Kimberly Steele

Something that stood out to me in the course of this class was that music is extremely overwhelming. The history of popular music has shown that the family tree of music is so inbred and inter-related that to separate genre from genre, while possible, is not possible. For example, we learn that the start of “hip-hop� formed from different musical areas such as disco, jazz, funk, blues and rock. For the sake of the consumer and the artist a label had to be placed on the multiple versions of music available. As an example, I am not going to go to the disco section expecting to find LL Cool J any more than I expect to find ABBA in the heavy metal group. Another thing that was expanded on for me was that music is everywhere. It is found in the silence of an early morning, the whir of cars muffled outside my kitchen window, and even in the workings of a corporate office. The question is how to articulate that to the students.

I stopped teaching about three years ago and time spent in a classroom is no longer something that I do. During my short classroom career, I was a kindergarten teacher. Music was something that I used every single day to get my students motivated to start the day, learn a new letter or clean up their work. Five and six-year-olds sponged up songs and would soon be singing the tune before I even had to press play on the radio. It surprised me the most when my little Kindergarteners would come into the classroom, not singing the songs that we listened to about colors and shapes, but current top ten hits from the radio. As I started thinking back to my teaching days I realized that the everyday music and situations are what I would use to create my lessons. The lessons written below are not necessarily meant for a certain grade. Any one of these can be modified for late elementary school up to 12th grade. For the younger grades they can be modified to be large classroom projects or family projects at home.

1. Music in Media: Evaluation and Critical Thinking
To start students will pick a movie or television show and list out each of the songs that are used in the course of the film or particular episode. A list can usually be found in the ending credits of a movie or the shows website. I have also found the website http://www.tunefind.com/ helpful for recent movies and episodes of shows although it is not comprehensive.
Student will then have different options for assignments. The assignment will last for approximately three weeks.
1. Student will critique critical moments in the movie and how the song affected the outcome of those moments. How would you make it better? What would you do differently? If you would not change anything, why?
2. Student will look at the genre of movie and compare it to the type of music that is included in the movie. Do romantic comedies equal a soundtrack full of pop artists and top ten hits? Do independent films equal independent artists?
3. Students will remove songs from a portion of a movie and replace those songs with something they choose instead. They will then present a scene with their song in its place. Is there a difference in the scene now that the music has been changed? Does the tone of the movie change? If the change is in the beginning of the movie how does the anticipation change?

2. Soundtrack to your Life: History
The student will think back to key moments in their life and the year that these moments occurred. They will then have to create a soundtrack that is equal to the timeline of their life. For example, if you were born July 5, 1981, you will have to use a song that was made July 5th, 1981 or earlier. If you know the year of a particular moment but not the date, the song has to be from that year or earlier. Student will have to pick 10 songs/events minimum and concurrently write a 1-2 page paper on an occurrence that also happened at the same time. This project will last for 10 weeks and in the end the students will create a “greatest hits� for their life up to that moment.

Example: July 5th, 1981 Birth of Kimberly Steele. Historical event on that date: Police attacked in Liverpool riots, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494599.stm
Song: Foreigner “Waiting For a Girl Like You� (Album released in July 1981)

3. Track your Music: Continual Research
The music that a person listens to does not stay the same in their lifetime. At any particular moment a person may be big into country, the next week listening to jazz and the next week folk. Students will pick one day a week and track their consumption of music. This will go on for the course of the English program.* The students will journal about the songs they listened to and why one particular song affected them. They will need to discuss a minimum of three different aspects song such as the words, beat, background singers, tone, etc. In the end of the project students are required to do a research paper based on the songs as well as the corresponding events they journeled about. Are they finding a pattern to what they listened to or was it random?

*Growing up my English classes were split between Freshman/Sophomore and Junior/Senior. For 9th and 10th grade English we had one teacher and for 11th and 12th grade English. This project would be designed to be ongoing between either the whole high school career, two year increments or grade level. This will take organization in order to keep track of music and ongoing changes.

4. Music Interpretation: Playwriting, technology, performance, geography
As a class or small group students are to write, create and present a music video or performance based on a song from another country. The students are to research different aspects of the song (lyrics, language, hidden inferences) and present an accurate portrayal of the country’s culture using clothing, material objects and dancing. Student will have to turn in their research and present the video to the class.

