Themes and Eras

Voices Across Time is organized by historical eras derived from the National History Standards and themes adapted from the National Social Studies Standards.  The themes are:

United/Divided: Politics, civil rights, diversity

This theme explores the great American paradox E Pluribus Unum: The many consequences of being a nation of diverse people with diverse backgrounds and opinions. Music has allowed even the most disenfranchised to speak up and be heard--that peaceful dissension that is at the heart of the democratic process. This theme will introduce songs of politics, suffrage, civil rights, and cultural pride and conflict.

War and Peace: Propaganda, patriotism, protest

During wartime, songs become weapons, rallying cries, and emotional support. As documents of patriotism, propaganda, and protest, they invite us to ask questions like: "What is peace?" "What is war?" "Why is the nation fighting?" "What am I fighting for?" "What is it like to be a soldier?" "How does it feel back home?"

Work: Labor, pride, conflict

Contrary to popular notions, the arts are not luxuries reserved for affluent times and people. Songs of work are perfect examples of music's role in helping people at all economic levels cope with hard labor, inhumane conditions, and unfair practices. Work songs like sea chanteys kept crews working together to a beat. Field hollers allowed communication between farm workers. Ballads memorialized heroes, decried working conditions, or expressed pride. Union songs recruited members to fight those conditions.

Home: Family, school, leisure

Everyday life has had a musical soundtrack from the days of singing away long winter evenings to today's world of Ipods ® and Muzak®. Songs can reveal much about relationships and values in the home and the drudgery of keeping them. Children learned lessons both moral and academic through songs. And everyone has used music to kick back and have a bit of fun! We put our ears to the doors that most textbooks keep closed to find out more about the human-ness of our ancestors.

Moving Along: Migration and transportation

Americans move! Everyone's ancestors undertook great voyages--either voluntarily or by force--to get here and we haven't stopped since. We listen to the songs of migration--from nation to nation, east to west, south to north (and back again!), farm to city, city to suburbs--to hear the reason for those moves. Then we listen to the songs of transportation and discover how technology--wagons, keelboats, steamboats, trains, automobiles, and planes--literally drives these movements over land and water.

Faith and Ideals: Religion, altruism, ethics, love of country

Nothing reveals what people believe quite as effectively as the songs they sing. Music is one of the primary ways people pass values from generation to generation. We look at songs of religious faith, devotion to country, ethical convictions, and altruistic ideas to try to understand the diverse beliefs and values that motivate Americans. What threads of shared beliefs can we find? In what ways are we different.

A helpful way to visualize this structure is through a grid combining eras and themes. This matrix populated by songs from each unit serves as a finding aid to help educators locate material that helps them meet their instructional objectives: