I’m a superstar too! A didactic proposal for first year students of compulsory secondary education to work on non-sexist musical composition and performance

Abstract

Music as a school course is usually, or at least we have been led to believe it at some point, a “no-brainer” subject with no exams and no need to study. In the project described in this article, it is a question of showing how, through a music course in compulsory secondary education, students can be made aware of the role of women in the world of music. Marketing strategies do not usually take into account the sexist content of the vast majority of the lyrics of songs that we are forced to hear everywhere with the aim of their being drilled into our heads. Indeed, this is something that is often achieved. At the end of the day, there is always an unconscious snatch of a catchy song in the back of our minds that comes from who knows where, and it has thus fulfilled its function, like a virus that becomes lodged in our system, producing a feeling of addiction to consume more similar music. Adolescence in particular is a crucial stage in defining a human awareness that is far removed from sexism and, to ensure this, sexism must be fought from within, as if it were with potent antibodies.