5. Use of Music in Science: Does Classical Music Make Plants Grow?
In groups of 2 or 3, students will study the effects of different music genre on plants. Students will grow three of the same type plant. One will be a control, one will “listen� to Type A music and one will “listen� to Type B music. Students will maintain strict variables on the plants and will present their findings in one month.

These are some classroom ideas that, while rough, have potential to widen knowledge in science, history, English, technology, critical thinking, role-playing and research. All these lessons are discovery processes that are best utilized with a teacher who is willing to look outside of the standard teaching model and use their student’s experiences in the learning process. I may not be in the classroom anymore, but I am always learning and will always be a student myself. Music, media and pop culture are engrained in my life and yet, they are more a bigger piece of today’s youth than ever before. The evolution of music doesn’t stop inside a classroom; the classroom is where the evolution of music is exponentially expanded. A family tree doesn’t get bigger without new blood. For every new song and every new listener the seedlings of popular music gets pushed deeper into the soil of culture. May the rings of this tree keep growing.

Posted by stee0040 at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by stee0040 at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just watched an amazing video. Thank you Mrs. Kruizenga for doing your review on “Yes We Can�, a video by will.i.am inspired by a speech Barack Obama did. I also watched the video for the first time and had my feelings tighten in my chest. The black and white color of the video put emphasize on the words that he was speaking and helped to put focus on a simple feeling. A simple idea that words can inspire and connect the human race. I agree that the call and response helped to strengthen the meaning of the speech because it invokes participation. The numerous voices didn’t simply repeat the words, they embodied them. They used their emotions to add an emphasis to the words they were singing, talking or signing; they said the words with the belief of change to come.

“Yes We Can� was also a video that I loved because even though it was obviously for Barack Obama, if you just listened to the words or read the lyrics that Mrs. Kruizenga posted along with the video, you don’t associate the song with a political party, you associate it with a group of beings that want to have a better America and a better life. It is a video that as Mrs. Kruizenga stated can “bring us back to the common thread that draws us together; hope, healing, repair and starting the next chapter.�

I went one step further and watched the accompanying video “We Are The Ones� that followed “Yes We Can�. I still felt an emotional high from this as well because even though it was a campaign ad for a political candidate, it didn’t bite or use low tactics. It used people to convey emotions that I feel. I want people to view American as an amazing country and I want my children to succeed in a country that I left a little better by my actions.

Posted by stee0040 at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Katy Perry’s new video “I Kissed a Girl� is an attempted throw back to 80’s excess with a dash of pin up doll vulnerability. Katy starts the video with quick glances of legs, lips and little bit of cleavage to get the interest of the viewer, male or female, and then quickly takes her next shot into a slow rise up from her feet, which are incased in six inch stilettos, to her legs and finally pans up to her face. Here is where we see the full shot of Katy in a short dress, 1920’s pinned back hair and holding a cat. I think the reference for what the cat stands for doesn’t need to be mentioned. This follow up to her song “Ur so Gay�, which was a standout to what all girlfriends wish they could say to their exes, is essentially the one song on the album made to hook the listener. It’s the guaranteed number one on the CD while the video to this hit, well, sucked. After the scene moves into something other than her lying on a bed, we get to witness her standing in the middle of a room trying to figure out just what exactly she is supposed to be doing. Meanwhile in the background, women are surrounding her, wearing castoff clothes from Madonna’s Truth or Dare tour and a Pussycat Dolls B List audition, trying to appear sexy. The image they give instead is of a brothel waiting room where women wait to be picked to go upstairs. Katy is waving a cheap fan in front of her face, trying to think of actions to do, while she stands in one spot singing the same words over and over again. Next we get four or five shots of a bad 80’s video complete with fingerless gloves, pink bow leopard print shoes and a harsh orange lighting. Here’s Katy though, coming in with the aforementioned vulnerability. She starts leaning up against a wall and staring seductively into a camera, the video attempting to show that good girls, aka Katy, can behave badly and that you’re the one she wants to behave badly with. Except that, with her hand moving to cover up her face half a dozen times, she looks like she’s hiding and again, doesn’t quite know what to do. Vulnerability? Check. Now we need excess. Here we get to witness more lingerie only on Katy this time and longing looks at other women. Apparently cherry chapstick goes well with the dominatrix. The only thing missing from this sequence in the video was Katy or one of the background girls writhing on the hood of White Snakes car. Finally, 2 minutes and 6 seconds into the video things start to actually have some action to it and wouldn’t you know, it’s a pillow fight. Oh Katy. Who would have ever thought of that? At least here she looks like she is actually enjoying herself and doesn’t have to worry about singing along to the music track. Don’t worry though, that fan makes it back in and we’re back to her shaking her shoulders. To end the video, Katy’s back in the same position that she started, lying on the bed. Only this time gone is the kitty and here enters that boyfriend, sleeping soundly next to her while she awakes from a dream about kissing a girl and liking it. Leaving us with a little, all knowing smile Katy fails back into her dream. No Katy, your boyfriend won’t mind it but for our sake, keep it to yourself.

