this.”

On March 17, 19 and 20, the students received different lessons from the Hall of Fame Instructors, focusing on how rock Œn’ roll changed with the times and was also an important way of learning about the changing culture during times of national turmoil, including the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

“We’re going to look at some great moments through the history of rock Œn’ roll that are still important today,” Oehler told the class. “Even though some of these artists are old and were making hits even before I was born, they’re still well-known and culturally important even today.”

Indeed, the history lesson took the students back nearly 40 years before they were born, with the advent of Elvis Presley’s first national television performance and Chuck Berry’s first works. Students also learned about rock Œn’ roll’s instrumental role in the tumultuous 1960s, when Vietnam and the civil rights movement were tearing the nation apart and anger and change were preached by artists like Bob Dylan and Hendrix.

“Some of your parents and grandparents may be pulling out their hair about the fact that you get to listen to Jimi Hendrix in school, but a lot of people back then thought his performance of ŒThe Star Spangled Banner’ was disrespectful,” Oehler said. “You actually also wouldn’t have a lot of the heavy metal music we have today without the distortion and feedback Hendrix used in his electric guitar performances.”

Students also learned about the rise of Motown in the 1960s, when Berry Gordy brought groups such as The Supremes, The Temptations and The Jackson Five to national attention. The students laughed as they watched a 12-year-old Michael Jackson belt out the lyrics to “I Want You Back” on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Oehler said that performance, and the success of Motown artists, was important in bringing the changes of the civil rights movements to fruition years after segregation was outlawed.

“A lot of African American artists had to work very hard to get on TV still in the 1970s. It was hard to break that color barrier on TV,” she said. “And (Jackson’s) just one year older than most of you guys at that point, and yet he’s singing fantastically ... There’s a way we can relate to that, when we see a star on TV who looks like us, we think that anything’s possible. And that meant a lot to African Americans watching at home.”

The trip through time ended in the 1980s with the birth of MTV, which kicked off its history by playing The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Students watched the fusion of rock music and rap come to life with a playing of the video “Walk this Way,” featuring Aerosmith and Run-DMC.

Although the majority of the artists featured were popular before many of the students’ parents were born, each student had knowledge of many of the musicians. Turner himself was eager to learn about groups such as The Ramones, The Clash and other punk groups, even though they were on the scene years before he was born.

“I loved this. I’m a big fan of rock Œn’ roll,” he said. “I love VH1 and I have a few of their CDs.”

Foust said she was not surprised about her students’ knowledge of rock Œn’ roll.

“I work with them every day and I like rock music and I know they do, so we talk about it quite a bit,” she said. “I thought this would be a fun experience for them.”