Teach the Beat!

Bringing the distinctive D.C. sound of go-go into the classroom.

Teaching for Change is honored to work with D.C.  area schools and the authors of The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. to develop lessons and share teaching ideas for infusing the history and music of go-go in middle and high school social studies, language arts, math, music, and/or D.C. history classes, and to bring renowned go-go performers into D.C. classrooms.

"Go-go has stayed true to time-honored cultural scripts such as live call-and-response, live instrumentation, as well as its locally rooted fashions, slang, dance, distribution and economic systems. Simply put: Go-Go never sold out. There is a grit and texture to the music that gives voice to the communities where it was created." –Natalie Hopkinson

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Seminars AND EVENTS

OVERVIEW | CLASSROOM VISITS | HOSTING A VISIT | LESSONS |  SEMINARS

AnNUAL CAPITAL CITY GO-GO EDUCATION DAY GAMES WITH TEACH THE BEAT

Teach the Beat’s partnership with Capital City Go-Go began in the 2022 - 2023 season. Teach the Beat participated in The Go-Go The Beat Keeps Going Game and hosted a Teach the Beat session with The Go-Go and staff during Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action 2023. 

Since then, Teach the Beat has been the official partner of Capital City Go-Go's Education Day Games.

Read and see more about these experiences below. 

THINK LOCAL, CRANK GLOBAL

August 17, 2021 - DC educators joined the virtual workshop “Think Local, Crank Global” hosted by Teaching for Change’s Teach the Beat program and the DC Public School Office of Teaching and Learning, Music, and Arts. At the start of the meeting, participants introduced themselves in the chat, sharing their favorite go-go memories and songs. Chat contributions ranged from memories of being… Read more.

Go-Go Sound of Summer Series

June 2021 - Go-go music legends and the Teach the Beat and DC Public Library teams filled the Martin Luther King Jr. Library’s auditorium with the official sound of D.C. in celebration of a three part series Go-Go Sound of Summer. Each episode explored a different facet of go-go music and culture, breaking down the foundations of the music, showcasing its history in D.C., and celebrating its broader influence on other music genres, popular culture, political movements, and more… Read more.

Teach the Beat: Go-Go in DC

February 16, 2013 - “I’m going to start using go-go to teach across the curriculum, connecting DC history, math, and music. This was the best professional development ever,” said one of the participants in the groundbreaking full day seminar for DC teachers called Teach the Beat: Go-Go in DC on Saturday, February 16, 2013. Close to a hundred music and social studies teachers took advantage of the unique opportunity to learn from the leading luminaries and scholars... Read more.

Evolution of the Go-Go Beat in Washington, D.C.

July 9, 2011 - On July 9, 2011, the D.C. community convened for a beat, the Go-Go beat. The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum hosted Evolution of the Go-Go Beat in Washington, D.C., the second program in a series devoted to Washington, D.C.’s homegrown genre of music. Go-Go music, the history of which has been carefully chronicled in The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C., has West African roots and is recognized for its infectious heartbeat-based rhythm courtesy of its signature instruments, the congo, cowbell, and drum... Read more.

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Image credits: Thomas Sayers Ellis

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