Teach with My Music with Rhiannon Giddens and Maeve Gilchrist to introduce students to Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist, her instrument the harp, Irish / Celtic music, American Transcontinental Railroad History and the experience of Irish-American Immigrants.
In My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two Episode Two, host Rhiannon Giddens shares a musical visit with Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist in an historic North Carolina train station. They discuss the harp’s place in different musical traditions and talk about Maeve’s original composition for Silk Road Ensemble’s “American Railroad” project.
Why Teach with My Music with Rhiannon Giddens
My Music with Rhiannon Giddens brings US history alive to explore the development of the Transcontinental Railroad during western expansion in the United States. The series also deepens understanding and connection and can build community around the cultures that were first connected by the building of America’s Transcontinental Railroad.
Why Teach with The Episode Two Learning Guide with Maeve Gilchrist
The Episode One Learning Guide for My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two Episode Two with Maeve Gilchrist can help you teach about about:
- Irish / Celtic traditional music and the Celtic harp
- History of the American Transcontinental Railroad and Irish-American Immigrants
- History through Music
- Music Lessons
This learning guide contains background context about the Transcontinental Railroad, a Pre-viewing Activity, and Active Viewing Recommendations.
It also includes glossaries / lists of useful terms, discussion questions, related resources, and extended learning activates. The extended learning activities can include our supplementary Music Listening Handout and Song Analysis Handout.
Episode running time: 25 minutes
Subjects: History, Music, Music History, Social Studies, U.S. History
Lesson Grades: 6,7,8
Where Can I Get This Learning Guide
Get your free copy of these teaching resources from the My Music with Rhiannon Giddens / Teaching the American Railroad page in the Journeys in Film Resource Library and learn more about teaching with this powerful and inspiring series.
Where Can I Watch This Episode
Get the latest information on where to watch from the My Music with Rhiannon Giddens listing in the Journeys in Film Resource Library.
Important Dates for Teaching With This Resource
- March – Irish-American Heritage Month
- March – Music in Our Schools Month
- March – Women’s History Month
- March 1-17 – International Irish Language Festival, known inIrish as Seachtain na Gaeilge
- March 17 – Saint Patrick’s Day
- May – Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month
- May – National Train Day (date varies)
- May 21 – World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
- May 26 – Anniversary of the enactment of the U.S. Immigration Act of 1924
- June – Immigrant Heritage Month
- June 21 – World Music Day
- October – Global Diversity Awareness Month
- October 1 – International Music Day
- October 20 – World Harp Day
Where Can I Get More Related Resources
This Learning Guide makes a perfect the American Railroad Instructional Guide Lesson 10 “Paddy and the Pullmans” about Irish immigrants. The Instructional Guide and matching Student Guide are also available from the My Music with Rhiannon Giddens / Teaching the American Railroad page in the Journeys in Film Resource Library.
We also offer educational resources for teaching with The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble. This vibrant documentary presents artists from around the world in collaboration. It’s a great tool for teaching about world music, world instruments and world cultures, that complements the cultural and musical explorations of My Music with Rhiannon Giddens.
Learn more about Maeve Gilchrist in this Silkroad Ensemble artist profile: Spotlight: Maeve Gilchrist.
If you’re teaching Middle School Geography, History and Social Studies, we also recommend: Children of Heaven (Iran), Like Stars on Earth (India), Please Vote for Me (China), The Cup (Tibet), The Way Home (South Korea), Wadjda (Saudi Arabia), and Whale Rider (Aotearoa / New Zealand).
You can also check out our related resource collections for teaching with film about Music and Women’s History.
Our Windows and Mirrors Media Literacy Activity gives students a way to consider if the perspectives of underrepresented and marginalized people are included in their media diets.
How Can I Learn More about Teaching with this Series
Learn more about teaching with our full collection of Learning Guides and teaching resources for this series in our My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Teaching Resources FAQ.
How Can I Do Professional Development Related to this Series
Silkroad Ensemble members will be participating in our free professional development webinar Teaching with Primary Sources: Cultural Products as Historical Narrative on January 27, 2026. Learn more and register for the series: Stories That Connect: Using Film and Primary Sources to Build Belonging
What if I’m New to Teaching With Film
Check out our Teacher Toolbox to make teaching with film fun, easy and effective.
About Maeve Gilchrist
Edinburgh born harpist and composer Maeve Gilchrist has been credited as an innovator on her native instrument and taken the Celtic (lever) Harp to new levels of performance and visibility. Currently based in Kingston, NY, Maeve tours internationally as a solo artist and composer as well as being a member of the grammy-nominated Silkroad ensemble, Arooj Aftab’s Grammy winning Vulture Prince Ensemble and as part of the multi-disciplinary quartet Edges of Light. She has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Frankie Gavin, Esperanza Spalding, Bruce Molsky, Ambrose Akinmusire and Solas. As a composer, Maeve straddles the worlds of folk and classical with pieces including her original concerto for symphony orchestra and harp (a co-commission with Luke Benton), a three-movement Samuel Beckett-inspired piece for harp, string quartet and sound samples which was premiered at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival in the spring of 2018 and a number of other pieces for harp ensembles and strings. She is a regular visiting artist at the Berklee College of Music and has had a number of instructional books published by Hal Leonard and 80 days publishing. Maeve has released a number of albums to her name on the Adventure Music Record Label as well as being a featured soloist on the Dreamworks blockbuster movie soundtrack, How to tame your dragon: The hidden world. Her most recent album, The Harpweaver, has garnered international acclaim including a five-star review from the Irish Times who described it as “buoyant, sprightly and utterly beguiling….a snapshot of a musician at the top of her game”.
About My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season 2
Pulitzer Prize and Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens hosts a half-hour series of musical performance and conversation with multicultural musicians in the Silkroad Ensemble’s American Railroad project. The outstanding guest artists of the series are innovative and accomplished musicians and storytellers who have forged unconventional paths to find their voices.
About the American Railroad Project
Originally conceived by Silkroad’s Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, the American Railroad project sheds light on the profound yet often-overlooked contributions of Indigenous and African Americans, as well as Chinese, Irish, Japanese, and other immigrant communities, to the construction of the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad and connecting railways across North America.
Just as the ancient Silk Road facilitated cultural exchange between Asia and Europe, the railroad transformed the American landscape—both uniting and dividing the people whose lives it touched. While these laborers played a fundamental role in one of the 19th century’s most significant technological and economic achievements, their stories have too often been erased from history. At the same time, the railways had a devastating impact on Indigenous communities, displacing people from their ancestral lands.
About the Silkroad Ensemble
Yo-Yo Ma conceived Silkroad in 1998 as a reminder that even as rapid globalization resulted in division, it brought extraordinary possibilities for working together. Seeking to understand this dynamic, he recognized the historical Silk Road as a model for cultural collaboration – for the exchange of ideas, tradition, and innovation across borders. In a groundbreaking experiment, he brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a new artistic idiom: a musical language founded in difference, a metaphor for the benefits of a more connected world.
Journeys in Film is pleased to offer educational resources for two Silkroad Projects: My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two / American Railroad and The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble for grades 6-12.
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My Music with Rhiannon Giddens / Teaching the American Railroad