What exactly is the ‘heaviness’ in heavy metal music?

Suitable for 14–19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, in STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 musicology and music technology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Jan Herbst and Dr Mark Mynett, from the University of Huddersfield, UK. Their research seeks to examine and understand how leading metal producers define and create ‘heaviness’ in music and their productions.

• This resource also contains an interview with Jan and Mark and offers insight into careers in musicology and music technology. If your students have questions for Jan and Mark, they can send the questions to them online by visiting the Futurum link below, scrolling down to the end and typing in the question(s). Jan and Mark will respond!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Jan and Mark’s research and encourages them to explore the concept of ‘heaviness’ by having a go at mixing a song created by Jan and Mark.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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