“What’s So Awesome with YouTube”: Learning Music with Social Media Celebrities

Vittorio Marone 1 * , Ruben C. Rodriguez 1 *
More Detail
1 The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 9, Issue 4, Article No: e201928. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/5955
OPEN ACCESS   5201 Views   3817 Downloads   Published online: 11 Oct 2019
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

The widespread popularity of video-centered social media like YouTube, Vimeo, and DailyMotion is fostering new ways of teaching and learning music online. These media allow producers of educational content to reach, interact with, and respond to a global audience of interested viewers. Through a multimodal analysis approach, this study examined guitar-related lessons, tutorials, and reviews created and shared by artists and enthusiasts who reached a “celebrity” status on YouTube. Findings show that these teachers-celebrities construct their online presence and communicate with their audience through authenticity, approachability, and humor, in short-format and high-quality videos. The seamless integration of instructional content, branding, and references to the authors’ personal lives and worldviews generates a unique teaching and learning environment that challenges traditional understandings of music education.
Keywords: YouTube, social media, informal music learning, self-directed music learning, video tutorials, guitar learning

CITATION

Marone, V., & Rodriguez, R. C. (2019). “What’s So Awesome with YouTube”: Learning Music with Social Media Celebrities. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 9(4), e201928. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/5955

REFERENCES

  • Arend, B., Sunnen, P., Fixmer, P., & Sujbert, M. (2014). Perspectives do matter: “Joint screen,” a promising methodology for multimodal interaction analysis. Classroom Discourse, 5(1), 38-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2013.859843
  • Arewa, O. (2010). YouTube, UGC, and digital music: Competing business and cultural models in the internet age. Northwestern University Law Review, 104(2), 2011-2027.
  • Ashraf, B. (2009). Teaching the google-eyed YouTube generation. Education + Training, 51(5/6), 343-352. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910910987165
  • Biel, J., & Gatica-Perez, D. (2013). The YouTube lens: Crowdsourced personality impressions and audiovisual analysis of vlogs. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 15(1), 41-55. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMM.2012.2225032
  • Brook, J., & Upitis, R. (2015). Can an online tool support contemporary independent music teaching and learning? Music Education Research, 17(1), 34-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2014.969217
  • Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2018). YouTube: Online video and participatory culture (2nd edition). Medford, MA: Polity Press.
  • Cayari, C. (2011). The YouTube effect: How YouTube has provided new ways to consume, create, and share music. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(6), 1-30.
  • Cayari, C. (2014). Using informal education through music video creation. General Music Today, 27(3), 17-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371313492537
  • Crawford, R. (2016). Rethinking teaching and learning pedagogy for education in the twenty-first century: Blended learning in music education. Music Education Research, 19(2), 195-213. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2016.1202223
  • Dougan, K. (2014). “YouTube has changed everything?” Music faculty, librarians, and their use and perceptions of YouTube. College & Research Libraries, 75(4), 575-589. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.75.4.575
  • Folkestad, G. (2006). Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning. British Journal of Music Education, 23(2), 135-145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051706006887
  • Fralinger, B., & Owens, R. (2009). You tube as a learning tool. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 6(8), 15-28. https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.v6i8.1110
  • Gibson, J. J. (2014). The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum associates. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315740218
  • Ha, L. (2018). YouTube as a global online video portal and an alternative to TV. In L. Ha (Ed.), The Audience and Business of YouTube and Online Videos (pp. 1-16). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
  • Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Weigel, M., Clinton, K., & Robison, A. J. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8435.001.0001
  • Jewitt, C. (2014a). Different approaches to multimodality. In C. Jewitt (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis (p. 31-43). New York: Routledge.
