Photo Courtesy of the Surfing Heritage Foundation
Start waxing up your virtual surfboards and join us as we explore the roots of California surf music within the context of California history on the Surfing Safari web site. The newest extension of Mapping the Beat, a signature ArtsBridge project linking visual and performing arts with the geography and social studies curriculum, has just been released and is ready for teachers to take on a test ride. Before we take off, we should thank the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the National Geographic Education Foundationn for their generous support as well as Liane Brouillette, the principal investigator at the Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences and Technology.
More than any other sport, surfing has inspired a broad culture of music, fashion, language, and life style, and it is the history of the music that has propelled our journey. Primarily targeted for 11th-grade high school teachers and students as they teach and learn about California history and popular culture, the web site also has interest for other educational levels, as well as for surfers and music enthusiasts.
Included on this educational web excursion is an extensive historical essay with a focus on surf culture, written by a California historian, Julie Cohen, and UCSB ethnomusicologist, Tim Cooley. From Captain Cook’s travels to the present, historical information is broken into manageable sections to help users navigate quickly to the time periods and topics that interest them the most. The geography section explores California’s physical character and environment to see how it helped to shape these social and cultural trends.
Two lesson plans are provided as well as a document filled with resources for teachers to refer to, use, adjust, and/or build their own lesson plans. We would be happy to consider adding new lesson plans to this section if teachers would like to share them. (Use the feedback link to reach us). Two Powerpoint presentations are provided, one with audio and video links imbedded and another that could be used as a starting point for building your own presentation. Also, visit our other safari pages with suggested student readings, book and article references, film recommendations, and multimedia links.
We suggest you park your woody in front of the local surf museums in southern California, rich in resources, with staff both knowledgeable and generous of spirit. There are web links to these institutions as well as the archives and libraries we found most useful.
Don’t wait ‘til June, surf’s up right now!
Photo Courtesy of the Surfing Heritage Foundation