Teaching Ballads in the English Classroom

For this entry on “Teaching multiliteracies in the English classroom”, I would like to highlight ballads sung by female singers. For the benefit of everyone, I shall provide the definition of “ballads” with the help of dictionary.com: a simple narrative poem of folk origin, composed in short stanzas and adapted for singing.

As we all know that youngsters nowadays listen to music much more than people of other ages, we can safely presume that they are highly likely exposed to songs with certain ideologies most of the time.

The issue of the ostensibility of an egalitarian society in terms of the genders has always been widely & actively debated by both genders over the decades. Some women have argued that men have been constantly perpetuating patriarchalism, thus, refusing to give equal rights to women. Whether this is accurate is not on focus in this entry. I, however, would like to argue that there are women out there who are actually exacerbating the current situation by reinforcing ideologies, specifically on how women may not be able to survive without men, or, that women are still deemed inferior to men in terms of social status.

With the above thesis, I would like to zoom into ballads sung by female singers. Let me take 3 ballads as examples:

1. “Lost Without You” by Delta Goodrem
2. “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Jasmine Trias
3. “All Around the World” by Coco Lee

Looking at the lyrics of the 1st ballad, “Lost Without You” sung by Delta Goodrem, one will see how the singer describes herself as being “stubborn”, “a little righteous and too proud”, & “never giving in”. Based on the aforesaid descriptions, we see that righteousness &”never giving in” (in other words, “persistence”), which are normally deemed as good qualities in an individual, are deemed as negative qualities in a woman, as there is a sense of self-deprecation from the singer since she mixes these qualities with other negative qualities, like, “stubborn” & “too proud”. In this sense, it seems as if women are not supposed to be righteous & persistent before men.

As we move into the chorus of the ballad, the singer further depicts herself as a weak individual as the lyrics go,

All I know is I’m lost without you
I’m not gonna lie
How am I gonna be strong without you
I need you by my side
If we ever said we’ll never be together
and we ended with goodbye
Don’t know what I’d do
I’m lost without you.

The singer then continues in the next stanza to reinforce her weakness,

I keep trying to find my way
but all I know is
I'm lost without you
I keep trying to face the day
Lost without you.

The 2 stanzas above tell readers how the singer is “lost” when her lover is not with her. She seems to have lost control in every aspect – physically, mentally, & emotionally – as the lyrics state that she doesn’t know how to be strong, & that she has problem trying to find her way. It seems as if she couldn’t think straight anymore, as the lyrics state, “all I know is I’m lost without you”. All in all, she is a total wreck with no sense of direction in her thinking, behaviour, & feeling. This shows how she cannot survive being alone.

The 2nd ballad, “Midnight Train to Georgia” performed by Jasmine Trias, talks about the departure of a man & how the woman would “rather live in his world than without him in [her own]”. Once again, we see how the woman is willing to sacrifice her own “world” just so she could be with the man she loves. It seems she is unable to get the man to be in her “world” if one is to think about it in this angle.

The last example, “All Around the World” sung by Coco Lee, talks about the singer being too busy to spend enough time with her lover due to her commitment as a singer, which requires her to travel constantly.

From some parts of the lyrics, one can gather that this woman can be considered to be possessing some power/influence, for she can be heard on the radio & seen on TV, as the lyrics state,

All around the world, Hear me on the radio
Catch me on a TV show

The assumption of her power/influence can be made, as one of the elements in deciding Forbes’ most power/influential celebrities is radio & TV exposure.

Nonetheless, despite this woman being one who holds certain degree of power/influence, she says things like, “Forever I'll be your girl”. From this, one sees that, firstly, she belongs to another person instead of herself; and secondly, the description of herself as a “girl” belittles her status as opposed to her lover's. Thus, we see how a woman like her, who possesses a certain amount of power, is still seen as someone else’s property and of an inferior status.

Having analysed the 3 ballads, let me touch on the 3 different knowledge which are to be employed for teachers to teach students to see the above ideology – informal knowledge, systematic knowledge, & transformative knowledge.

In terms of informal knowledge, teachers can get students to think of songs, which they know of, that talk about boy-girl relationships. As mentioned earlier, songs are part of the popular culture, & students are presumed to listen to a significant amount of pop music, thus, students should be familiar with this genre of text.

Next, systematic knowledge requires students to analyse the lyrics of the songs, as shown above, to suss out the ideology embedded in the songs. Students are expected to pick out words or phrases which provide evidence to any claim they make. In addition, students are also to think about the gender of the singer. The tune & melody of the song is also crucial in determining the mood of the singer’s voice. These are essential aspects to delve into.

Lastly, transformative knowledge will see students thinking of ways to challenge/resist the ideology that has been uncovered – in this case, the perpetuation of women’s inferiority by women. This can be done by generating songs which promote & celebrate women’s independence, & their ability to survive without the help of anyone. Songs like,

1. “I Belong To Me” by Jessica Simpson
2. “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child
3. “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” by Jennifer Lopez
4. “Can’t Hold Us Down” & “Fighter” by Christina Aguilera

will give weights to contest the perpetuated ideology.

With such a focus of study going on, students will be rendered to think critically & analytically & realise the prevalence of the permeation of ideologies in an ostensibly entertaining text (songs). Furthermore, students will also get to see the various ways to counter these ideologies.

Motivating students to engage in such a study should not be an issue as pop music is one that students generally can relate to due to their frequent exposure to it, hence, its feasibility should not be deemed as hitting a rock with an egg.