American Memory Fellows Program

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Date_________________

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Sheet Music Analysis Sheet

At the turn of the century, one popular form of entertainment was purchasing popular sheet music and gathering around the piano to sing. Sheet music

was mass produced, affordable, and it appealed to people from all different walks of life. Often sheet music reflected topics and concerns of a

particular time period.

Using this worksheet, examine a piece of sheet music to answer the questions below:

 

1.        What is the title of the sheet music? __________________________________________________________________________________

 

2.        If there is a cover to this sheet music, examine it carefully and describe the image or design? ________________________________________

 

3.        In your opinion, what is the message shown on this cover?__________________________________________________________________

 

4.      Identify the date that the sheet music was written. You may need to look throughout the piece for this information. It may also be in Roman numerals.

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5.      Read through the lyrics. Write a three sentence summary describing the main idea of the song._______________________________________

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6.   Choose one or two phrases of the song that are interesting to you and explain why._______________________________________________

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7.   What industrialization topic is this song about?___________________________________________________________________________

 

8.   Based on the lyrics, in your opinion, what seems to be the viewpoint expressed in the song?_________________________________________

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9.   Does the coversheet express this viewpoint? How?_______________________________________________________________________
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10. Who are the types of people who might be buying and singing this song?_______________________________________________________

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  1. What might be the public’s reaction to this song? __________________________________________________________________________

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