KILLING FLOOR

Lesson 12

Teaching Artist: Juan Manuel Trujillo

SUMMARY

This is the twelfth lesson from the Strumming Through The Americas ukulele course. After learning for several weeks about music and cultures abroad, students will return to the United States to learn about the Blues. They will learn a new chord, A7, which will be applied to the song, “Killing Floor.” Students will then incorporate lyrics and perform the song as a group.

OBJECTIVE

  • Students will be able to distinguish the important elements of the blues musical style.

  • Students will be able to interpret the A7 chord diagram.

  • Students will be able to utilize the new chord, A7, in a new song and performance context.

  • Students will be able to incorporate lyrics with the chordal accompaniment of “Killing Floor” for a performance.

MATERIALS

EXPLORE

  1.  Introduce the lesson by playing the students an excerpt of Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson. Ask: Has anyone heard this style of music before? What instrument could you hear accompanying the voice in the recording? Did the music have a familiar beat or rhythm? Explain to students that this is Robert Johnson, a very important guitarist within the music style known as the blues - and his version of this song, Sweet Home Chicago, was recorded over eighty years ago. 

  2. Tell the students they will now watch a video created by the amazing S’Cool Sounds teaching artist, Dave Adewumi, that will talk a bit about the blues - Mr. Dave talks about the Blues (the video is time stamped to begin from 5:57, stop playing the video at 10:34)

  3. Play students an excerpt of Killing Floor by Howlin’ Wolf, drawing their attention to sounds that may be more familiar to them (i.e. the use of drums and amplification - electric guitar). Reiterate the points made by Mr. Dave in the video - reminding the students that blues is a music that highlights personal expression and interpretation. Throughout the history of the music new instruments and approaches to performing the music developed in different ways. To further address this, play a brief excerpt of Killing Floor by Jimi Hendrix. Ask: Could you hear that this was the same song as the one played previously? What differences could you hear in the sound between the two versions? Was one faster than the other? Did you notice the electric guitar in the video?

  4. Tell students that today they are going to learn how to play Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” on the ukulele.

LEARN

  1. Play the Killing Floor Chords video for the students. Mr. Juan will introduce a new chord that is required to play the song, A7. Pause the video at 0:48, with the diagram displayed to allow the students time to become familiar with the new shape. Once comfortable, resume the video from 0:48, where Mr. Juan will showcase the remaining two chords required for this song, D7 and E7. While these last two chords have been covered in previous lessons - given their difficult finger placement, allow some time for the students to review them. Remind the students that using the fingertips, as opposed to the “flats” of the finger, will ensure all the strings ring out clearly.

  2. Once the students have a firm grasp on the chords individually, play the Killing Floor Strumming video. They will be introduced to the strumming pattern for the song, demonstrated by Mr. Juan. Pause the video at 0:26 to allow time for the students to practice the strumming pattern using only the first chord of the song, A7. Once they are comfortable, resume the video from 0:26 and Mr. Juan will guide the students through the full chord progression twice, with the strumming pattern. Repeat the video from 0:38 to allow the students a further opportunity to practice along. Given the difficulty of the D7 and E7 chords in particular, it may also be beneficial to practice away from the video at a slower tempo. This gives the students more time to transition between the chords effectively and with a steady beat.

  3. Play the Killing Floor Lyrics video for the students. Mr. Juan will teach the students the lyrics to the song using call and response. He will then sing the lyrics along with the ukulele accompaniment. Have students put down their ukuleles at first so they can focus solely on singing the lyrics in rhythm with Mr. Juan and his accompaniment. 

  4. Once the students are confident with the lyrics and melody and how they are placed in the music - repeat the video from 0:58 - 1:25 to allow the students to play the accompaniment and sing the lyrics with Mr. Juan.

PERFORM+SHARE

  1. Create a class performance video of “Killing Floor.” Encourage the students to both play accompaniment and sing the lyrics. Assist the students by playing the accompaniment along with them to help provide a steady beat. 

  2. Create a video of the performances and share on the S’Cool Sounds Padlet.

  3. Tell students that next week, in the final lesson, they will learn their last song for the course - utilizing a range of techniques and chords discussed over the last 12 lessons.