Using Music Video in the Humanities Classroom

[Ann Heilman Murphy]

During the TTP conference we learned from many of the presenters about the value of using feature films in the classroom. I believe this is applicable to music video as well. Alan Teasley in his presentation "Why Film Matters" pointed out the Core Concepts of Media Literacy (cited from the Ontario Ministry of Education, 1989) of which we should make our students aware.

1. All media are constructions.
2. The media construct reality.
3. Audiences negotiate meaning in media.
4. Media have commercial implications.
5. Media contain ideological and value messages.
6. Media have social and political implications.
7. Form and content are closely related in media.
8. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form.

As teachers "we must therefore challenge students to analyze critically the texts they view and to integrate their visual knowledge with their knowledge of other forms of language. By studying how visual texts work, students learn to employ visual media as another powerful means of communication." (NCTI/IRA Standards, 1996). One visual media with which our students are VERY familiar, but perhaps do not view critically is music video.

Particularly in the humanities classroom, in addition to providing a new and engaging way for students to approach the study of text from an English literacy perspective, film can also provide an excellent springboard for analysis of history and the social studies. As Matz and Pingatore point out in "Reel to Real: Teaching the Twentieth Century with Classic Hollywood Films" students can examine film in much the same way as anthropologists examine cultures. "The right film can provide a rich and varied timeline of twentieth century America, offering insight into people's lives and depicting changes that they experienced over any given period." And as Matz and Pingatore point out "the films that are most effective for this purpose are those that are actually set in the time in which they were filmed." This is doubly true for music video. Music videos are small snapshots of culture and often a historical moment. And they have the further benefit of being short, which makes them handy in a classroom setting with limited time for viewing.

The attached lesson plan attempts to utilize these concepts in an analysis of John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" from both the English literary perspective and the historical/social studies perspective. It appeals to multiple intelligences as well both in allowing students to analyze the written lyrics and the visual messages of the video itself, to discover the contextual importance of the song in its own time and to make cross curricular and historical connections.