Abstract
This article presents an approach to music listening that creates spaces for critical literacy, inviting music educators to consider critical literacy practices when listening and responding to music. We begin with a discussion of critical literacy pedagogy in the context of music education followed by a sample flexible lesson plan that uses critical literacy as a framework to guide a music-listening experience. We then outline research-based critical literacy strategies used to frame the design of the learning experience. Through critical literacy listening, students can learn to recognize explicit and implicit messages presented in musical selections and construct new understandings that allow them to enter into a dialogue with the musical text.
What is critical literacy pedagogy, and how can it enhance your music teaching?
(Photos courtesy of the authors.)
Rapid advances in technology and multimedia are changing how we learn and communicate. Media today rarely communicate solely through written text but increasingly through images, video, and sound. YouTube videos, for instance, are ubiquitous in educational contexts, accessed by teachers and students alike as powerful and effective means of gaining and sharing information. The field of language and literacy education has responded by placing increased emphasis on supporting learners’ abilities to produce and interpret not only spoken and written texts but also multimodal texts such as those commonly published through movies, television, and online sources that combine and leverage the communicative potential of diverse modalities.
The New London Group, an international collective (based in New London, New Hampshire, USA) of experts in language and education, laid the groundwork for this movement in the 1990s when they came together to discuss developments in the world of communications and how these changes were—or should be—reflected in the teaching of language and literacy in schools. Their subsequent publication, “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies,” pointed out that contemporary learners need to develop the ability to understand and communicate through multiple modes of representation, including sound and music. 1
NAfME is glad to offer one hour of professional development recognition to you for reading this article. Please follow the link below and complete a short quiz to receive your certificate of completion.
Although relatively new to language and literacy educators, decoding musical texts and examining how people respond to them has long been central to music education curricula. 2 Nevertheless, we believe music educators may benefit by applying some of the contemporary practices that language and literacy educators are using to analyze text. In particular, we see considerable value in critical literacy (CL) as a means of informing pedagogy for analyzing and responding to music.
Being Critically Literate
Critical literacy is a way to engage with text that involves examining social and political issues in various forms of media, such as listening for multiple voices and critiquing dominant ideologies. 3 CL pedagogy stems from Brazilian educator Paulo Freire’s philosophies of power relations and can be defined as “reading texts critically to see how they have been constructed, whose interests are served, and how they work to produce our identities.” 4 Being critically literate means reading between the lines, identifying multiple possible meanings, analyzing self/other relations, and connecting text to students’ lives by considering how their own voices fit into the conversation. In an environment that fosters CL, ideas are valued, questions are asked, and knowledge is co-constructed. Students are given multiple opportunities to reflect on various positions in texts and consider dominant voices and absent perspectives. CL can offer “new and varied ‘lenses’ to understand experiences, explore multiple viewpoints, and uncover the influence of sociopolitical and power relationships in shaping perceptions and actions.” 5
Music educators have the opportunity to create critical spaces and open discourses surrounding power and relations by deconstructing musical pieces from a variety of genres and historical perspectives. This analytic work blends opportunities for music knowledge application and critical thinking. In the context of music education, CL practices challenge listeners to deconstruct and engage with music and lyrics from a critical stance. Music students can explore their thoughts about social issues, make connections to their own identities and lives, and analyze and critique the messages represented.
Compositional decisions made by composers and lyricists are derived from particular perspectives and their social and political influences. With this in mind, students can examine a song or instrumental piece and consider the choices made by the creator(s) and how those choices impact the listener. As music educator Lenore Pogonowski wrote, learning is “enhanced when we vary our instructional modes to engage our students in active reflection.” 6 Instruction that guides students in CL practices enables and supports critical thinking, “an essential component of educating musically and ethically . . . [that] supports music learning as/for social justice.” 7 Furthermore, by developing critical consciousness, students become “poised to identify and challenge biases and dominant power structures.” 8 From a critical stance, music educators can support students in understanding that music is composed with particular motivations by particular people who have goals that often serve their own interests and are never neutral; 9 music is mediated by the creators’ cultural experiences. Students need to know that once a message has been conveyed, it is open to discussion, review, remaking, and transformation; once a song has been composed, it is open to dialogue.
The purpose of this article is to provide music educators with an approach to music listening that creates spaces for CL in the context of music education. We believe that the more students engage with CL practices when listening to music in class, the more likely they will transfer these practices to their independent listening habits. By nurturing the development of CL, music teachers can encourage critical listening that recognizes the explicit and implicit messages presented in musical selections, supports the construction of new understandings, and allows students to enter into a dialogue with musical texts. In the following sections, we provide an outline of research-based CL strategies 10 and then present a detailed example of a flexible lesson plan that uses CL as a framework to guide a music-listening experience. While we acknowledge a CL perspective can meaningfully be applied to all kinds of music, we believe it is most readily applied to music that includes lyrics. Accordingly, this lesson focuses on music where language figures prominently.
