How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead For Music Education (ashgate Popular And Folk Music Series)

During the last 150 years or so, many societies all over the world have developed complex systems of formal music education based on Western models. Common to most are one or more of the following: educational institutions, from primary schools to conservatories, partly involving or entirely dedicated to the teaching and learning of music; written curricula, syllabuses or explicit teaching traditions; professional teachers, lecturers or "master musicians"; systematic assessment mechanisms such as grade exams, national school exams or university exams; music notation; and a body of literature, including texts on music, pedogical texts, and teaching materials. Alongside or instead of formal music education there are always, in every society, other ways of passing on and acquiring musical skills and knowledge. Within these traditions, young musicians largely teach themselves or "pick up" skills and knowledge by watching and imitating musicians around them and by making reference to recordings or performances and other live events involving their chosen music. This book is based on the outcomes of research from interviews which took place between October 1998 and May 1999 with 14 popular musicians living in and around London, aged from 15 to 50. Informal learning practices and formal educational experiences over the last 40 years of the 20th century were studied. The conditions necessary for informal music learning are discussed, especially in terms of the musical enculturation of children. The characteristics of informal popular music learning and those of formal music education are compared, and the author considers whether the learning practices, attitudes and values of popular musicians, as articulated throughout the book, may or may not reasonably be adapted and included within formal music education in a move to help re-invigorate the musical involvement of the populace at large. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Contents 6 Foreword 10 Acknowledgements 12 1 What is it to be musically educated? 14 Research methods 21 Concluding thoughts 30 2 Skills, knowledge and self-conceptions of popular musicians: the beginnings and the ends 34 The 'beginnings' 35 Professional musicianship: the 'ends' 41 Some self-conceptions of popular musicians 58 3 Learning to play popular music: acquiring skills and knowledge 72 The overriding learning practice: listening and copying 73 Peer-directed learning and group learning 89 Acquiring technique 97 Practice 99 Acquiring knowledge of technicalities 106 Summary 109 4 Attitudes and values in learning to play popular music 112 Discipline and osmosis 112 Enjoyment 117 Valuing musicianship 120 Valuing oneself 130 Attitudes to 'other' music 134 Summary 137 5 Popular musicians in traditional music education 140 Classical instrumental tuition 140 Traditional classroom music education 148 Summary 161 6 Popular musicians in the new music education 164 Popular music instrumental tuition 164 The new classroom music education 168 Popular music in further and higher education 180 The musicians' views of popular music in formal education 185 Summary 188 7 The formal and the informal: mutual reciprocity or a contradiction in terms? 190 The neglect of informal learning practices in formal music education 190 Informal learning practices, attitudes and values: their potential for the formal sphere 198 What can teachers do? 227 Appendix: Summary profiles of the musicians 232 Bibliography 234 Index 246 A 246 B 246 C 246 D 247 E 247 F 247 G 248 H 248 I 248 J 248 K 248 L 249 M 249 N 249 O 249 P 249 R 250 S 250 T 250 U 251 V 251 W 251 Popular musicians acquire some or all of their skills and knowledge informally, outside school or university, and with little help from trained instrumental teachers. How do they go about this process? Despite the fact that popular music has recently entered formal music education, we have as yet a limited understanding of the learning practices adopted by its musicians. Nor do we know why so many popular musicians in the past turned away from music education, or how young popular musicians today are responding to it. Drawing on a series of interviews with musicians aged between fifteen and fifty, Lucy Green explores the nature of pop musicians' informal learning practices, attitudes and values, the extent to which these altered over the last forty years, and the experiences of the musicians in formal music education. Through a comparison of the characteristics of informal pop music learning with those of more formal music education, the book offers insights into how we might re-invigorate the musical involvement of the population. Could the creation of a teaching culture that recognizes and rewards aural imitation, improvisation and experimentation, as well as commitment and passion, encourage more people to make music? Since the hardback publication of this book in 2001, the author has explored many of its themes through practical work in school classrooms. Her follow-up book, Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy (2008) appears in the same Ashgate series. Drawing On A Series Of Interviews With Musicians Aged Between Fifteen And Fifty, Lucy Green Explores The Nature Of Pop Musicians' Informal Learning Practices, Attitudes And Values, The Extent To Which These Altered Over The Last Forty Years, And The Experiences Of The Musicians In Formal Music Education--book Jacket. What Is It To Be Musically Educated? -- Skills, Knowledge And Self-conceptions Of Popular Musicians: The Beginnings And The Ends -- Learning To Play Popular Music: Acquiring Skills And Knowledge -- Attitudes And Values In Learning To Play Popular Music -- Popular Musicians In Traditional Music Education -- Popular Musicians In The New Music Education -- The Formal And The Informal: Mutual Reciprocity Or A Contradiction In Terms? Lucy Green. Includes Bibligraphical References (p. [221]-231) And Index.