Pop Music as lessons pt.2

Rationale

Over the course of this class we have read some interesting things. In chapter 6 of the book Popular Music in Theory it talked a lot about geography in regards to music. One of the sections of the chapter talked about how certain music was formed, the region it came from and the cultural background of the music. Negus talks about how certain areas are known for their type of music and how this came to be. As I was searching the web for some topics I came across some article that talked about using popular culture/music in the classroom for a variety of topics. Some focused on Culture, some on Race, Class and Gender. Another article focused on using it in a foreign country as a way to learn English and there was even one that wanted to use it to learn Mathematics. These articles help to solidify that the world is ever changing and that they way we teach should be evolving with the rest of the world. From reading these articles, I have gathered some ideas of assignments that could be used in schools using popular culture and music.

Objective

            The objectives of these assignments are to have youth explore world cultures through popular world music. Students will have the opportunity to learn historical information while engaging in different musical styles that have been presented and created over time.  

Assignment 1: Geography in Music

            Taking from the articles and some of the readings, this assignment will focuses on world geography. This assignment will give students the opportunity to learn about select styles of music as well as the places they come from. It will allow students to learn about different cultures across the world. This assignment will be done individually instead of in groups. Each student will be given a selected style of music (for those that may think there may be more students than musical styles, that is impossible for there are over 1,000 styles of music) and will be charged with the following instructions:

Take the musical style that you have been given and research its history.

1. Find out where the style was developed.
   
2. Who was the creator of the musical style?
   
3. What other styles influenced the creation this style?
   
4. What social issues initiated the musical style and what issues had an impact on the style?
   
5. How did this new style impact its social environment? How did the people react to it?
   
6. Are there any dances/activities/festivals associate with this style?
   
7. How has this style changed over time?
   
8. Is this style still around today? If so, is it the same and where can it be found?
   

After the students have completed their projects, they will be giving presentations to the rest of the class. To encourage creative expression, the students will be allowed to present their information in any form they feel comfortable. They will be provided with all tools necessary to do so.

Assignment 2: Pop Culture and Health

            This next assignment will focus on health. Pop culture and pop music both have significant impacts on the dietary lifestyles that we live. Sometimes there are individuals within pop culture that display some healthy habits but more times than not we are bombarded with unhealthy negative images. Images such as constant fast food commercials or extra skinny models being displayed as the poster child of beauty. This assignment will encourage the students to dig inside of the pop culture world/music to show us what types of health messages it shows us.  The students will once again be divided into groups of 3 to 4 for this project. To make the assignment more interesting the groups will either be pro or con. The groups that are pro, will present to us the positive health messages pop culture present to us. The students that are con will focus on the negative images of health in pop culture. This will allow the students to present a case for their stance in the form of a debate, will help them to work on their public speaking as well debate skills. Once the groups have been decided they will be given the following information:

How Popular Culture/Music impact our Health

1. What is the overall message of health through?
   
2. What are some ways the message is contradicted?
   
3. What role does media play in it? (give examples)
   
4. What role does movies/television play? (give examples)
   
5. What role does music play? (give examples)
   
6. How is society affected by these messages?
   
7. How has the message changed over time?
   

Once the students have completed their projects, they will be debating with a group that will be taking the opposite stance on the issue. Only two groups will debate at any one time. Once those groups have finished their debate, the remaining students will vote on the winning team.