Critical Literacy Strategies
The CL strategies that frame this learning experience stem from a case study that examined the CL practices of an elementary teacher. 11 These strategies, adapted for a music context, include the following:
Purposeful music selection
Using open-ended questions to develop deeper connections
Empowering student voice
Connecting music to students’ lives
Unpacking complex issues
We present a short description of each strategy here to provide music educators with some general considerations to keep in mind when developing music listening experiences that integrate CL practices. These are meant as guidelines and should be adapted accordingly.
Purposeful Music Selection
Music selection sets the tone for the learning and should offer a variety of entry points, provide multiple opportunities for discussion, and connect the students’ lives to various events, current or historical. When selecting a piece of music, it is worthwhile to consider how the students can go beyond identifying the instruments or shifts in musical elements to listening at a deeper level, namely, considering why a musical shift was made and how it is intended to affect a listener. Given the emphasis in CL pedagogy on encouraging learners to make connections to their own lives, it would make sense to solicit input from students on musical selections to analyze. There are also advantages to introducing songs from different historical periods with which students might be unfamiliar, particularly if addressing, analyzing, or comparing social and political issues.
Whether the music is solely instrumental or has lyrics should also be taken into consideration. While focusing on songs with lyrics tends to provide more immediate access to the messages that music conveys, it is also valuable to identify how composers’ decisions impact the messages conveyed by instrumental music. Students might, for example, analyze excerpts of film scores or the music used in television commercials, listening, perhaps, for the instrument choices that composers use to evoke particular audience responses. It may be helpful to analyze music and lyrics separately as they may have different/multiple meanings and, when put together, create new meaning.
Use Open-Ended Questions
The use of open-ended questions provides opportunities for multiple perspectives to be voiced and stimulates higher-order thinking. Encouraging open discussions around musical selections provides opportunities for students to make meaningful connections and engage with the music in a personal way. In examining musical choices and messages, there should be no one way of knowing; multiple ideas related to the topic should be shared and explored. Not all questions will be immediately answered, and this should be accepted. Some questions might lead to further inquiries about the musical choices and influences while others might be reexamined at a different time. Still other questions might not be answered at all. With practice and openness, students can begin to understand that open-ended questions allow for reflection—an answer is not always required for critical thinking and discourse.
Empower Student Voices
Pausing for as little as five seconds has been shown to result in significant changes in students’ use of language, their active engagement, and willingness to share. 12 Pauses can be effective after posing a question, making a statement, and following a student’s question. During these pauses, it is especially important for teachers to stay as neutral as possible and avoid affirmations and subjective statements since students are often very aware of and influenced by a teacher’s response. Through these strategies, students become the center of the learning; the teacher is the reflective facilitator while the students voice their ideas and take the lead in the learning.
Connect Music to Life
It is important to consider how students can be supported in bringing their unique perspectives to a shared listening experience. Creating lyrics in response to the messages in a popular song provides an opportunity for students to develop connections between their lives and the lives of others. Students can consider how their own experiences align or don’t align with the experiences described by the original lyricist. With instrumental music, students could respond by imagining and describing how they might “remix” a piece or excerpt, for example, shifting the structure, changing the orchestration, or re-harmonizing a prominent melody. In both instances, the creative process provides students an opportunity to connect their lives to the music and consider how their own musical (and lyric) choices can impact the communication of ideas and the experience of those who listen to their music.
Unpack Complex Issues
The explicit aim of CL is the “critique and transformation of dominant ideologies, cultures, economies, institutions and political systems.” 13 In the context of music education, teachers can encourage students to identify particular viewpoints that are represented by musical and lyric choices and guide students to perceive how these viewpoints might be situated within, for example, a dominant ideology or political system. In addition, teachers can ask and encourage questions about ideas and possibilities that might be missing or viewpoints and cultural perspectives that are not represented. Follow-up discussions could explore how the piece of music might transform under different ideologies, cultures, economies, institutions, or political systems or if other perspectives were given voice. It is important to support students as they unpack complex issues prior to and concurrent to analyzing songs.
Music/CL Learning
We now present a detailed example of a music and CL learning experience. We offer this lesson in a prescriptive format so that it is ready to be used. However, we respect and expect that teachers will modify our lesson to suit their own students and contexts. Although our lesson is designed for eighth-grade students in a general music class, we suggest that this model lesson can be adapted for students of varying grade levels and different types of music education classes. We focus the lesson on the 2003 song “Where Is the Love?” by hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas. 14 In the lesson, we suggest presenting the music to students in the form of a YouTube video that features the song’s lyrics, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotCW5OIFZc.
