Introduction:

The new art museum in your area is opening an exhibit on jazz music and they need help decorating the exhibit. Your class has been selected (because of your talent and extraordinary good looks) to participate in a contest to create a collage of pictures of and information about jazz artists. The winners of this contest will have their collage enlarged and made into a mural on one of the museum walls. You and your classmates will search jazz websites for pictures and information about different jazz artists and create a collage from this information. Your job is to find the coolest photos and most unique information about each one...something that no one has ever seen or has ever known.

Task:

Working in groups of two, you will conduct a search to find photos and information about 10 jazz artists. You will need to visit these online resources (found the Sources section) and it would also be helpful to do a Google search (www.google.com) about individual artists. You must work together as partners to make sure the information you gather is paired with the artist.

You will need to find information and photos on 10 different jazz artists, past or present. You may choose five or your own, if you like, or you may choose them all from the following list; however, five of them must come from the list on this website:

The information must be presented as complete sentences in a short paragraph. It must include: their birth and death dates (if the death date is applicable), their greatest contribution to jazz, one song they wrote (or arranged) and three other interesting facts of your choice.You may also include any other unique information or quotes that you may find. Have fun with this! But please limit your paragraph to no longer than 10 lines.

The following questions may help you in your search:

Where were they born?
Where did they grow up?
What was going on at the local level when they were growing up?
How did they get started in jazz?
What instrument did they play?
Who was their greatest influence and why?
What was their best-known song?
What was one of their greatest contributions to jazz?
Were they the leader of a band? If so, what was their band's name?
Where did they get their big start?
Where did they usually perform?
What style/s did they play?
Have they appeared in any movies? If so, which?
Do they have a favorite saying or quote? What is it?

Each group will create two separate documents: one for pictures and one for information. It is imperative that the information and pictures be assigned a corresponding number so that you know which photo goes with which paragraph. These will be printed off and turned in to the teacher who will grade them. He/she will then return them to you and everyone will use their pictures and information to create one big collage.

Process:

- One member will be in charge of gathering pictures and saving them in a folder onto a disk. The other will be in charge of recording and keeping the information in a notebook.
-Choose ten artists and search them out on the websites cited, or do a Google search on them.
-Right click on the pictures and save them to a new folder on your disk. Name the folder "Jazz Webquest" and put all of your pictures and information in that folder. Make sure all of your pictures are numbered.
- Write down the required information (and any fun things you can find) in a separate notebook. Be sure to assign to the information the corresponding number of the picture of that artist.
- Create a new, blank document in Microsoft Word
- Insert each picture, one by one, onto the document, being sure to leave space in between each one to allow for cutting around it; also be sure to type the number of the picture next to it so as not to lose the number. (Stubborn computer hint: After you insert the picture, highlight it and then go to "Text Wrap" in the Picture tool bar and select "Through Text". This will allow you to move them around freely and type the numbers next to them.) You may make the pictures whatever size you like-- they don't need to fit all on one page. Have fun and please be creative!
-Organize the information into meaningful paragraphs and enter them into a separate word document, also being careful to keep the numbers with the paragraph.
-Print both forms (no matter how many pages of pictures!) and turn them in to your teacher to be graded.
-When they come back to you, cut out each picture and each paragraph (they no longer need to be kept together) and have fun with everyone else creating a big collage on poster paper or cardboard.

Resources:

www.jass.com/index.html

www.redhotjazz.com/musicians.html

www.harlem.org

jazzfolio.com
* the only way to get to this link is by doing a Google search for "jazzfolio". The pictures aren't usable, but they're very interesting!

www.google.com

Learning Advice:

- Be sure to work equally with your partner so that everyone can gain the same experience and learning opportunity. Please don't make one person do all the work!
- Be sure to keep the numbers straight so that the right information is paired with the right artist.
- Be sure your notebook is organized, neat and legible so that you both can work from it.
- Save all your pictures and paragraphs and everything in the same folder so that it's all in the same place where you need it.
- When you save the pictures, save them by the artist's name and the number you've assigned to the picture. This way you are less likely to get them mixed up.

Conclusion:

Congratulations! Your class' collage won the contest! It will now be made into a mural on the wall at the museum, where everyone can see the pictures and learn little known facts about the music they love.

This activity has provided you the opportunity not only to see cool pictures and learn interesting facts, but it has also given you a little more experience with the Internet, with word processors, and with organizing and storing information. It also gave you the opportunity to have fun creating something that will contribute to the beauty and culture of your community! Now that's jazz...

List of possible artists to research:

Buddy Bolden
Joe "King" Oliver
Louis Armstrong
Kid Ory
Jelly Roll Morton
Bessie Smith
Ma Rainey
Mamie Smith
Billie Holliday
Ella Fitzgerald
Fats Waller
Johnny Dodds
Fletcher Henderson
Frank Teschemacher
Bud Freeman
Gene Krupa
Benny Goodman
Woody Herman
Count Basie
Tommy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
Nat King Cole
Art Tatum
Charlie Parker
DIzzy Gillespie
Dave Brubeck
Paul Desmond
Miles Davis
George Shearing
Bud Shank
Horace Silver
Charles Mingus
Antonio Carlos Jobim
John Coltrane
Herbie Hancock
Wynton Marsalis
Art Blakey
Duke Ellington
Lester Young
Hoagy Carmichael
Django Reinhardt
Jack Teagarden
Pat Metheny
Eliane Elias
Joshua Redman
Regina Carter

and these are only a few...