Work Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
4-2016
Department
Professional Music; Songwriting
Abstract
This chapter discusses popular music curricula by talking about classical conservatoires in order to demonstrate that the latter were called into existence with an employability agenda – to provide people who could fulfil society's musical needs. Popular music's aural product manifests itself in one of two ways – as a sound recording, or as a performance. Music industry administrative systems reward the songwriter separately from the performer, and copyright protects the song as a composition differently from the sound recording of the song, privileging melody above all other creative content. This pre-digital-age definition of the songwriting act is problematic for some contemporary popular music, given the other Track Imperatives, and considering that most popular music is at least partly created using a computer. The idea that the student learning experience should engender transferable skills and self-development is established in institutional cultures, specified in national curricular frameworks and much discussed in pedagogical research.
Recommended Citation
Bennett, Joe. “Towards a Framework for Creativity in Popular Music Degrees.” In The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education (1st ed.), edited by Gareth Smith, Zack Moir, Matt Moir, Matt Brennan, Shara Rambarran, and Phil Kirkman, 285-297. London: Routledge, 2016.
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge/CRC Press in The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Education in April 2016, available online: http://www.routledge.com/9781315613444 or http://www.crcpress.com/9781315613444.