The 2014 Standards
This learning experience is supported by the 2014 Music Standards. In Table 1, we present these standards with corresponding student-friendly learning goals and activities. The selected standards relate specifically to this music and CL learning experience. We use the term student-friendly learning goals to highlight the importance of considering word choice that reflects the grade level and student audience. We also note two English Language Arts Standards to which this learning experience relates: “Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions” 15 and “Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats.” 16
Targeted National Music and English Language Arts Standards
Preparing for Learning
The learning experience is divided into three sections: whole-class discussion and guided listening, small-group discussion and listening response, and small-group creative response. The whole-class discussion and guided listening will require a computer, projector, and speakers to play the YouTube video. The small-group discussion and listening response will require three to six iPads or laptops and access to the video. A handout outlining the lyrics can be used in lieu of the video, and a recording of the song can be accessed through a different mode of audio if iPads are not available. We provide two examples of handouts in the following to support the whole-class (questions for consideration) and small-group (prompts to stimulate the lyric writing and performance preparation) activities. Teachers should plan for the entire learning experience to span three to four classes or sessions of approximately eighty minutes so students have adequate time to engage in the creative response.
1. Whole-Class Discussion and Guided Listening
Hook
Begin the whole-class discussion and guided listening by writing one word/lyric/phrase on the board as students enter the classroom. Tell the students that the lyric is from a popular song and ask, “What do you think this song is about?” As students respond, record four to six ideas on the board. Tell the students to keep these ideas in mind as they listen to the song and participate in the guided listening activities.
Guided Listening
Draw students’ attention to the following questions posted where students can refer to them throughout the lesson. Invite students to consider these questions as they listen to the beginning of the song (play the video to 0:44):
What words do you hear most often?
What words catch your attention?
What instruments do you hear?
What genre of music is this?
Is this a song you would listen to on your own time? Why or why not?
After playing the excerpt, have students share their ideas and record these ideas on the board. Play the excerpt again and highlight some of the ideas suggested by students. Return to the initial question, What do you think this song is about?
Introduce Learning Goals
To introduce the learning goals, you might say, “The reason we are listening to this music and thinking about these questions is to practice being critical listeners and thinkers. We will spend the rest of the class unpacking what that means.” Then discuss the three specific learning goals identified in Table 1, ideally included with the discussion questions in Handout 1 or posted where students can see them in the classroom.
2. Small-Group Discussion and Listening Response
Before inviting students to engage in the small-group discussion, it may be helpful to scaffold the task by ensuring students are comfortable using relevant musical vocabulary and perceiving instrumental timbres. Table 2 could prove useful in this scaffolding. It may also be useful to emphasize the goal of analyzing and responding to music from a critical stance by encouraging the students to think about ideas and possibilities that might be missing or viewpoints and cultural perspectives that are not represented.
Example for Guided Listening Response
When students are ready, distribute Handout 1 (see the following for questions to include in the handout) and divide the class into four or five groups. Before the students get into their small groups, provide two to three instructions. For example, “Read through all questions first, then listen to the song in its entirety. Think about and jot down ideas related to each question” (ensure each group has a note-taker). The groups will meet for approximately ten to twenty minutes. During this time, circulate to support the group work.
Questions for Handout 1
Why do you think the songwriter/s decided to begin the song with this question?
Describe the vocals you hear in the first few lines. How do they make you feel?
There are certain words that are emphasized with musical choices. How are they emphasized, and why are they emphasized? What does the emphasis do to the message?
How does the music change once they start talking about “love”? Why did the songwriters make those musical shifts?
What does “where is the love” mean?
What things do they suggest are “bad” to make you pay attention to their message? What other things might they suggest are “bad” for a different audience?
Why do they include an electronic keyboard solo? What does it add to the listening experience? What might they have added instead? Was the keyboard solo a good choice?
Think about the message throughout. Does it shift, change, or is it consistent?
Small-Group Findings
Lead a discussion with the whole class, inviting groups to describe what they found. Facilitate the discussion while keeping in mind the CL strategies discussed previously (e.g., using open-ended questions to develop deeper connections). Given CL’s aim of critiquing and transforming dominant ideologies, guide the discussion toward recognition and discussion of the overt and oblique messages that the song conveys, such as what is “good” and “bad” in society today and how different people or groups may have different perceptions of what is “good” and “bad.” See the “Unpacking Complex Issues” section for ideas about guiding the discussion.
