Analysis of visual images in school songs books in terms of suitability for educational purposes

In this research, secondary school music textbooks and six school song books were examined in terms of cover design, color or black and white, diversity, relationship with the subject, connection with the aim of the book and suitability for the level of the student. Document analysis, one of the qualitative research techniques, was used in the research. The universe of this research is school music textbooks and school song books, and the sample is secondary school music textbooks used in the 2020-2021 academic year and six school songs books determined. The music books considered as samples were examined under the above-mentioned analysis titles and the following results were obtained: In the book "Songs for Children", it is seen that images are used more than songs. The songs were written in 5 different tones, 3 major and 2 minor tones, and 2 different sizes. There are 70 school songs in total in the book "Song Bundle for Children and Teenagers" and no visuals have been used. There are 3 colorless images in total, only in the front and back cover design. In the book "Ezgi Yumağı", it is seen that the songs and images are almost equal. It is seen that the songs are written in 3 different tones and modal. No images were used in the book "Wildflowers", only one image was used on the front cover. The book is designed as 5 chapters and consists of folk songs in genre. They are ordered from easy to difficult and transposed considering the children's vocal range. In the book "Blue Marble", it is seen that the songs and images are equal. In the cover design of the book, 2 visuals are used in color, and in the interior part, the visuals are used in monochrome. It is seen that the songs are written in 5 different tones and modal. There are 80 school songs in the book "The Most Beautiful School Songs of Eighty Years" and it is seen that only one image is used in the cover design. The school songs used were written in 7 different tones and modal. In the 5th grade music textbook, images were used more than songs. The visuals given as colored and digital drawings support the subject of the course. The songs used in the book are given in 5 different tones and modal. It is seen that 40 songs and 90 images are used in the 6th grade music textbook. 1 colorless and 89 colored images used in the book support the subject of the lesson. The songs used in the book are given in 6 different tones and modal. In the 7th grade music textbook, there are 127 images and 48 songs in color and colorless. The songs given in the book are given in 6 different tones as major and minor and in maqam. It is seen that 62 songs and 90 images are used in the 8th grade music textbook. The 5 colorless and 85 colored images used in the book support the subject of the lesson. It is seen that the songs used in the book are written in 5 different tones and modal. In line with these results, it is suggested that the necessity of increasing the work of imaginative school songs and the establishment of digital media-supported song teaching strategies by strengthening the music infrastructures with animations, and the printing of the books that we have examined with only musical notation supported by a new project study and supported with colorful visuals. Keywords: Music education, School songs, Image analysis