Hello, everyone!
I wanted to take some time to discuss using music in the classroom. I don't feel like we talked about this at all in class, but Emily's Wiki-page made me think, so I figured I'd share some ways that I've found effective.
My purpose in using music in the classroom is that students automatically connect to music and lyrics more than they connect to poetry. I've used the comparison in my Brit Lit class when we do a lot of Romantic poetry. Students have a hard time working through ALL of the poetry that we have to work through at the end of the semester, but I always tell them that poems are just songs without the background music. For some reason, it works to refresh their point of view.
I also have something in my class called "Lyrics as Lit". On Thursdays, my students bring in a song and lyrics (of course, it must be appropriate). I usually ask them to bring in a song that is specifically important to them. Then, we deconstruct and analyze the song. We talk about what the song is saying, who the audience is, and finally why they feel a specific connection to the song. I always ask students to hand in a paper explaining all of these things with the song, as well (only about a page). Students really get into this, as well.
Finally, I have used songs like "Lovers on a Hotel Bed" by Death Cab for Cutie to discuss tone/mood. Students have trouble identifying this in a text, but really enjoy dissecting songs that they already know.
Has anyone else used music effectively in their classes?
Your ideas for using music in the classroom are great and definitely something that I would like to use in the future. For my Wiki I am exploring gender portrayal in music. There are a lot of ways to look out how gender is portrayed in popular music: examining the portrayal of women in music videos or in the lyrics of songs (especially rap music), but I think an even more interesting perspective is to explore how women portray themselves in their own music. In one section of the Wiki, I explore how Beyonce's song "Girls Rule the World" actually perpetuates a lot of stereotypes and misinformation about the role women play in society. I ask students to question the message in the lyrics and to view the video and critically think about how Beyonce is claiming girls "rule" the world (from the video it looks like it is all about sexuality and attractiveness). I talk about more stuff regarding music on the Wiki... but I thought this was worth sharing. Thanks for opening this discussion!
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