Our first goal is to see these mediums as alternative texts that we "read," and to also see the larger artistic and cultural statements implicated in them.
Our second goal is to dissect each of these alternative texts into individual rhetorical parts to understand what their statement is, and how they do so.
Our third goal is to connect the individual statements of a text to larger "academic"/global disciplines. In other words, we are working towards making a connection between the themes and ideas present in an individual text to those in the larger fields we will ultimately work in.
For example, our first voyage together will be examining music. Beyond entertainment, why do we listen to music? What does our music say about humanity; about us as individuals? What can we learn by dissecting a song? Well, if we take a fun but serious look at song lyrics, we may be able to uncover sociological, psychological, political science, gender studies, even physiological/biological understanding.
To begin our voyage as a class, let's look at Tupac Shakur's globally-popular "Changes."
- Cultural implications, even today! Shakur's song made the Vatican's mySpace playlist!
So, after we discuss the above links, and dissect the song together, let's look at the songs that we brought in for today's class!
- What song did you choose?
- What genre(s) would you say your song belongs to: love song, political/social issue, elegy (commemorates the dead), adolescent rebellion, psychological struggle, or some other genre that you can "see"?
Writing Activity
- Beyond entertain, what else does the song do for you?
- Which particular line or a few lines really exemplify the song's meaning?
- What do those particular lines tell us about the singer's point of view on the subject of the song?
- What are some larger ideas about life that we can take from the lyrics?
Homework:
- For Thursday, bring back both your song lyrics, and what you wrote today...
- You may also bring in an article that "discusses an important idea about music." This last statement is intentionally vague. I'd like you to use your critical thinking skills to find an article that you find will be relevant to analyzing music lyrics! We'll start discussing ways of getting outside research, and on-line databases is one avenue.
- One place to look for an article, if you have a Chicago Public Library Card is their on-line databases...
- Another place to find an article is the East-West U. library databases.
- Search these databases with terms that relate to themes/ideas you are dissecting in your analysis of your song lyrics. For example, in looking for sources that may help me analyze Shakur's "Changes" I might put together a search of these terms, mix and matched: politics, music, race, racism, war, music, protest, rap, drugs, social ills, violence, media portrayal,. . . .
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