Counterpoint or Remix? A Dialogue on Popular Music and Popular Culture
in the Music Teacher Education Curriculum
Janet Barrett & Evan Tobias
Northwestern University
Position Paper Given at the:
2007 Symposium On Music Teacher Education
Collaborative Action for Change
September 13-15, 2007
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Abstract:
“Music education has professed the importance of including popular music in the curriculum for decades. Well-articulated rationales for popular music in the curriculum provide compelling arguments for its relevance to students’ lives and its eclectic representation of diverse musical practices. In this presentation, we will adopt a dialogic approach to problematize the disparity between generalized support for popular music and its scarcity in music teacher education. As a music teacher educator of several decades who feels admittedly distanced from popular music, and as a doctoral student who has worked closely with middle school students to understand how deeply they are engaged in popular music, we will explore the tensions, biases, and conflicting values that perpetuate this gap. The dialogue will address the institutional, programmatic, and ideological impediments that need to be confronted in order to prepare teachers for teaching popular musics in informed and relevant ways, and the challenges of shifting from a discourse of popular music as a product to one that addresses the ways that students engage in popular music. We aim to move beyond the rhetoric concerned with the place of popular music in the curriculum toward a discourse and praxis of popular culture.”
See related publication:
Tobias, E., & Barrett, J. (2010). Counterpoint or remix? A dialogue on popular music and popular culture in music teacher education. In M. Schmidt (Ed.), Collaborative action for change: Selected proceedings from the 2007 symposium on music teacher education. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Websites with information related to topics mentioned in the presentation
Musical Futures (Based on research of Lucy Green)
Information on the Sept. 25th House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection hearing on media and stereotypes degrading women and additional resources discussing these issues.
"Beyond Beats & Rhymes" Documentary by Byron Hurt regarding misogyny, homophobia and masculinity in hip hop. This documentary aired on PBS and is now available on DVD.
Organizations:
IASPM: The International Association for the Study of Popular Music
IASPM US 2008 Conference Call For Papers (The call for papers is very helpful in envisioning ways to shift our thinking about how to integrate popular music/culture in our classrooms)
IASPM US Pedagogy Special Interest Group
2008 Pop Conference at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum Hall of Fame Call For Papers– the conference theme is: Shake, Rattle: Music, Conflict, and Change (Another set of interesting questions that can shift our thinking about issues in popular music/culture)
Journals focusing on popular music studies
Blogs & Websites helpful in staying informed of popular music/culture (A very short list!)
Wayne & Wax – Wayne Marshall on popular music from an ethnomusicological perspective
Can't Stop Won't Stop – Jeff Chang on Hip-Hop
HipHopmusic.com – Jay Smooth on Hip-Hop
Davey D's Hip Hop Corner – Collected news and viewpoints on what's happening in the Hip Hop world
Crazed By The Music – Pop Music information & commentary
Billboard.com – Pop Music News and Billboard charts
Pitchfork Media – Pop Music News & Reviews
A larger selection can be found throughout the blogroll to the right
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