From TikTok trends to movie soundtracks, music appears in many aspects of a student’s life. Madison’s new elective Music in Media and Culture is teaching them to pause, listen and analyze what they hear.
Music in Media and Culture, an arts course offered in FCPS for the first time this year, explores how music fits into film, social media, history and politics. Instead of focusing on performance and theory like other music classes do, this course is graded on discussion and the ability to make connections between pieces of media and cultural themes.
For example, one major assignment this year tasked students with making a presentation that explained and battled a stereotype in a genre of music. What could have been a surface level assignment led to students thinking deeply about the cultural origins of popular and niche musical genres alike. One student gave a lecture on how rap music isn’t always crude or vulgar and explored how those stereotypes came to be.
“I liked how there was an element to the project that had a cultural and political factor which we often discuss in our projects, instead of it being solely about music,” Parker Dunn (’29) said.
For students, another highlight of the class is the wide range of media it covers. Assignments can involve examining songs, scenes from movies, pop culture moments and live performances. There is also room for personal choice that gives students the opportunity to explore their interests.
“I really loved when we explored some musicals as a class, especially because we really focused on social and political commentary,” Mia Dinia (’28) said. “Everyone in the class wanted to have a genuine discussion, which the teacher facilitated and wouldn’t try to dodge difficult subjects.”
The course’s analysis of musicals gave students a chance to learn about how entertainment can reflect larger societal issues while still being portrayed as something lighthearted and amusing.
“My favorite memory, specifically, was watching ‘South Pacific,’ as the class is close enough to make jokes about the absurd use of Technicolor while still having meaningful discussions about racism and pro-war media,” Dinia said. “That musical really highlighted how connected the class had become.”
Class discussions are a major focus of Music in Media and Culture. Instead of teacher-led lectures, students get the opportunity to share their own perspectives and build on their classmate’s ideas when covering a topic.
“The discussions we have in class are often structured like a Socratic seminar, but unlike the socratic seminars you have in core classes, the conversations run much deeper into more mature subjects and have an element of personal opinion,” Dunn said.
This open format gives students a platform to share their real opinions, even when discussing modern and controversial issues.
“We’ve discussed current politics, views on A.I. and thoughts on how music plays into cultural experiences from all around the world,” Dunn said. “We have discussions that involve people having different opinions about not just a book or point in history, but about real world issues currently occurring today.”
Leading the discussions is Erin Eberly, the Orchestra Director. She was tasked with not only teaching this new course, but with planning lessons and curriculum for the first time in the county.
“My goal in designing the curriculum for this class was to build something that would offer musical outreach to all students interested in music, not just those in a performing ensemble,” Eberly said.
She strives to create a higher level of appreciation for music with each assignment, debate and discussion.
“I am continuously impressed at the level of depth in the student responses,” Eberly said. “I think that students of the current generation have a different view of the musical concepts, just as every other generation has had.”
The focus on student perspective is shown through the course’s exploration of how music connects with cultural themes. This makes Music in Media and Culture especially relevant in how students engage with media in their everyday lives.
“Everyone in the class has a certain niche,” Dinia said. “If you’re interested in exploring music more assimilated in pop culture with real-world influence that likely aligns more with your interests than other music classes offered at schools, you’ll definitely find this interesting.”
