Music and Cats / Book of Abstracts - Catalog - Page 19
Abstracts
Panel 4: Pedagogy
14:25 – 14:40
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Multimodal Narratives
and A昀昀ective Triggers
A Study of the Roles of Cat Memes in
Music History Education
Beini Liu / Universiti Utara Malaysia
In the context of short video platforms becoming
prominent channels for knowledge dissemination,
cat memes have emerged as carriers of emotional
culture and anthropomorphic storytelling. They
are reshaping the visual grammar and cognitive
approaches of music education. This paper takes
the “Lu Ru Music Exam Prep” account on Douyin
(Chinese TikTok) as a case study, where historical
Western composers are reimagined as cat memes
to facilitate music history learning. Drawing on
multimodal narrative theory, emotional design
theory, and theories of affective mediation in
media anthropology, this study explores how cat
memes perform multiple pedagogical roles in
educational videos. Through qualitative content
analysis, comment interpretation, and student
interviews, the research identifies four
functional roles of cat memes: narrative guide,
emotional trigger, cognitive bridge, and
symbolic marker of learning communities.
Findings suggest that this approach enhances
student interest and memory retention while
posing
potential
risks
of
information
simplification and cultural misinterpretation.
This study contributes to the theoretical
understanding of non-human imagery in
music educational storytelling and opens up
new perspectives for affect-driven pedagogy
in digital media.
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