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Professional Construction students explore Black History Month

17 October 2023
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Charles Levine and Ellie Bennett, two of our Professional Construction tutors took their first and second year Level 3 learners on a tour of black music, from Leadbelly and Robert Johnson through the 40’s, 60’s, 70’s, to today in awareness of Black History Month. Charles explained how he “wanted to tie those contributions to English culture, we explored how much many British bands either covered (some might say stole) from relatively unknown blues and R&B artists. We also explored how artistic respect and inspiration was (and should be) at play.” 

A few examples: Leadbelly – House of the Rising Sun Animals – House of the Rising Sun     Willie Dixon – You Need Love 1962  Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love 1970  black history month banner  “Incredibly, most students had never heard about the Northern Soul movement that happened in their own backyards, and actually supported many artists who were less popular and successful in the United States.”    A few examples are: Wendy Renee  Otis Redding   Charles also mentioned that “Jimi Hendrix didn’t really get famous until he started playing in London, the UK, and Europe. Same for Fela Kuti.”   Hendrix BBC 1969 Thin Lizzy – Dancing in the moonlight 1977 Fela Kuti 1984   different American style buildings   “Whether we’re talking about architecture, construction, or engineering, Ellie and I always try to bring these topics home to our learners with cultural and historical connections, for instance: Why do certain buildings look or feel American, European, Asian, etc? Likewise, why does certain music?   I also played a short video deconstructing rap music, which ties into a lot of our discussions about accuracy, precision and measurement in construction and communication.  I definitely felt like it was good for the students to focus on something other than construction for the tutorial, and I did receive some positive feedback. I’m sure some of them went on to explore the topic further.”