Assignment #1: Rationale for Teaching Popular Music

It’s almost rare to find a student who does NOT casually stroll into my class listening to his or her ipod (usually with just one earbud in, presumably so they can still chat with their friends). And that’s what I did in high school too (although it was a walkman instead of an ipod). What do I remember from Health class in 9th grade? Sitting outside of Mr. White’s classroom listening to Weezer’s first album before class. Now what if he had somehow incorporated Weezer’s music in class? I can only imagine that I would remember it to this day. For example, if my health teacher had used the song, “Say it ain’t so,” (a song about a father’s drinking problem) to spark a discussion on alcohol abuse, it definitely would have had more of an impact than just reading information from a textbook.

Music has the potential to be a powerful tool in the classroom because it can help to bridge the gap between new and existing knowledge. Rather than ignore something that students are passionate about, let’s find ways of making it relevant to the content.

Now of course, my heath teacher, Mr. White, had probably never heard of Weezer or this particular song, which makes me wonder how a teacher can not only incorporate music into their class, but music that is relevant to students. While I’ve got a big interest in a wide variety of music, I don’t know (or else don’t like) a lot of what my students listen to. So then a part of the challenge becomes figuring out how to bridge this generational gap. Perhaps this solution lies in having students examine and share songs from their own playlists in ways that are relevant to class topics. I hope to develop many more ways of incorporating students’ music tastes (as opposed to merely my own).

While this gap is a challenge, students seem to be especially engaged by ANY use of media in the classroom. In order to help convey the idea of “allusion” the other day, my tenth graders and I discussed some musical references. First we talked about how the Rolling Stones album Let it Bleed was an allusion to their Beatles’ song and album Let it Be, and how the Rolling Stones title was a bit of a competitive response to their rivals. The Stones seemed to be attempting to portray themselves as more tough and “Rock and Roll,” than the peace-love and understanding Beatles.

Next, students listened to the Buddy Holly song, “Everyday” and we compared it to a Pavement song that makes a musical allusion by using almost the exact same vocal melody line in a completely different kind of song. Later we went on to talk about allusions to the Garden of Eden in the novel we’re reading. One of the paras told me after class that she was impressed with how engaged the students were with the musical comparison.

One of my main goals as an educator is to help students to become better thinkers. If music is a powerful means to this end, then I want to use it. We don’t need to abandon a curriculum that involves teaching skills, but let’s do so in a way that frames those skills in a way that will reach students in a powerful way.