What and Why Pop
What kind of music do you listen to? It’s such a simple question that can cause a lot of panic. How specific or vague should I answer? In the three articles that I read that helped to define “popular music�, I came away knowing I can’t answer that question wrong, but I am guaranteed a response.
The importance of popular music and asking that question is because it helps to show a timeline of important events and movements. The article“American Popular Music� (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_popular_music) shows this by defining the different styles beginning in the 1800’s. Just as different styles highlight a growth in the music industry it also defines a growth for whole countries and cultures. In the article, “How It all Began-A Cultural Revolution� (www.gpwi.ac.jp/~biddle/youth.htm), I read how youth in the 1950’s had no personal identity and were younger versions of their parents. They listened to the same music and typically ended up in the same jobs. It wasn’t until closer to the 1960’s that a change in youth values and ideas helped to bring about the distinction between adult and young person. During this change in the British “rite of passage�, icons in the musical community helped to lead and give youth their own subcultural soundtrack. If it wasn’t for the emerging popular music many subcultures, such as the “Hippies�, “Mod�, “Punk and “Teddy Boys, may not have come to be or existed to the extent that they did. While reading about these different groups I connected them to a big subculture/movement around my time, the grunge/garage band. Nirvana was especially popular and their music, as it said in the article, “American Popular Music� (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_popular_music), helped to define the Generation X.
In another article, “Arab Youth Revel in Pop Revolution� (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6666725.stm), the same type of change is occurring within their society. Just as it was in Britain 60 years ago, the Middle East also did not have a distinction between the music that parents and children listen to. Now, with over 40 music channels and pop superstars, male and female, the Arab youth are connecting with each other and other countries. They are repackaging and redefining themselves. With this change though also comes the controversy. Are the glossy videos demeaning or empowering to women and to a culture? Or are they true representation of a new generation? As I was reading about Lebanese singer, Haifa Wehbe and her suggestive lyrics and well as scantily clad fans, I immediately thought of high school and Brittany Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time.� Her outfit in that video and videos to follow caused many parents to suggest that she was being to sexually provocative and was not a proper role model. This leads me into the necessity of teaching popular music in the classroom.
By including CDs, videos, or lyrics in curriculum, a wall can be broken in a student/teacher relationship and connections to critical thinking and comprehension can be made. In a fourth article that we read, “Clouding the Issues� (http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0304/features/clouding.html) a great point was made that students know how to argue. When asked to do something, children and teenagers will have a response based on reasons and theories on why they shouldn’t do it. Over time these responses become fine tuned and very skilled. By using popular music and it’s relating issues, ie the article concerning Arab Pop Culture, teachers can utilize a student’s natural ability to argue and mold it into forms of debate, journalism, and history. By connecting popular music with academia young people are going to feel that they are no longer causing trouble and confrontation but rather articulating and adding to a subject. I also feel that the teaching popular music is important because as more and more students move on to higher education, they need to have a broader range of knowledge as opposed to a specific expertise. As I left college, more than once I was told that it didn’t matter what degree I left with, as long as I had a degree. That being the case, society expects our children to know vast amounts of information and popular music, with all its different topics, subjects, artists, and background, is a great place to start.