Understanding Genre through Music
Affiliated Project: This activity helps to scaffold genre and conventions as well as understanding rhetorical situation; it is mostly affiliated with the first and final projects of the ENC2135 course. I use this activity at the beginning of every class period.
Purpose of Exercise: This exercise helps to focus students’ attention as they enter the classroom. With this activity, students begin to contemplate what genre of music is being played based on the conventions used in the song and corresponding music video before class even begins. I write a few concepts and/or questions on the board to help guide their thought process; this prepares students to participate in the following class activities because they are already thinking about course terminology and how to apply it.
Description: A song plays as students enter the classroom, and I time it so that it ends about a minute into class. I try to keep the discussion short (because I am currently teaching 50 minute classes), so I typically stick with three main questions or concept directions to discuss. I decided to narrow my focus on music that ranges throughout my students’ lifetime, so I started with the 1990s, and we are progressing through the years to track how some conventions have changed and how some have influenced popular music today. I play a song from a different subgenre every day in order to compare and contrast as well as to discuss how new sub-sub genres are formed (like, Grunge, for instance). The first question I tend to ask sounds something like, “What subgenre is this and what conventions lead you to that conclusion?” No outside items are needed for this activity. I use YouTube, the projector, and the white board.
Suggested Time: Start playing song/music video about four or five minutes before class, and then discussion takes about five minutes at the start of class. I try to steer how we talk about the song toward the main objective or exercise we will be doing that day.
Procedure: I set up technology, check volume, and I write the following information on the board: Artist, Song Title, and Year. We sometimes talk about context with this information. Sometimes I write specific questions: “Are there any narrative, informative, or persuasive elements to this song? What exigency is this responding to? What conventions lead you to this conclusion? Who do you think the intended audience is for this song (for instance, Semi Charmed Life’s upbeat, bubble-gum-pop tempo seems at odds with its lyrics about doing crystal meth and having meaningless sex)? What is this song's message or purpose? How does this song compare/contrast to…” I try to use one of their answers as a way to lead into that day’s lesson. If there is not a natural connection, I usually end the discussion by commenting how this is the type of thinking they should be applying in whatever project they are working on at that time.
Additional Information: I have found that after a few days of this activity, students began talking about the songs in more thoughtful ways than they realized. For instance, without my prompting, the language started to sound more like, “I thought it was weird because the camera angles in on people in ways that make them look grotesque, and the strobe effect adds a darkness that makes me feel strange.” In this case, the student was talking about Marilyn Manson’s "Beautiful People."