Session 7: Metal and Education

Daniel Guberman: Do You Really Listen to That? Heavy Metal as a Teaching Tool Upon telling colleagues and students that I teach a course devoted to heavy metal, I am met with a wide range of responses, from excitement to disgust. Not long ago, heavy metal courses seemed well outside the scope of the academy. However, for me it serves as an excellent genre for studying musical elements and culture. Possibly because of the genre’s status as social pariah, students in my courses often feel comfortable discussing contentious issues related to gender, race, class, politics, and globalization through heavy metal. In this presentation, I draw on my recently completed honors seminar, “Global Heavy Metal Music,” to share why heavy metal is an ideal subject for the university. I emphasize the development of close listening skills, and applying those skills toward the analysis and interpretation of songs. At the beginning of the semester, students compare versions of “Imagine” by John Lennon and A Perfect Circle, discussing the relationship between sound and meaning. Progressing through the early history of the genre, students continue to examine music’s narrative functions through songs such as “Black Sabbath.” Throughout the course I connect heavy metal with contemporary political and social issues. Some of the most fruitful discussions dealt with gender, ranging from portrayals of women in 1980s music videos to Japanese female musicians. Students debate whether Lita Ford and The Great Kat served as empowering role models. They compared prominent women in heavy metal today including Angela Gossow, Masha Scream, and Tarja Turunen. Students then examined how these ideas play out on a global stage in Japan’s Babymetal, Dr. Mikannibal, and the cross-dressing members of Versailles. Through this presentation, I demonstrate how heavy metal becomes a valuable teaching tool and topic of wide-ranging conversations within the university. Kevin Ebert: But That Doesn’t Help Me On Guitar! Unraveling the Myth of the Self-Taught Metal Guitarist When interviewed about his musical background Trivium’s guitarist, Matt Heafy, responded, “Self taught for quite a bit of it, did lessons on and off for maybe two or three years, but I do not know anything formal […] on guitar. I do on saxophone though…but that doesn’t help me on guitar [!]” His answer reinforces the Metal myth that praises self-achievement while diminishing the value of formal education. Although Heafy admits to having “formal” abilities on saxophone, he quickly safeguards the authenticity of his self-learned guitar skills by insulating those skills from his guitar technique. The eschewal of guided instruction is part of the ideology of Metal. However, reality is often significantly less “romantic.” It is true that many metal guitarists achieved their skill set without formal instruction. However, some musicians did receive lessons. Some musicians utilized self-instructional materials such as the influential Metal Method mail-order course, which claims to have sold over one million lessons since its creation in 1982. Several well-known guitarists have admitted to beginning with this method, e.g. Rusty Cooley (Outworld) and Metal Mike Chiasciak (Halford, Sebastian Bach). With such sales figures, it is a reasonable assumption that the aforementioned musicians are not alone in utilizing self-instructional methods. This paper examines the musical education of metal guitarists and attempts to separate myth from reality in their musical development. It systematically covers Metal teaching methodologies from a variety of media including: method books, magazines, instructional videos, computer programs, and online resources. The role of teacher is also examined. A fundamental question is, “What exactly defines a music lesson?” If we expand the answer to include learning in non-formal settings, such as interaction with parents, peer-to-peer instruction and band rehearsals, the myth of the completely self-taught metal musician is quickly shattered. Katie Campbell: “Holding the Heathen Hammer High: Homage to Our Histories and Pagan Ancestries through Modern Metal Music” The genre of metal is one that spans much of the world, with lyrical (and stylistic) inspirations coming from many sources, such as histories, cultures, literature, and religion. It is a part of what makes metal such a diverse and interesting community. For my presentation, I propose to speak about some of these ideas – namely, the pagan cultures and religions that inspire many bands and how that helps keeps these cultures alive. These themes are seen widely throughout the different metal sub-genres (especially Viking and folk), with bands including Týr, Einherjer, Cruachan, Eluveitie, Skyforger, Heidevolk, Orphaned Land, etc. drawing their inspirations through their respective cultures. Through their music, these bands are able to keep their heritage alive in the 21st century, as well as to allow people to learn more about them. They strive to pay homage to their ancestors and heritage in a manner similar to what their forefathers knew best: telling their tales through music. While the vast majority of the more popular bands with these themes are Norse, Celtic, and Anglo-Saxon, they are not alone in using metal music as a vessel to deliver their lessons and messages. More and more bands from South America, Asia, and the Middle East are cropping up to tell their own stories. So while this would largely focus on the European bands, time will be given to bands from other regions in hopes of stirring up interest and exposure