Aaron Copland's Appalachian Springs and the Western Movement

1. Students will research and learn about the Western Movement and composer, Aaron Copland. Students will learn about the hardships, trials and victories as the pioneers headed west.
2. Students will listen to Copland's "Appalachian Springs" and image themselves in a horse and buggy crossing the Appalachain Mountains. They will get in small groups of four and act out the Western Movement to create a music Flip video of the pioneers.
3. Students will stay in their groups of four to create the landscape and pioneers of The Western Movement. They will build horses. buggies. pioneers, mountains, creeks, cattle, etc out of modeling clay. Next the students will create a western movement story using their clay creations. They will practice telling the story through the movement of the clay pieces.
4. Using a tripod and Flip video camera students will tell the story of the western movement by taking a picture each time that their clay moves across the mountains or prairies.
5. Students and teacher will edit the video using Flip camera software to create a claymation video with Copland's "Appalachian Springs" as the background music to help set the seen.