Assessment for learning strategies are formative assessment approaches to gathering evidence of student understanding to guide next steps and further student learning. As an assessment for learning strategy to support students’ critical analyses, take anecdotal notes of student questions and responses during the small and whole-class discussions. Record student participation and the complexity of students’ critical analyses. Use these notes to guide the next discussion in a way that promotes depth with respect to the National Music and English Language Arts Standards (see Table 1).
3. Creative Response
In their small groups, students will create lyrics for an additional verse of the song, then prepare a performance (live or recorded) of the verse incorporating musical choices to support and shape the communication of their message (e.g., adding voices to emphasize certain lyrics; using beatboxing, percussion, or other instruments in different ways at particular points).
In preparation for the groups to produce their creative responses, lead a whole-class guided listening of verse three as suggested in Table 2 (identifying the musical choices made to support the verse three lyrics).
Following the guided listening example, demonstrate the creation process with the whole group using the following steps:
Determine syllables and the rhyming scheme for the first two lines of the verse.
Have students suggest corresponding lyrics and write them on the board, demonstrating aloud the kinds of decisions songwriters make, for example: Is this the right word choice here? Is this what we want to say?
Determine some musical choices to support these lyrics, for example: What is the drum kit doing? What instruments join in? Singing or rapping? One voice or two? How might this sound?
Provide students with ample time to work on their creative responses (two to three classes) before presenting to the whole group. To ensure that students have the opportunity to create a variety of musical sounds, consider having percussion or other available instruments accessible to students. If appropriate for your context, suggest students create percussion instruments with found objects (e.g., bucket drums). Digital technologies, such as iPads with an accompanying music creation app (e.g., GarageBand, Soundtrap), could also be used. During the creation process, prompts to spark ideas from the students might include “How do your musical choices support what you are trying to communicate? Do your lyrics convey a different message than the original song? How?” Prior to one of the working sessions, distribute and discuss the assessment as learning rubric (see Table 3), adapted from the eighth-grade Music Standards (2014) Creating strand. Encourage students to use the rubric as a reference to consider and guide their own work. When the students are ready, invite them to share their creative responses (live or recorded) with the class. A post-performance debriefing might include the following prompts: “What musical choices did you (audience members) notice? How did those musical choices affect the way you heard or experienced the lyrics?”
Assessment as Learning Rubric
Closing Thoughts
By borrowing CL pedagogy practices from the field of literacy and language education, music educators can provide their students with a new framework for analyzing music. While this framework is most readily applied to music that features lyrics, it can be used more broadly to identify and consider messages explicitly and implicitly conveyed in other kinds of music, such as soundtracks to films or commercials or program music (e.g., Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture or Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons). In addition, as one reviewer of this article pointed out, students could focus CL listening on classical instrumental pieces influenced by particular concepts, such as nationalism (e.g., Copland, Elgar, Shostakovich), politics (e.g., John Adams, Beethoven, Schoenberg), or dedicated to a person (e.g., Britten, Mahler, Wagner). As this same reviewer suggested, band directors may wish to prepare a unit focusing on wind ensemble literature. Frank Ticheli’s “An American Elegy” (written in 2000 in memory of those who lost their lives at Columbine High School in 1999); Karel Husa’s Music for Prague 1968; John Corigliano’s Circus Maximus (Symphony No. 3 for Large Wind Ensemble, 2004); Daniel Bukvich’s “In Memoriam, Dresden, 1945”; Rob Grice’s “Witch Hunt of 1692”; David Gillingham’s “Heroes, Lost and Fallen”; and Mark Camphouse’s “A Movement for Rosa” are just a few wind pieces with content well worth examining through a CL lens.
At its essence, this framework is about helping students listen to music with a focus on the choices that musical artists make, the reasons artists make those choices, and the social and political circumstances that influence artists’ and listeners’ perspectives. Listening in this way can enable students to hear the stories behind the music—both the stories that are told and the stories left untold. Through guided listening experiences and structured opportunities for response such as those we have described here, students will have the chance to develop CL skills they can apply to their own personal engagement with music—listening, performing, and creating—in the classroom and beyond.
As stated at the beginning of this article, contemporary learners need to develop the ability to understand and communicate through multiple modes of representation. Music educators are well positioned to help students negotiate and make sense of musical texts, and we believe the CL approaches outlined here will help students interpret and construct musical communication. However, we also believe musical CL can serve as a launching point for students to apply corresponding approaches to negotiating texts presented through a variety of modalities, thereby preparing students for the increasingly complex task of sending and receiving communication in the twenty-first century.
Footnotes
Notes
Pamela Beach is an assistant professor of literacy education at the Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She can be contacted at