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Suntory Hall located in Tokyo, Japan.

© HEIDI KOELZ

World-Stage Concerts
The Silk Road Ensemble has given performances in locations ranging from concert halls to stadiums to museum galleries throughout the world, including Suntory Hall in Tokyo (above), Carnegie Hall in New York, Shanghai Stadium in China, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Royal Albert Hall in London and the United Nations General Assembly Hall.

Clay figure of a woman on a horse.



Along the Silk Road

A curriculum for middle school and secondary students developed by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) and the Silk Road Project 

Along the Silk Road explores the vast ancient network of cultural, economic, and technological exchange that connected East Asia to the Mediterranean. Students learn how goods, belief systems, art, music, and people traveled across such vast distances, resulting in interdependence among disparate cultures.

Yo-Yo Ma has referred to the Silk Road as the “Internet of antiquity,” and by studying this network of trading routes, students not only learn about the historical interconnectedness of people and ideas throughout the world, but also gain a new perspective on contemporary issues of globalization.


Lesson plans

Unit Introduction: Along the Silk Road
Lesson 1: Mapping the Silk Road
Lesson 2: The History of the Silk Road
Lesson 3: Language and Communication
Lesson 4: Trade along the Silk Road
Lesson 5: Belief Systems along the Silk Road
Lesson 6: Arts of the Silk Road
Lesson 7: Music of the Silk Road
Lesson 8: Human Migration in Historical Perspective
Conclusion: Summarizing the Unit


Supplemental materials

  • Laminated wall map
  • DVD with images, maps and video of Silk Road Ensemble performance
  • CD with audio clips


Subjects and Suggested Grade Levels

This curriculum is recommended for the following middle-school and secondary-school classes: Social Studies, Global Studies, Geography, Art History, World History, Religious Studies, Music. Adaptions for younger students are included.

Along the Silk Road is available for purchase through SPICE.

“There has been more excitement and engagement in this unit than any other unit studied this year. One student who usually says, 'I hate social studies. It's irrelevant and I don't care,' stomped her feet when her social studies period ended because she wanted to finish solving for the distance of the Silk Road. This unit has awakened different passions in many of our students.”
– NEW YORK CITY TEACHER

 

ALSO FROM SPICE

 

ALONG THE SILK ROAD
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