Project Description

Goals

  • Students will know three genres of music created from Africans’ experience in America.

  • Students will understand the evolution of three specific genres of African-American music.

The Sound of Freedom is a virtual presentation on the Africans’ experience in America and its pivotal role in the development of the Blues, Jazz, and Hip-Hop music genres. It focuses on African cultural elements and influences, as well as the historical context associated with these genres.

(This video is a recap of the original live virtual presentation which was presented on Zoom during Summer 2020)

Find the lesson plan here.

About Creator

Anita Levels
Anita Levels
Anita Levels is a vocal artist, songwriter and producer who began singing at the age of 3 years old in Frankfurt, West Germany. Being a preacher’s kid, and a member of a musical family from New Orleans, singing and music were in her blood.

She has sung in front of national and international audiences, has toured the country of Holland as the director and founder of the then Carlow College Gospel choir, Blessed, with ethnomusicologist Dr. Portia Maultsby. She is featured in the NFL Super Bowl 50 commemorative commercial, the Pittsburgh International Jazz
Festival, and many other private and public events.

Anita Levels has a Masters Degree in Training and Development from Carlow University and believes that music should evoke the spirit of love, healing and thought. She has a plethora of original music on all streaming music platforms.
Anita is also a proud mother of two girls and a potential fish (contingent on if the girls do their chores consistently). She enjoys sharing the fundamental influence of American music genres.