Popular music in the classroom

Popular Music in the Classroom

The programming of popular music in secondary classrooms is not new. However, the MOOC, Music in the Twenty-first Century Classroom presents a research-based approach to the use of popular music to improve the interest and engagement of students in the classroom. But does this mean a total re-writing of the music curriculum?

In the course, Richard Gill presented the useful analogy of a balanced diet when it comes to classroom repertoire. The NSW BOSTES syllabuses provide for such a balance in every stage. It is an important foundation for the wide listening approach that students need to have to succeed in the HSC aural skills exam. The ability to appreciate and learn from a variety of music also promotes deeper musical and cultural understanding.

Popular music has a place in the music curriculum, not just to promote engagement with the musical material but because its interest for the listener derives, in part, from the effective employment of musical concepts. However, even using examples from the students’ own musical culture is not a guarantee of successful learning. As Professor Lucy Green observes, teenagers often focus on the words of their favourite songs and it takes a skilled teacher to introduce students to the techniques and terms that will allow them to identify, analyse and employ the musical features of the repertoire.

It’s also important that the use of repertoire from students' own musical culture is authentic. The music should be recognised for its musical merit, not just seen as a sugar coating for the theory pill or a stepping-stone to the study of “real” music. I think this is entirely in keeping with the philosophy outlined by Richard Gill, as well as the approach advocated by Francis Xavier and Adam Maggs in the course videos and the LiveStudio syllabus. Having the students choose their own music, as suggested by Lucy Green, helps in recognising the authenticity of the music.

My final comment is that a balance of established and new material that represents contemporary culture, is also required to save over-burdening teachers. The present system that requires teachers to document, in detail, every curriculum decision and teaching practice is a disincentive to innovation. Managing the “new” by balancing it with the established curriculum and repertoire makes innovation possible.