YouTube Musicians and a Pathway from Fandom to Empowerment

YouTube Musicians and a Pathway from Fandom to Empowerment

In 2007, I was a K-12 music teacher in Northern Illinois when one of my students told me about this amazing website that had a ton of music videos that I could watch for free. Of course, the video-sharing website he wanted to show me was YouTube, the site with the slogan “Broadcast yourself. Watch and share your videos worldwide!” The site instantly provided me with listening and learning examples for my students to enhance their time in my classroom. Not only could I find random choir performances of the music I had programmed to have my students go home and practice with, but I also pulled inspiration from the ways people were converging culture to propel my students into new ways of creating.

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