  • Jewitt, C. (2014b). An introduction to multimodality. In C. Jewitt (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis (pp. 15-30). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Jonassen, D. H., & Land, S. M. (2000). Theoretical foundations of learning environments. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Kavoori, A. (2015). Making sense of YouTube. Global Media Journal, 13(24).
  • Khan, G. F., & Vong, S. (2014). Virality over YouTube: An empirical analysis. Internet Research, 24(5), 629-647. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-05-2013-0085
  • Kress, G. (2011). Discourse analysis and education: A multimodal social semiotic approach. In R. Rogers (Ed.), An introduction to critical discourse analysis in education (2nd ed., pp. 205-226). New York: Routledge.
  • Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. London, UK: Edward Arnold.
  • Kruse, N. B., & Veblen, K. K. (2012). Music teaching and learning online: Considering YouTube instructional videos. Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 5(1), 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.5.1.77_1
  • Lai, K. (2013). How are our undergraduates using YouTube? A survey on music students’ use of YouTube and the library’s multimedia collection. Music Reference Services Quarterly, 16(4), 199-217. https://doi.org/10.1080/10588167.2013.843361
  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815355
  • Manca, S., & Ranieri, M. (2016). “Yes for sharing, no for teaching!”: Social media in academic practices. The Internet and Higher Education, 29, 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.12.004
  • Marone, V. (2016). Looping out loud: A multimodal analysis of humour on Vine. The European Journal of Humour Research, 4(4), 50-66. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2016.4.4.marone
  • Marwick, A. E. (2015). You may know me from YouTube: (Micro-) celebrity in social media. In P. D. Marshall, & S. Redmond (Eds.), A Companion to Celebrity (pp. 333-350). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118475089.ch18
  • Monkhouse, H., & Forbes, A. M. (2015). The use of YouTube to improve students’ acuity and analytic skills in discussion of issues in music performance. Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal, 6(3), 1964-1970. https://doi.org/10.20533/licej.2040.2589.2015.0262
  • Norman, D. (2013). The design of everyday things (revised and expanded edition). New York, NY: Basic Books.
  • Norris, S. (2004). Analyzing multimodal interaction: A methodological framework. London, UK: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379493
  • Pînzaru, F., & Mitan, A. (2012). Social media and marketing of the “popcorn” music wave: The success of Romanian commercial musicians analysed through their perceived image on Facebook and YouTube. Economics & Sociology, 5(2), 125-138. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1356459453?accountid=7122
  • Rudolph, T. E., & Frankel, J. (2009). YouTube in music education. New York, NY: Hal Leonard Corporation.
  • Snoek, C. G., & Worring, M. (2005). Multimodal video indexing: A review of the state-of-the-art. Multimedia tools and applications, 25, 5-35. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:MTAP.0000046380.27575.a5
  • Soukup, P. A. (2014). Looking at, with, and through YouTube. Communication Research Trends, 33(3), 3-34.
  • The New London Group (Cazden, C., Cope, B., Fairclough, N., Gee, J., Kalantzis, M., Kress, G., et al.) (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u
  • Thibeault, M. D., & Evoy, J. (2011). Building your own musical community: How YouTube, Miley Cyrus, and the ukulele can create a new kind of ensemble. General Music Today, 24(3), 44-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371310397348
  • Trier, J. (2007a). “Cool” engagements with YouTube: Part 1. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(5), 408-412. https://doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.50.5.7
  • Trier, J. (2007b). “Cool” engagements with YouTube: Part 2. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(7), 598-603. https://doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.50.7.8
  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Waldron, J. (2013). User-generated content, YouTube and participatory culture on the web: Music learning and teaching in two contrasting online communities. Music Education Research, 15(3), 257-274. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2013.772131
  • Whitaker, J. A., Orman, E. K., & Yarbrough, C. (2014). Characteristics of “music education” videos posted on YouTube. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 33(1), 49-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123314540662
  • Wright, R. (2016). The complexities of informal learning and non-formal teaching in 21st century music education. In R. Wright, B. A. Younker, & C. Beynon (Eds.), 21st century music education: Informal learning and non-formal teaching approaches in school and community contexts. Waterloo, ON, Canada: Canadian Music Educators’ Association.