music and identity

I've been looking back over some of our earlier readings and trying to tie together all of the different kinds of literacies in the many contexts we've talked about all semester. In particular, I reread the introduction to Youth, Identity, and Digital Media by David Buckingham. His introduction ends with the following paragraph:

"Perhaps most importantly, a focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and their consequences both for individuals and for social groups. It entails viewing young people as significant social actors in their own right, as “beings,” and not simply as “becomings” who should be judged in terms of their projected futures. In our view, the needs of young people are not best served either by the superficial celebration or the exaggerated moral panics that often characterize this field. Understanding the role of digital media in the formation of youthful identities re- quires an approach that is clear sighted, unsentimental, and constructively critical" (p 19).

We haven't really talked about it since that first week, but I think that all of the literacies we've been discussing feed into how young people are forming and exploring their identities. In our quest for defining the various kinds of literacies, I think I've begun to see a common thread - literacy means the ability and drive to engage in conversation - whether it's in print, on a blog, through a podcast, or burned on a mix CD. When we're talking about media literacy, we're talking about the conversations we want young people to participate in, want them to explore with their own voices and minds, rather than simply accepting what is presented.

In particular, I've been thinking about musical literacy. In many ways, I'm more a part of the generation of digital natives than not. Middle school for me straddled the transition from tapes to CDs, and by the time I was in high school, burning mix CDs had become easy (and affordable). Now, almost everyone with a computer can build a digital library of songs, instantly look up song lyrics, download musical ringtones, and create their own music videos - not to mention the home recording capabilities of many computers. And when I think about musical literacy, I of course think of High Fidelity - the rules for making mix tapes, the endless Top 5 lists for different occasions, understanding how music shapes our lives and how we shape music around the moments in our lives. I think that the new media of computers - downloading MP3s, sharing music on LastFM or Pandora, small bands spreading their work through MySpace - has made musical literacy more complicated but also more accessible. Being a part of the musical conversation no longer requires physically proximity - to a big city where bands come to play, to a record store that stocks your favorite records, even to other people who are curious about the same music. Sites like Pandora and Pitchfork create a wide-reaching web where people can connect (via technology) with new music and people.

I imagine that teenagers (as long as there have been teenagers and music) have always used music to define themselves. As Hornby asks - "What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

I'm not out to answer that question, but it is an interesting observation on how young people incorporate and evolve with music.

The mix CD, too, has become a marker of identity in much the same way that mix tapes were. What songs in what order? What do the songs say to the person you're giving it to? How did you decorate the CD and its case? I think that this literacy - understanding how music creates a conversation with itself and its listener, how combination and juxtaposition of music can create different effects, how multiple medias and technologies come into play. I don't know exactly how this literacy could be leveraged in the classroom but I feel like there is great potential to engage reluctant young people by getting them to use skills and tools they are already experimenting with to explore their academic as well as social identities.