History Project--Creative or Lame?

Question

I have this HUGE history project that's like worth 2 test grades and 50% final exam grade. It has to be something about the Civil War that matches your interests and talents. So I picked music of the Civil War, since I'm really into music and instruments. We have to make this presentation really creative and it has to be 10 minutes long, so I want to make a video where my voice is the narration and I show pictures of bands in the Civil War, and pictures of famous musicians, and common instruments. But also, I wanted to show me playing popular Civil War songs like Dixie and the Battle Hymn of the Republic on the flute, piano, and fife (since I can play those instruments and they were common in the Civil War). I also want to get my friends to play snare drum and trumpet for my video. Does that sound cool or lame? Any tips to make my video better? I haven't started yet, so anything would be helpful!!!

I'm in 8th grade honors history, by the way

Answer 1

I really like that, it shows initiative, interest, talent and intellegence.

I think you will score pretty high with this.

if you don't its cause the teacher isn't much of a music fan from back then.

Answer 2

I think it's a good topic!
When you do projects, you want to get yourself into it, not just so you can get it over with because it is boring. If you are interested in music, apparentely there is a way to make your project interesting.
A slide show can be boring and/or entertaining. To catch the audience's attention, add some sounds or funny phrases to your slides. Like they could have written a song back then about war. You can add a bomb noise or explosion for sound effects!
You can also add clips from movies about the Civil War that might be recent. Then you add a touch of being modern to the simple old days! That's called entertainment for the best it can get!
Sounds like a great project-- and it looks like it hooks you and your crowd! Good Luck!!

Answer 3

Being that you are in High School I would expect work like that in a history class it prepares you for the research that you will be needing to do in collage classes as well as providing students creative outlets to explore history a subject that most students under appreciate. He might be over doing it but would you rather just sit taking notes while he lectures you for an hour a day. Now imagine how boring the lecture would probably be by the time he has given it 4-6+ times during the day.

Answer 4

Is there any way you could try to get some period costumes? Maybe use clips from Civil War movies, for example Glory, Gettysburg, Gone With The Wind.

Answer 5

It does sound cool, if you can pull it off.

One thing that would be important would be to identify what certain words in the songs are representing.

I answered a question from a person wanting to know why Yankee Doodle, in the song of that name, put a feather in his cap and called it macaroni. I did a little research and found that at the time the nobles in Europe who dressed in the latest and most expensive fashions called it macaroni. So when Yankee Doodle did it he was making fun of those European snobs who thought only of high fashion.

There was a documentary done on the Civil War by Ken Burns, it is a very long series of 1 hour episodes and a lot of the narration is done over music from the period.

I don’t know of any American Civil War songs off the top of my head except for Dixie Land, but that would be a good (and expected start) so you would have to find out what Dixie means. If you put sense to the words in the song then you are writing history. When you play your instruments and have a band then you are making history come alive. But, without the meaning of the songs you are not explaining anything.

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie
“According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins of this nickname remain obscure. According to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (1951), by Mitford M. Mathews, three theories most commonly attempt to explain the term:
1. The word "Dixie" refers to a privately issued currency from banks in Louisiana[1]. These banks issued ten-dollar notes, labeled "Dix" (French for "ten") on the reverse side. These notes are now highly sought-after for their numismatic value. The notes were known as "Dixies" by English-speaking southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the Cajun-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as "Dixieland". Eventually, usage of the term broadened to refer to most of the Southern States.
2. The word preserves the name of a kind slave owner on Manhattan Island, a Mr. Dixy. (Slavery was legal in New York until 1827.) His rule was so kindly that "Dixy's Land" became famed far and wide as an Elysium abounding in material comforts.
3. "Dixie" derives somehow from Jeremiah Dixon of the Mason-Dixon line defining the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania (the northern boundary of Dixie).
The Mason-Dixon theory is the most popularly known, but few lexicographers give it much weight.”

So the land of Dixie is the land below the Mason Dixion Line. The Mason Dixion line was named after the two politicans who arrived at the compromise before the Civil War saying that slavery would be active below the line, but not above the line.

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixieland
“Dixieland music is a style of jazz. Dixieland developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.”

So dixieland music has nothing to do with your topic.

I almost forgot the Battle Hymn of the Republic
According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic
“"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a patriotic anthem, written by Julia Ward Howe in December 1861, that was made popular during the American Civil War.”

“A man from Vermont named Thomas Bishop joined the Massachusetts Infantry before the outbreak of war and wrote a popular set of lyrics, circa 1860, titled "John Brown's Body" which became one of his unit's walking songs. According to writer Irwin Silber (who has written a book about Civil War folksongs), the song was not about John Brown, the famed abolitionist, but a Scotsman of the same name who was a member of the 12th Massachusetts Regiment. An article by writer Mark Steyn explains that the men of John Brown's unit had made up a song poking fun at him, and sang it widely.
Bishop's battalion was dispatched to Washington, D.C. early in the Civil War, and Julia Ward Howe heard this song during a public review of the troops in Washington. As with many others, she assumed it was about John Brown the abolitionist. Her companion at the review, the Reverend James Clarke, suggested to Howe that she write new words for the fighting men's song, and the current version of "Battle Hymn of the Republic"”

The evoluton of the song from a spritual to an abolitionist theme song to one of the Offical Songs of the Federal Government is an important one. It may also be a good idea to look up Irwin Silber for more songs of the period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Silber). You should read his book “Songs of the Civil War.”

Answer 6

Totally cool!

I hope it turns out OK...

Answer 7

dat sounds good 2 me!!!