Science, history, upcycling, and personal expression come together in this engaging vinyl record painting lesson for middle-school students.

Melody Weintraub

I was at a new school, and I needed to find a way to create lessons that related to my new students. I noticed that they were usually listening to music on their phones as they entered the classroom, so I asked a few students to write out a list of favorite songs from their playlists. After they got over the initial amazement that I would even care about their playlists, they gladly obliged.

When I got home that day, I listened to the songs, and I also downloaded the lyrics. When students came in the next week, I had created an art class playlist for students to listen to during their work time. At the end of class, more students asked if they could give me their lists. My art class playlist began to grow into a wonderfully eclectic master list of music as diverse as my student population. The stage was set.

The next time students entered class, they found a milk crate in the front of the classroom with a sign directing them to select one of the albums and return to their seats. The scratched vinyl records came from a local record shop in Midtown Memphis, where I purchased 120 albums for $60. Best investment ever!

I began with a presentation showing a connection to the history of the phonograph going all the way back to Edison in 1877, followed by electrical recordings in 1925. The first records weren’t vinyl at all, but were made from shellac (a natural resin secreted by lac bugs). This made a connection to science. These early records were played at 78 rpm (revolutions per minute). Then, in the 1950s, the world was introduced not only to long-playing records that rotated at 33 rpm but also to rock and roll. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Next, students were introduced to the science of the groove and how vinyl records are pressed. I found some nice student-friendly resources on YouTube that demonstrate the process. I also made a local connection, since one of the largest producers of vinyl records today is in a suburb of Memphis. The science of the groove brought in math through a discussion of groove angles in mono and stereo pressings. Language arts connections emerged as students explored the term groovy and its roots in DJ jargon. We also discussed the impact of music in response to societal and environmental issues.

I asked students to make a list of three of their favorite songs that they would like to illustrate on their record in order of preference. The goal was to choose and design one school-appropriate song. Once their song was selected and approved, they began considering images, colors, and patterns associated with the music.

After working out their plan, they each made a template using their record to draw around and transferred the design (using graphite) to a record primed with acrylic gesso. Students then painted the records using their choice of acrylic colors. They could also add collaged images if they preferred.

I interviewed several volunteers who shared what the project meant to them. They spoke about how meaningful it was for them to express the way they feel about a song through the medium of art. They also expressed how cool it was to have permission to “destroy” something to turn it into something meaningful. In their artist statements, which some students presented to the class, several of them even shared that looking up the lyrics to a song they already liked allowed them to explore its deeper meaning.

On the last day of the project, I presented a music video to them of everyone’s albums. I still share this video when I present this lesson to workshops across the country. So, you might say, the beat goes on.

Melody Weintraub served as president of the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) from 2020 to 2022. She has presented numerous NAEA Convention studio workshops and lectures. She currently serves as president-elect of NAEA’s Retired Art Educators Alliance (RAEA). She has written more than thirty articles for SchoolArts and is a contributing author in the NAEA book, STEAM Education: An Interdisciplinary Look at Art in the Curriculum (2024). Melody retired in 2020 after thirty years teaching in community, public, private, and higher educational school settings. She currently supervises art education candidates remotely for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. melodyweintraub@gmail.com; melodyweintraub.com

The Beat Goes On: Making Connections with Altered Albums