Abstract
The purpose of the chapter is to draw the reader’s attention to the perceived-as-perilous state of music education in the United Kingdom, to share findings from the 2019–2021 Musical Futures/Ableton project known as ‘Tech Champions’, and to propose that, if music education is not only to survive in the United Kingdom’s state sector but also to thrive, it will be necessary to engage with the contemporary popular forms that do not involve music-making of a traditional type. In the first part, the chapter demonstrates that music became more popular, as an ‘option’, when GCSE replaced the ‘O-level’ qualifications in 1988. With the introduction of the GCSE in Music, the curriculum coverage was expanded to ‘rock and pop’ repertoire and instrumentation, and uptake of Music as learning option has been shown to have improved thereafter. However, non-traditional music-making (DJ decks, rapping, launchpads, and so forth) and non-traditional musics (hip hop, grime, house, EDM, and so forth) continue to receive limited coverage in UK classrooms. The chapter therefore focuses on the Musical Futures/Ableton-instigated ‘Tech Champions’ project of 2019–2021, which represented a clear effort to redress this set of problems. The most important thing a music teacher can do, the chapter concludes, is to place the interests of the learner at the heart of the educational process and to diversify the music education offer: if and when this is done, the field of music education can only benefit.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Music for Inclusion and Healing in Schools and Beyond |
| Subtitle of host publication | Hip Hop, Techno, Grime, and More |
| Editors | Pete Dale, Pamela Burnard, Raphael Travis |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Chapter | 4 |
| Pages | 70-86 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-19-769268-4 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2023 |