Music Videos in the Classroom - Young People Exploring the World (ePub)

1. Introduction
Music videos are an important part of the lifestyle of many youths, they have been spread
over the whole world by the television channel MTV (Music Television)1 and they have
become an essential aspect of the popular culture. Obviously, the Hessian curriculum has
realized the importance of music videos: The topic "Young People Exploring the World"
("Jugendliche und ihre Welt") for 11th grade includes the sub-topic "Culture and Media"
("Kultur und Medien")2. This sub-topic deals with all sorts of pop culture, (music, videos,
literature, advertisements, fashion, sports, etc.).
Music videos are excellent for matters of foreign language education, they provide
authentic material3, which is a welcome variation for many pupils who are only used to
artificial learning materials, and they are very interesting for pupils because they are part of
their everyday life. Therefore, music videos provide a brilliant opportunity for the pupils to
discuss and analyse. Through thorough analysis of music videos, the pupils will become
aware of how music videos are made and which impact they can have on us, and also
which ethical values they propagate (as well by the lyrics of the specific song as well by
the composition of the video itself) or in which ways they reflect our society.
It is important that the pupils are allowed to choose their own music videos, because then
they will be more motivated as if the videos were selected by the teacher. However, the
teacher should become acquainted with the specific video before it is presented to the
class by the pupil because there are, of course, music videos, which are not suitable (for
example, because the content could be too violent or sexual to be presented in the
classroom or the video could be too long, it should not exceed 5 minutes for obvious
reasons).
For a fruitful analysis and discussion, the pupils need to do a bit of theory, the teacher
should give a brief introduction to the basics of video-making, e.g. camera perspectives,
cutting techniques, etc., so that the students understand that in a music video (just like in a
movie) everything has a purpose and a certain effect on the spectator. Equipped with this
fundamental knowledge, the students are enabled to analyse their specific music video on their own and to present them to the class, and the rest of the class can discuss or add
aspects which the presenter may not have found. In this termpaper, I will present an exemplary teaching unit...