Posted by stee0040 at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by stee0040 at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don’t watch American Idol. If I had to do a rough estimate of how many minutes I have spent watching American Idol I could possible add up to 45. The 45 minutes I was watching wasn’t the competition either. I was watching the auditions; the bad ones. William Hung, known for singing the song “She Bangs�, is the biggest winner of all the losers. He recently has been offered a record contract by Fuse Music Television and has gone onto sing on both the Ellen Degeneres show and the Early Show on CBS. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/19/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main601111.shtml)
He considering the deal, but he may want to look at how the past winners and runner-ups of the show have fared with their record labels. Katherine McPhee, Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, and Blake Lewis have all been dropped from their record contracts. Fickle Americans, you vote them your winners and almost winners, but then don’t buy their albums. Give the losers a chance though and the tide turns a bit. Jennifer Hudson has an Oscar under her belt, Kellie Pickler has a top selling country album, and Chris Daughtry has had a few top charting songs. Maybe William Hung really does have a chance.

Given poor album sales, Americans love American Idol and the contestants that go along with the show. American Idol tours sell out tickets and stadiums city after city and the show is ranked 1 and 2 in the 0708 broadcast season. (http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/07/03/top-season-to-date-broadcast-shows-by-viewers-2/4319) Obviously the market is there and American Idols demographics show that. With 50% of its viewers between the ages of 18-49 the country is watching and voting and waiting for the next big controversy. As read in the week 3-4 syllabus, Brian Dunkleman, a former co-host of the show, claimed the contestants were owned by the show and record companies associated with the show and that the Idolists were not treated right. Paula Abdul opens her mouth and the comments that spew forth end up on the front page of the variety section or on the cover of US weekly. Even Simon, known for his rude comments, makes the entertainment headlines for how he rips into the contestants. Viewers aren’t watching for the music, they are watching to hear what is going to be said after the song has been sung. Along the way, favorites get picked, voted on and booted off knowing that they will be back to tour with the rest of the gang.

As a music consumer, I don’t watch American Idol to help me pick out the next CD that I am going to listen to. I listen to multiple radio stations, I take into account what my friends are listening to and I read reviews in magazines about CDs. This is the case with many of my friends as well. While American Idol does have very good singers on their show, singers are a dime a dozen. The contestants are covering songs that have already been recorded or popularized by other artists. Karaoke bars do the same thing. I didn’t buy the Carrie Underwood CD because I saw her on American Idol. I bought it because I liked hearing her take apart a cheating boyfriends car. I bought it because even after I was bombarded by her song on the radio every hour and a half when it was first released on the country station, I didn’t change the station. Also, I didn’t watch Dreamgirls because it had an American Idol alum in it. I watched it because it looked like a good film, the reviews and nominations it received were above average and the music was emotionally packed, something you could feel in a 30 second preview. I watch and listen to something because I like it, not because it’s number 1 on the Neilson ratings.

So, back to you William Hung. Good luck on being a loser and laughing off the comments and parodies that were made in your name. But no matter how much you are played over the air and pasted in the entertainment section, this music consumer is not buying it.

Posted by stee0040 at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)