Purpose
Students investigate how music, folklore, and performance communicate mood, history, and place by combining minor-key 8- and 12-bar blues with Southern ghost stories. Through instrument study, dramatic scene building, weekly reflection circles, and critique-based revision, they make artistic choices that connect the blues tradition to stories shaped by post–Civil War migration, Appalachia, and the Harlem Renaissance. The work leads to a Halloween exhibition for families and community members where students present original blues-and-theatre pieces and gather audience feedback on the clarity of mood, time period, and expressive intent.
Learning goals
Students will analyze how minor-key 8- and 12-bar blues structures, repeated riffs, and expressive phrasing create mood, then apply that understanding in performance on guitar, ukulele, percussion, or xylophone. They will examine how post–Civil War blues traditions, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and Southern/Appalachian ghost folklore shape artistic choices in music and drama. Students will create, revise, and perform an original piece that combines blues accompaniment with a dramatized ghost story, using clear criteria to strengthen character, atmosphere, unity, tension, and emotional impact. They will also collaborate with peers, respond to feedback from weekly circle reflections and community artists, and communicate their intent to an audience at the Halloween exhibition.
Products
Students will create short minor-key 8- and 12-bar blues pieces on guitar, ukulele, percussion, or xylophone; scripted or improvised ghost-story scenes; and a shared performance plan that maps how music and drama connect. Throughout the project, they will produce rehearsal recordings, storyboards or simple scripts, character notes, and weekly reflection goals based on circle check-ins and critique. With support from community artists, each group will refine one paired blues-and-folklore piece that uses historical details, mood, and performance choices to convey a specific Southern time and place. The culminating product is a Halloween exhibition for families and community members featuring live blues performances with dramatized ghost stories, plus audience exit-ticket feedback on mood, time period, and artistic choices.
Launch
Begin with a “Midnight Blues Museum” experience: dim the room, play a live or recorded minor-key 8-bar and 12-bar blues groove on guitar, ukulele, percussion, and xylophone, and place short ghost-story excerpts and historical images from the post–Civil War South, the Great Migration, and the Harlem Renaissance around the room. Students rotate in groups, noticing musical patterns, mood, setting, and character details, then choose one story that could become a short skit. Invite a guest from Charleston Ghost Tours or a local theater artist to tell one regional ghost story aloud while a local blues musician demonstrates how phrasing, repetition, and minor sounds create tension. Close with groups creating a 30-second improvised tableau and soundscape that combines one blues riff with one haunting story moment, then share initial ideas for the Halloween exhibition.
Exhibition
Stage a Halloween evening performance for families, peers, and community guests in which each group presents a short minor-key 8- or 12-bar blues piece paired with a dramatized Southern or Appalachian ghost story. Invite Charleston Ghost Tours, a local blues musician, and a theater artist to serve as audience panelists who can notice how clearly students communicated mood, time period, and cultural context through music, character, and staging. Create a simple immersive setup with dim lighting, student-made program notes, and artifacts or props inspired by the historical setting so the exhibition feels like a living folklore showcase. End with audience exit tickets asking what haunting atmosphere, story details, and musical or acting choices came through most strongly.
