“Video of the day” is a new teaching tool we came up with to help expose our students to diverse musical genres and styles on a daily basis. At the start of every class, our students watch a YouTube of the teacher’s choosing. We’ve viewed clips of everything from Bad Brains and Nirvana to Future Islands to Public Enemy and KRS One. In the video below, you see an entire class of high school who had never seen the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” by Nirvana before. Most of our class hadn’t heard of artists like Jimi Hendrix or Miles Davis, who paved the way for today’s artists to create music that is true to their inner voice. The video of the day represents our unique approach to teaching that involves tracing the impact of music on the human experience and helping our students connect musical history to their daily lives. We hope that by introducing our students to material that may be obscure to them, we will broaden their artistic horizons and encourage them to expand their interests.
Future Islands dance party: