Arts, Music, and History: The African Experience

Abstract

O NE of the most effective approaches to the teaching of black history is the use of mixed media, especially when it is used creatively. Ancient black Africans left a great cultural heritage for the modern world. Not only has music been one of the paramount forces which created American music, but art, through the genius of Pablo Picasso, is one of the great influences on modern art. With an imaginative approach to teaching, students can develop these concepts themselves by a simple, but effective, use of mixed media. Mixed media sounds complicated but is not. In this case, an exciting class can be built around the use of a record player or tape recorder, and a slide or film strip projector. music used in the class described here was the of Africa, conducted by Saka Acquaye.' It is very effective because both the music selected and the types of instruments used are centuries old. But many other records of the music of black Africa are available and will suffice. art used in the same class consisted of slides made from three sound filmstrips produced by Warren Schloat Productions, African Art and Culture.2 It is not necessary, however, to make slides of the filmstrips; they can be used intact. Slides were used in this case because 80 pictures, projected at 15-20 second intervals, co-ordinated beautifully with the lively music of The Voices of Africa. procedure used was simple. Without comment, the students listened to 20 minutes of uninterrupted music while the slides were projected at 15-20 second intervals. When the lesson began, the instructor