Student can explore the beat of popular music and what it means to call music Afro-Cuban, Afro-Caribbean, or more broadly, African-American. Students will use Soundbreaking clips of Santana and Beyoncé and the Soundbreaking Rhythmic Layers TechTools to locate in American popular music influences stemming from the African-American church, Latin America and West Africa. Students will also explore the ways the beat of this music has, to some, been perceived as “dangerous” while, for others, it may have challenged racism and segregation, bringing people from varied ethnic groups and lifestyles together in ways that words and laws could not.
