Top 5 Songs at My Funeral:

1. Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music For Critical Inquiry Michael Robb Grieco Temple University

2. Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music For Critical Inquiry • Presentation Overview: • Engage in mini-lessons from the film High Fidelity (Frears, 2000) • Share Student Music Presentations assignment design • Ground ideas in communications research and education philosophy • Describe student work and class experiences • Summarize risks and rewards: key issues and keys to success • Open discussion

3. Rationale for a Music Unit In Media Literacy class “Suffice it to say that a consistent observation of research has been that an in involvement with (mainly popular) music is especially prominent during adolescence, and that this appears to be greater than involvement with other media. (Lyle & Hoffman, 1972; Davis, 1985; Larson et al., 1989; Geter & Streisand 1995).” (Tarrant, North & Hargreaves, 2002, p. 135)

4. Rationale for a Music Unit In Media Literacy class • Categories of Adolescent Media Use: • entertainment • identity formation • high sensation • coping • youth culture identification • (Arnett, Larson, & Offer, 1995).

5. Rationale for a Music Unit In Media Literacy class • Categories of Adolescent Media Use: • entertainment • identity formation • high sensation • coping • youth culture identification • “…which, except for entertainment, are theorized • to be developmental, in the sense they may be • more important for adolescents than for children or adults.” • (Arnett, Larson, & Offer, 1995).

6. Rationale for a Music Unit In Media Literacy class • Theoretical frame: • Media literacy allows students to more actively shape • the roles of various media in • their own identity development and psychological processes • (Potter, 2004) • and in their own cultural practices • (Buckingham, 2003; Jenkins, 2006).

7. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) [Show clip from opening of the film: Synopsis section A; use for next 3 slides]

8. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) "What came first, the music or the misery? …Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or, was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

9. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Protagonist, Rob, as a model of media literacy inquiry: • Strives to take responsibility for decisions • Investigates his media and entertainment choices • as part of personal social and cultural identity • Transforms his relationship as consumer • and producer of meanings from media

10. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Protagonist, Rob, as a model of media literacy inquiry: • Circumvents 3rd person effect: • a tendency for people to believe that • media influence others’ lives much • more than their own • (Perloff, 1993).

11. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) [Insert 2nd clip, shows Rob coping with his breakup by Arranging his records autobiographically-- See synopsis, section G]

12. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Assignment: • Arrange your music collection autobiographically. • music as a part of identity and experience

13. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) Assignment: Arrange your music collection autobiographically. “The media representations we consume extend symbolically far beyond what the author may have intended to express. …We are constantly engaged in ‘textual poaching,’ creating meanings that are personal and idiosyncratic because they are accompanied by emotional involvement (Jenkins, 1992).” (Hobbs, 2006, p. 88)

14. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) Taste Cultures: How do students use music tastes to distinguish themselves from others?

15. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) [Insert clip 3 here: Rob and the record shop clerks tease a customer for being a geek, using their knowledge and cultural capital for power--see synopsis section i ]

16. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Taste Cultures in Communications Research: • Subcultures based on music tastes and styles • resist dominant culture (Hebdige, 1979)

17. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Taste Cultures in Communications Research: • Subcultures based on music tastes and styles • resist dominant culture (Hebdige, 1979) • Cultural capital, distinction (Bourdieu, 1984)

18. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Taste Cultures in Communications Research: • Subcultures based on music tastes and styles • resist dominant culture (Hebdige, 1979) • Cultural capital, distinction (Bourdieu, 1984) • Club cultures, subcultural capital (Thornton, 1995)

19. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Taste Cultures in Communications Research: • Subcultures based on music tastes and styles • resist dominant culture (Hebdige, 1979) • Cultural capital, distinction (Bourdieu, 1984; Fiske, 1992) • Club cultures, subcultural capital (Thornton, 1995) • Beyond subculture, fluidity of hybrid cultural identities • (Ruq, 2006)

20. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) Taste Cultures: How do students use music tastes to distinguish themselves from others? How do students use music tastes to connect to others?

21. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) [insert clip 4: Rob connects with a musician woman in a bar through pop culture references and music taste, and shares his philosophy of the phenomenon in a monologue to the camera--see synopsis section O]

22. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Think, Pair and Share— • Is it true that “what really matters is what you like, • not what you are like,” or is it vice versa? • …Is Rob shallow?

23. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) [Insert clip 5: Rob and the record shop clerks get the news of Rob’s ex’s Dad’s death, and respond with tribute lists of top 5 songs about death; then, Rob, at the funeral, lists the top songs for his funeral-- See synopsis section U & V]

24. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) Activity: List the Top 5 Songs for your funeral.

25. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Activity: List the Top 5 Songs for your funeral. • Think, Pair, and Share: • What did you have to consider to make your decisions?

26. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Activity: List the Top 5 Songs for your funeral. • What did you have to consider to make your decisions? • Connect to 5 Core Questions of Media Literacy: • 1. Who is sending the message and what is the author’s purpose? • 2. What techniques are used to attract and hold attention? • 3. What lifestyles, values and points of view, are represented? • 4. How might different people interpret this message differently? • 5. What is omitted from the message?

27. Lessons from High Fidelity (2000) • Activity: List the Top 5 Songs for your funeral. • What did you have to consider to make your decisions? • Connect to 5 Core Questions of Media Literacy • Inquiry across personal, social and cultural levels

28. Student Music Presentations

29. Student Music Presentations • Educational Philosophy Framework: • Challenge to teach marketable skills (Delpit, 1995) • Challenge to care (Noddings, 1992)

30. Student Music Presentations • Educational Philosophy Framework: • Challenge to teach marketable skills (Delpit, 1995) • We must directly teach skills and communicative forms • valued in the culture of power to those outside of that culture • of power so that those who do not grow up within privileged • discourses may have access to the social and economic • benefits of dominant discourses. • (based on Delpit, Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict • in the classroom, 1995)

31. Student Music Presentations • Educational Philosophy Framework: • Challenge to care for students holistically (Noddings, 1992) • “Schools must expand from their narrow focus on academic • discipline to involve the student in multidimensional • domains of caring...We need a scheme that speaks to • the existential heart of life; one that calls attention to • our passions, attitudes, concerns, connections, and • responsibilities.” • (Noddings, Challenge to Care in Schools, 1992, p. 47)

32. Student Music Presentations • Educational Philosophy Framework: • Challenge to teach marketable skills (Delpit, 1995) • Challenge to care (Noddings, 1992)

33. Student Music Presentations • Structure (discuss handout, side 1) • Themes (discuss handout, side 2) • Student work, class experience • [see working paper: • Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music for Critical Thinking, pp. 14-16, • http://mediaeducationlab.com/index.php?page=175]

34. Music Presentation: Rubric • Title _____/10 • --Creative/catchy --intriguing/apt • Introduction _____/10 • --grabs/engages audience --opening memorized • --previews main points/ importance --smooth/dynamic • Transitions _____/10 • --logical/smooth connections --avoids “tacked on” sound • --internal (b/t details) --external (b/t main points) • Main Body _____/20 • Conclusion/Resolution _____/10 • Delivery _____/20 • --poise --authority/presence --pace • --voice/emphasis --gesture/movement --eye contact • Outline _____/10 • Timely _____/10 • --5+min. speech --5+min. music • -- <15 min. total --music cued and ready • Total _____/100

35. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • Audience judgments • Audience comfort, safety • Class appropriateness • Censorship • Educational value for time spent

36. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • Audience judgments • Audience comfort, safety • Class appropriateness • Censorship • Educational value for time spent

37. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • -protected from student responses in class • -protected by teacher response focused on successes • -risks rewarded with applause, positive commentary • -fear of public speaking balanced with interest • -speaking skills aided by using music and visuals • to communicate

38. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • Audience judgments • -given private voice in response journals • -reframed as curiosity in others’ tastes • -reframed as learning about public speaking • techniques

39. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • Audience judgments • Audience comfort, safety • -prioritized explicitly • -pre-screened ideas and material • -managed through student investment in the project

40. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • Audience judgments • Audience comfort, safety • Class appropriateness • -explicitly discuss foul language • -explicitly discuss controversial topics and content • -place onus on students • -require pre-screening for any questionable content

41. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • Audience judgments • Audience comfort, safety • Class appropriateness • Censorship • -students self-censor material • -interrupt and postpone presentations • -penalize presentations requiring interruption

42. Student Music Presentations • Risky Business: Issues to manage • Speaker vulnerability • Audience judgments • Audience comfort, safety • Class appropriateness • Censorship • Educational value for time spent • -maximized through commentary, feedback, journals • -situates media literacy inquiry and critical thinking • within students own choices, identities beyond class • -emphasizes the most difficult marketable skill

43. Student Music Presentations • Keys to Success: • Spirit of Inquiry: curiosity trumps condemnation • Safety & Security for diverse perspectives • Focus on Student Knowledge, Expertise & Interest • Real Audience, Real Stakes • Balance of Choice & Obligation • Connection to Core ML Concepts

44. Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music For Critical Inquiry Open Discussion… Michael Robb Grieco Temple University Contact: michael.robb@temple.edu

45. Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music For Critical Inquiry [for a narrative, working paper version of this presentation: http://mediaeducationlab.com/index.php?page=175] Michael Robb Grieco Temple University Contact: michael.robb@temple.edu

46. Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music For Critical Inquiry References (p 1 of 3) Arnett, J. J. (1995). Adolescents uses of media for self-socialization. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24(5), 519-533. Arnett, J. J., Larson, R., & Offer, D. (1995). Beyond effects - adolescents as active media users. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24(5), 511-518. Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. boyd, d. (2007). Research on social network sites. Retrieved April 24, 2007: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/08/19/research_on_soc.html Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education : Literacy, learning, and contemporary culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Delpit, Lisa. Other People's Children; Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York, NY: New Press, 1995. Fiske, J. (1992). The cultural economy of fandom. In L. A. Lewis (Ed.), The adoring audience: Fan culture and popular media (pp. 30-49). New York: Routledge. Hebdige, D. (1979). Subculture, the meaning of style. London: Methuen.

47. Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music For Critical Inquiry References (p. 2 of 3) High Fidelity. Dir. Stephen Frears. Touchstone, 2000. Hobbs, R. (2006). Reading the Media: Media literacy in high school English. NY: Teachers College Press. Hobbs, R. (2001). Expanding the concept of literacy. In R. Kubey, (Ed.), Media Literacy in the information age: Current perspectives. Information and behavior volume 6 (pp. 163-186). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Huq, R. (2006). Beyond subculture: Pop, youth and identity in a postcolonial world. New York: Routledge. Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Retrieved October 29, 2006, from http://www.digitallearning.macfound.org/site/c.enJLKQNlFiG/b.2108773 /apps/nl/content2.asp?content_id=%7BCD911571-0240-4714-A93B- 1D0C07C7B6C1%7D&notoc=1 Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual poachers: Television fans & participatory culture. New York: Routledge. Noddings, Nel. The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 1992.

48. Top 5 Songs at My Funeral: Using Music For Critical Inquiry References (p. 3 of 3) Perloff, R. M. (1993). Third-person effect research 1983-1992: A review and synthesis. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 5, 167-184. Potter, W. J. (2004). Theory of media literacy: A cognitive approach. London: Sage Publications. Tarrant, M., North, A., & Hargreaves, D. (2002). Youth identity and music. In R. Macdonald, D. Hargreaves, & D. Miell (Eds.), Musical Identities (pp. 134-150). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Thornton, S. (1995). Club cultures : Music, media, and subcultural capital. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.