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The Music of Strangers

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble follows an ever-changing lineup of performers drawn from the ensemble’s more than 50 instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists, and storytellers as they gather in locations around the world, exploring the ways art can both preserve traditions and shape cultural evolution. Through moving individual stories, the filmmakers paint a vivid portrait of a bold musical experiment and a global search for the ties that bind.

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Product Description

Teach about world music, world instruments and world cultures with The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble.

Film runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Film rating: PG-13.

Grade level: The lessons in our curriculum guide are designed for grades 9-10.

Where to watch: The Music of Strangers is available on Amazon Prime and other streaming platforms. Or buy the DVD or Blu-ray.

Curriculum Guide

Lesson 1: Yo-Yo Ma and the Intersection of Cultures (Music, Language Arts)
Lesson 2: Interpreting the Silk Road Through the Graphic Arts (Visual Arts)
Lesson 3: Everything Old Is New Again: The Chinese Cultural Revolution and Its Legacy (History, Social Studies, Language Arts)
Lesson 4: The Ongoing Syrian Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis (History/Social Studies, Language Arts and Literacy, Music, Visual Arts)
Lesson 5: The Iranian Revolution (History/Social Studies, Music)
Lesson 6: Preserving Culture in a Globalized World (History/Social Studies, Music)
Lesson 7: Ancient Instruments, New Music (Music) – Instruments of the World PDF below is the PowerPoint referenced in this lesson.
Lesson 8: Viewing a Documentary Film: Developing Film Literacy (Film Literacy, English Language Arts) – The Glossary of Film Terms below is useful for this lesson.

Preview Curriculum Guide

Preview Lesson 2 Powerpoint PDF

Preview Instruments of the World PDF

Glossary of Film Terms

The Glossary of Film Terms is useful for the Film Literacy lessons that are part of this curriculum guide.

Preview Glossary of Film Terms

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Related Resources
Additional Videos

The following videos work well with the Instruments of the World PDF, which is also the PowerPoint Presentation created for Lesson 7 of The Music of Strangerss: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Use the PDF and these videos together to explore world music with your students.

Silkroad Home Sessions with Hadi Eldebek playing the Oud: .

Wu Man: Finding a Balance with Wu Man playing the Pipa/

Silkroad: Kayhan Kalhor with Kayhan Kalhor of the Silk Road Ensemble talking about the Kamancheh and playing the instrument around 5:40 in the video.

Khabiel | Harvard, March 2017 features a solo and key instrumental segments performed by Cristina Pato playing the Gaita Gallega, featured in the PDF/Powerpoint. The video of this performance is just under 4 minutes and is a great example of what makes the Silk Road Ensemble so special.

Additional Resources

Teaching about China? We also recommend Please Vote For Me.

Teaching about Iran? We also recommend Children of Heaven.

Teaching about Syria? We also recommend The Neighborhood Storyteller.

Looking for more tools to teach about Music across the curriculum? Check out our Music Education resources.

Teaching about Genocide and the Holocaust? The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Project features an engaging lesson on cultural preservation that is relevant to Holocaust and Genocide discussions. Get more resources in our collection of Holocaust Education Teaching Tools.

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Sustainable Development Goals
Journeys in Film supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more about teaching with UN SDGs. This curriculum guide connects to the following SDGs.
Royal blue background with white 16 in the upper left hand corner. Text beside it, white, reads: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Central image, all white, is a dove with an olive branch in its beak, legs resting on a gavel.

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