Yankee Doodle: How has it changed over time?

The topic of the lesson is Yankee Doodle Dandy. Students are investigating different versions of Yankee Doodle Dandy sheet music and lyrics in order to introduce themselves to different events in U.S. history and to discover how political songs can change to reflect new situations.This lesson will be used in language arts classes as well as a beginning ELL History Concepts class. It integrates historical concepts with language use. In particular, students will consider the word yankee and how it is and has been used, not only in the U.S., but also in their countries.

Historical Background

The first version of Yankee Doodle Dandy was written during the French and Indian War in order to make fun of American troops. In the view of British soldiers, the Americans were ill-prepared, poorly trained, and ill-equipped. There is no definitive history of how the tune came into being. It is similar to both an English and a Dutch song. There is also no agreement on where the term yankee came from, although it is logical to consider it a Dutch diminutive of the name Jan. Doodle was Dutch slang for a fool or simpleton. During the American Revolution, British troops sang it to insult American militias, but Americans took to the tune and sang it themselves, to include singing at the Cornwallis’ surrender. Verses continued to be added over time.

The song was modified during different events in American history. The lyrics were changed during or after the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, and World War II. George Gershwin modified it for a Broadway musical and it was also used in a movie about his life. There is also a version from the present celebrating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Students will be sourcing the different songs by investigating the source and the author's point of view. Students will perform a close reading of the texts by analyzing what the sheet music looks like, what the texts say, and what symbols are included on the covers. Students will contextualize by investigating when the songs were written and published. They will decide why the songs were written and what events happened before the songs were published. Students will corroborate by comparing and contrasting the texts.

Lesson Objective

Students will make connections between different historical events and the present and learn about how we use music to pass on information about events and political positions.

Materials

• Yankee Doodle Dixie (Chet Atkins), youtube clip
• Yankee Doodle Boy (James Cagney), youtube clip
• Sheet Music Handout: “Yankee Doodle Boy”
• Sheet Music Handout: “The Volunteer Yankee Doodle of ’61”
• Sheet Music Handout: “Dixie Doodle”
• Sheet Music Handout: Yankee Doodle
• Flipchart: Yankee Doodle Dandy

Procedure

1. Students will listen to Chet Atkins playing “Yankee Doodle Dixie to see if they recognize the music. They will then work in pairs to compare/contrast the picture of “Yanke Doodle” and cover of “The Yankee Doodle Boy” and the covers of “Yankee Doodle of ‘61” and “Dixie Doodle.”
2. Students will work in pairs to analyze the sheet music covers of the four versions of “Yankee Doodle.”
3. Each pair will investigate two versions, then pairs will reform with one student from each pair joining a student from the other pair to share the results of each investigation.
4. In order to analyze the lyrics, students will work in pairs to answer historical thinking skills questions to include: What do you see? What does the text say?, What words do you notice? What is the document? When did the document appear? What is the author’s point of view? When was the document written? When did the events in the document take place? Who was the audience? How are the texts similar? How are they different?
5. Students will share their observations in writing on the Promethean Board.
6. The teacher will wrap up the lesson by placing the songs in historical context (for the students who have yet to have United States history or have not learned about the pertinent eras.

Assessment

To demonstrate mastery of understanding of the historical skills of understanding how to connect past to present events, students will create their own version of Yankee Doodle for a current event. This will be a formative assessment graded on a four-point scale to prepare students for quizzes and to prepare them for SOL tests.

References

Atkins, Chet. “Yankee Doodle Dixie.” Youtube video, http://youtu.be/VvmfsivdavQ (accessed September 28, 2012)

Cohan, George M. “The Yankee Doodle Boy.” Sheet Music, New York: F.A. Mills. 1904. From The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music, Special Collections at the Sheridan Libraries of the John Hopkins University. http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/index.html. (accessed August 19, 2012)

Murray, Stuart. America’s Song: The Story of ‘Yankee Doodle.’ Bennington, Vermont: Images from the Past, 1999.

Selle, Louis. “The Volunteer Yankee Doodle of ‘61.” Sheet Music, New York: Horace Waters. 1861. From The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music, Special Collections at the Sheridan Libraries of the John Hopkins University. http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/index.html. (accessed August 19, 2012)

Stevens, William H. “Dixie Doodle.” Sheet Music, New York: Horace Waters, 1865. From The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music, Special Collections at the Sheridan Libraries of the John Hopkins University. http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/index.html. (accessed August 19, 2012)

“Yanke Doodle.” New York: Charles Magnus, not dated. From Library of Congress, American Memory Collection. http://memory.loc.gov (accessed August 19, 2012)

“Yankee Doodle Boy- James Cagney.” Youtube video, http://youtu.be/StDpLge_ITM (accessed August 19, 2012)