Help students learn to recognize component parts of objects.

After looking at pictures of banjos and listening to banjo music, make a class list of the characteristics of a banjo.

Remind students to note the parts of the banjos they see and to try adding to their characteristics list. Also remind them to listen to the music being played.

Refine and correct the list you have compiled.

Write a class list of "conclusions" or "inferences" that are based on the observations they have made.

Attempt to answer the question raised by the activity: How do you know it's a banjo, as opposed to some other instrument?

Science: 2.1

Visual Arts: 2.16

Read to the class the book When Uncle Took the Fiddle by Libba Moore Gray (Orchard Books, NY 1999. ISBN 0531-30137-0).

Play banjo music for the class to hear. (Recordings are available from the BRI.)

Ask students to note and remember things they especially like about the banjo and the banjo music they hear.

Ask students to find out about and to share orally the stories of musicians with whom they are acquainted.

If possible, use the resources available at the BRI and schedule a visit from a local banjo player to the classroom.

Based on all the information gathered, have students write their own banjo player--or other musician--story. Stories will be edited when completed.

English: 2.2, 2.3, 2.9. 2.10

Read stories from the past about the role of music in family and community life. (Stories from the slave narratives may also be included.)

Ask students to read (or listen as someone reads aloud) the text of the exhibit that relates how music from these instruments was enjoyed.

Hold a class discussion about the role of music during the past and now. Plan and execute a class mural-style drawing which depicts the role of music in the past and in today's family and community lifestyles.

History: 2.2

Visual Arts: 2.7