ACTIVITY 1: Luthiers and Other "Behind the Scenes" Careers in Music

Objectives:

• Explore elements which create quality music and quality instruments.
• Research how construction materials, assembly methods, and other factors affect the price of an instrument.
• Research options for music-related careers, not including performance or teaching.

Estimated Time Needed for Activity:

One 40-minutes session, plus research by students

Notes:

• It would be wonderful to find a local luthier who could come and give a presentation on his/her work. An alternative or additional option would be for a local guitarist to visit.
• Those involved in other areas of the music profession (i.e. not exclusively performing or teaching) would enhance the career research portion of the unit. Again,concentrating on areas is not meant as a value judgment, but rather an encouragement to help students think beyond the obvious choices in the music field.

Addressing Cultural Diversity in the Learning Environment:

What kinds of guitars or stringed instruments are found in the different cultures of students? What stringed instruments are traditional? (fiddle, mandolin, sitar, ud or oud, etc.)

Materials Needed for this Activity:

1. Local guitar or music stores for research, libraries, and/or access to the internet.
2. Books on guitars include:
• Carter, Walter. The Martin Book. GPI Books, 1995. The history of Martin Guitars.
• Carter, Walter. Gibson Guitars: 100 years of an American icon. General Pub. Group, c1994.
• Freeth, Nick and Charles Alexander. The Acoustic Guitar. Philadelphia: Courage Books, 1999.
• Covers Guitar's origins through 20th century developments.
• Washburn, Jim, Richard Johnston, et.al. Martin Guitars. Reader's Digest Association; 2003. An insiders guide to Martin Guitar, one of the premier acoustic guitar makers in the United States.
3. Books for career research include:
• Johnson, Jeff. Careers for Music Lovers and Other Tuneful Types. Lincolnwood (Chicago): VGM Career Horizons, a division of NTC Publishing Group, 1997
• Krasilovsky, M. William and Sydney Shemel. This Business of Music. 9th Edition. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2003. Not about careers, per se, this is meaty reading for anyone interested in entertainment law or protecting his/her rights in the industry.
• Mogel, Leonard. Careers in Communications and Entertainment. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
• Nemko, Marty, and Paul & Sarah Edwards. Cool Careers for Dummies. Foster City, CAS: IDG Books, 1998.

Additional Resources:

Websites for instructional books, videos and DVDs on playing the guitar include: Accent On Music, LLC, Homespun Tapes, Ltd.

Procedure:

1. Local guitar or music stores for research, libraries, and/or access to the internet.
2. What kinds of guitars are you familiar with?
   
3. Types include:
   
1. electric: solid body, hollow-bodied jazz guitars
   
2. acoustic guitars: steel string and nylon or classical guitars, resonator or dobro; 12-string; harp and nylon or classical guitars, resonator or dobro; 12-string; harp guitar.
4. View video.
5. Note: a dreadnought guitar refers to a large-bodied guitar of a particular shape; this style of guitar was first made by Martin Guitar.
6. Discussion Questions:
• How much machine work is involved in making a Breedlove guitar?
• How much work is done by hand?
• How might an assembly line or machine-mechanized assembly affect quality? Speed in assembly? Price?
• How does wood choice affect quality?
• What other features go into a guitar that affect its appeal, quality, price (inlay, bracing)?
• How does the quality of the instrument affect the music that a musician creates?
• How would it help to have musicians be the crafters of these guitars?
7. Research options:
• Visit local guitar stores, or research on the Web.
• Compare three different brand of guitars, and three different models within a brand, (high, medium and low end) a total of nine guitars.
• How do construction, materials, assembly methods, production rate and other features affect price?
• Work individually or in a small group. Write a one-page summary of your findings, citing sources.
• There are many other "behind the scenes" professions in the music industry:
• Audio technologists, studio engineers, editors and writers for music publications, instrument repair.
  
• Booking agent, artist management, concert promotor, entertainment lawyer.
  
8. Pick a field, and research it.
1. What are the responsibilities?
2. What education and experience is required?
   
3. What are the challenges?
   
4. The rewards?
9. Write a one-page summary of your findings, citing sources.

Assessment

• Use the Writing Scoring Guide to assess this activity.

Extensions and Adaptations

• This lesson is appropriate for grades 3-8 if the research segment is waived.
• For any grade level, invite parents or community members involved in any aspect of the music industry to come and talk with the class about their background, profession, experiences and insights into the industry.
• Those near Tumalo, Oregon (just north of Bend) may wish to take a tour of the Breedlove factory. Or for luthiers near you, search on the web for a city or town near you and "luthier." For example, "Portland luthier."
• Traci Grammer and Dave Carter are two musicians that appear in this video; they are featured in one of the two videos in the Songwriters segment.
• Another instrument-making lesson is about Hardanger Fiddles (Norwegian stringed instrument).
• Cal Scott is another featured artist in the Oregon Art Beat series.
• He writes and records music for films, as well as performs professionally.

ACTIVITY 2: Logging and (Rain) Forest Conservation

Objectives:

• Explore how manufacturing choices (type of guitar, materials used, construction techniques) affect local and international economies and ecologies.
• Research topics such as regional logging and forestry issues, ecology of the rainforest, outsourcing.
• Explore how consumer choices can affect the above.

Estimated Time Needed for Activity:

20-30 minutes for video plus discussion, and research time for students.

Notes:

• Guitar building is a microcosm of several issues: Overseas manufacturing vs. U.S. labor; mass production vs. handmade; high-quality, scarce or endangered woods vs. more common woods; innovations to use previously "unusable" sources of materials, or finding new materials to replace them. As consumers, how do we affect these issues? An example of the latter is Brazilian rosewood, which has long been a favorite of guitar enthusiasts. But for quite some time it was illegal to export this highly prized wood due to its endangered status. Luthiers used wood that had been harvested years before restrictions were in place. The scarcity of the product drove the costs up, and its use was only in the high-priced guitars. Recent changes in export laws have allowed some Brazilian rosewood to be exported to other countries including the U.S., as loggers are now allowed to salvage the stumps of previously cut trees. Though still in limited supply, the increase in availability of Brazilian rosewood is possible without cutting down more trees.

• Adirondack (Eastern red) spruce is another scarce wood. It was frequently used on the top of guitars prior to World War II. Due to over-foresting, it became a rarity. The subsequent and gradual maturing of 50-year-old reforested trees is allowing somewhat of a comeback, but is still less available (and therefore more expensive) than other spruce.Why are these woods so highly valued? The type of wood used in a guitar is one of many factors that contributes to the sound quality and timbre of the instrument. Spruce is known for its vibrant tone. Mahogany emphases the mid-range. Both maple and cedar balance evenly across the high, middle and low tones, with maple having a brighter sound and cedar a more mellow tone. Rosewood provides a deep base response, suited for larger guitars. Preferences for wood color and grain also come into play. A person might be politically motivated to save the rainforests, restrict logging in the U.S., or support U.S. labor. But if one person is also a guitarist, he or she might value the sound produced by one of the less-available woods. Another guitarist might have limited funds, and want to purchase a guitar that is less expensive, perhaps built outside the United States. How does one balance these issues? There is a growing search for alternative woods that still will create quality instruments; as with any artistic issue, it is up to the individual to decide if these alternative woods produce a sound that is comparable in quality to traditional tone woods.For more information on tone woods, search on the web for "tone woods." One example is: http://www.musicfolk.com/docs/Features/Feature_ToneWood.htm

Addressing Cultural Diversity in the Learning Environment:

• Are any of the students from a logging family, or from an area that has been affected by the downturn in the forest economy?
  
• Have any been affected by the economics of the logging industry, or job outsourcing?
  
• Ask if they would be willing to share their personal stories.

Materials Needed for this Activity:

• Student access to books on logging, rainforests, magazine articles and online sources (see also Additional Resources).
• Books on rainforests for younger readers (middle and upper elementary) include:
• Asimov, Isaac. Why Are The Rain Forests Vanishing? Milwaukee: Gareth Steves Publishing, 1992.
• Dorros, Arthur. Rain Forest Secrets. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1990.
• Parkin, Tom. Green Giants: Rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 1992.
• Lepthien, Emilie. Tropical Rain Forests. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1993.
• Osborne, Will and May Pope Osborne. Rain Forests: A nonfiction companion to Afternoon on the Amazon. A Magic Tree House Research Guide. New York: Random House, 2001.
• Books on rainforests for middle school and high school include:
• Johnson, Linda Carlson. Rain Forests: A Pro/Con Issue. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1999.
• An extensive book list for issues about logging in Oregon is available at: http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonstory/logging/biblio.html

Additional Resources:

• See also the lesson on Jim Denny, photographer and painter, whose art addresses the effect that dams and manmade structures have on the environment.

• OPB has a segment on the logging industry in Oregon called Oregon Story: Logging, complete with background on the industry, Teacher's Guide, an Open Forum, and links to other sites: http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonstory/logging/index.html
Rainforest Action Network is a political organization with educational material for students and teachers on its website: http://www.ran.org/info_center/

Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre in Australia: http://www.rainforest-crc.jcu.edu.au/

Procedure:

1. What do you know about the rainforests in South America and elsewhere?
   
2. What do you know about the logging industry in Oregon and elsewhere?
   
3. Do you know brand names of guitars?
   
4. Where are they manufactured?
5. How might your purchase as a consumer affect forests in areas as diverse as South America, India and the United States, including Oregon?
   
6. The trade balance between the United States and other countries (primarily Japan)?
7. Watch the video, Breedlove Guitars, if not yet viewed.
8. Discussion Questions:
1. What are some of the woods used in making a guitar?
   
2. Where are they found?
9. Breedlove is constructing some guitars out of Oregon wood (walnut and myrtlewood).
   
10. Do they feel this is helpful or detrimental to the survival of the wood in Oregon? Why?
11. What might encourage other guitar luthiers to use these woods in their guitars? (consumer interest)
12. Research on one of the topics below (or a related topic approved by the teacher). Include how consumer choices can affect these issues. Using concepts of composition and balance, create a display which summarizes the data.
1. Logging in Oregon: contact a logging industry advocate organization such as Oregon Forest Industries Council (http://www.ofic.com/). What are the issues that face the industry today? What is their position on clear cutting vs.selective management. What steps are being taken to ensure that the forest will regenerate with species of trees favorable to the industry and to the health of the forest? Contact an environmental group. What is their position on these questions? Is there a middle ground?
2. Amazon rainforest: what are the issues surrounding this area? What are the feared consequences if the rainforest continues to disappear at the alarming rates of recent years. Hint: The trees are important (why?), but there are other concerns as well.
13. Rainforests exist elsewhere in the world as well. Where are they?
14. Pick one area and research the issues facing its health and survival.
15. Find ways which wood by-products are being manufactured, or previously used wood is salvaged and re-used.
16. Current events: Find newspaper and magazine articles which discuss issues of out-sourcing, trade balance between the United States and other countries, trade restrictions and embargoes.
17. Research alternatives to wood products that being developed to replace or be used with products made of wood, for example, items made out of recycled plastic.

Assessment

• Use the Writing Scoring Guide to assess this activity.

Extensions and Adaptations

For K-3: Make a guitar out of a show box, rubber bands. Then view the video to see how the body of the guitar is a similarly constructed box made out of wood.