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8/18/2019 Review_How_Popular_Musicians_Learn_A_Way.pdf
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ritish Forum for Ethnomusicology
How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education by Lucy GreenReview by: Vic GammonBritish Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 11, No. 1, Red Ritual: Ritual Music and Communism(2002), pp. 159-163Published by: British Forum for EthnomusicologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4149890 .
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8/18/2019 Review_How_Popular_Musicians_Learn_A_Way.pdf
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e v i e w s
Books
LUCY
GREEN,
How
popular
musicians
learn:
a
way
ahead
for
music
educa-
tion.
Aldershot:
Ashgate
Publishing,
2001.
xii +
238pp.,
index. ISBN 0-
7546-0338-5
(hb. ?42.50)
Lucy
Green
has written an
interesting
and
original
book.
It is
about the
attitudes,
values and
practices
of
popular
musicians.
It is also
about
learning
and
teaching styles
and about whether
a
fruitful interaction
can
take
place
between
formal
methods of
teaching
and
informal
modes
of
learning.
It is
descriptive,
analytic
and
prescriptive,
wanting
to
suggest
"a
way
ahead for music
education".
Green
is a
classically
trained
musician,
a
teacher,
piano
teacher and academic.
In recent
years
she
has run the
highly
esteemed
and successful MA in Music
Education
at the Institute of Education
in
London.
(Why
she did
not
get
the recent
professorship
at the InstituteI have no
idea,
but the
strange
and
unfathomable
ways
of
universities
should not
continue
to amaze
me).
She
is a
productive
writer.
Her first
book, Music on deaf ears, is in my view a
profound
and
fascinating
work,
although
many
deemed
it too
theoreticalfor
the audi-
ence
of teachers and educators who could
most benefit from
it.
Her second
book,
Gender
and music
education,
is the most
significant
work on the
subject yet produced
in this
country.
She
has
always
shown a
talent
for
qualitative, empirical
research,
and How
popular
musicians
learn could
well
prove
to be her
most accessible
book to
date. She
brings
to her
empirical
work wide
reading, developed understanding
and a
formidable
power
to
draw on
a wide
range
of materials.
Her
work is informed
by
some
ethnomusicology
and she
speaks
to some
central
concerns of
the
discipline.
I have
recently
heard Music
in
Higher
Education
described
as a "Cinderella
sub-
ject", andMusic Education as a "Cinderella
subject
of a Cinderella
subject".
I have seen
colleagues'
eyes glaze
over when
I have
tried to interestthem in
problems
created
by
the Music National
Curriculum.
Yet
surely
the
way
in which
any
society
tries to intro-
duce
and
develop
music
among
its
young
people
ought
to be
of
interest to a wider
musical
community.
The
questions
that
Green
asks are
important
and
profound.
Her basic material for the
study
is a
set
of interviews with fourteen
musicians
ranging
in
age
from
50
to
15,
all
performers
of
"Anglo-American
guitar-based
pop
and
rock music". The interview
material is
lively
and informative and it
is
obvious
that
those interviewedhave
respondedpositively
and
given
rich
responses.
In a
pleasing
touch the book is
dedicated
to them.
I
come
to this
book
having spent
most
of
the
last ten
years
involved
in
trying
to
help
music graduatespreparethemselves to be
successful
classroom
practitioners
in
pri-
mary
and
secondary
schools.
Thus the
ques-
tion title
of
Green's first
chapter
"What s it
to be
musically
educated?" s a
crucial one.
The
reality
is
that our
society
and
its
higher
education institutions have no consensus
on
this
question.
Graduateswho
present
them-
selves
for PGCE
courses
have a wide
range
of
skills,
knowledge
and
understanding
but
few
present
anything
like an
adequate
breadth
to
cope
well
with the
challenges
of
BRITISH
JOURNAL
OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
VOL.
11/i
2002
pp.
159-80
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BRITISH JOURNAL OF
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VOL.1 1/i 2002
British
secondary
school music classrooms.
We wait with
interest to see whether the
advent of
"benchmarking"
n
higher
educa-
tion will do much to
change
this situation.
From
the
cynical
words of some HE
music
teachers
(not
in
my
own institution I hasten
to
add),
I
doubt that it will have much effect
other than
the
commissioning
of
paper
(or
rather
electronic)
exercises
to
"prove"
that
the benchmarksare
being
addressed. Green
believes that musical success in music
edu-
cation should not be
measured in terms of
the achievement of
a
professional
musical
life as an outcome but in
wider,
lifelong
benefits
(17).
Green accepts Everitt's rather gloomy
finding
that
in
contemporary
Britain
only
about
one
per
cent of the adult
population
is an amateur
music-maker
(Everitt, 1997).
I
am a little
suspicious
of this
finding, par-
ticularly
when the notion of
"participatory"
seems to
imply
some sort of
public partici-
pation
or exhibition.
Comparisons
with the
past
are
extremely
difficult,
and much of the
music-making
Green cites from the
past
was of a domestic nature.
My
own work on
church bands is cited - these were fascinat-
ing
institutions,
but
a churchband of instru-
mentalists and
singers may
well
have
constituted
one
per
cent or less of the
pop-
ulation of
an
English parish.
Some
writers,
often
basing
their
arguments
on
instrument
sales,
have estimated that there has
been
more musical
activity
in
recent decades
than ever in
the
past, although
buying
an
instrument is not
playing
it
and does not
necessarily
imply "participation".
Formal
amateurmusical institutions such as choral
societies and brass bands
tend to
report
a
long-term
decline,
which would tend
to
support
Everitt's and
Green's views.
The
point
where I would
totally
agree
with Green is that the
great
increase in
formal music education
has not resulted in
a
concomitant increase in
publicly
visible
amateur
music-making.
There
is
an element
of fashion
here,
and the characteristic
musi-
cal activities of
nineteenth-century
urban
society
may
not be the most
appropriate
or
a
post-modern society.
I
live in
Hudders-
field,
reputedly
one of the most
musical
towns in
England:
the
music-making
is
there,
yet
one has
to seek it out. I
interpret
Ruth
Finnegan's
work
in a more
positive
way
than Green is
able to.
Where
I
find
myself
even more enthusi-
astically
in
agreement
with Green is the
sense that
something
is
wrong
with
formal
music education -
something
is
missing.
She
explores
what
this
might
be
through
an
analytical
contrast between
formal music
education and "informal
music
learning
practices".
She believes that formal
music
education can be
improved
by
the
incorpo-
ration of some elements from "informal
learning practices".
Again, my
own
past experience
as a
teacher trainer would
support
this
view.
There were
always exceptions,
but some of
best trainee
teachers
I
have worked
with,
those
who demonstrated a
larger
number
of the
practical
skills
needed to
succeed
in
the
classroom,
came out of
undergraduate
courses on
jazz
and
popular
music. Some-
times
they
lacked
knowledge
of
the Western
art music tradition,but in terms of practical
work with
kids
they
often had the
edge.
Early
in the
secondary
PGCE course I
ran an
improvisation
session in
order to
explore
the
ways
in
which
improvisation
could be
taught
to 11-14
year
olds
(these
skills
featuring
in the
requirements
of the
National
Curriculum).
My
idea
behind the
session was not to
frightenpeople, though
t
terrified
some.
I
thought
it such a
pity
that
people
who had
spent
thousands of hours
developing their instrumental skills could
not
make a coherent musical
articulation
without written music in
front of them.
Such
a
thing
would be
unthinkable to
trained
actors,
and
artists would
only
need
a
stimulus and a
sketchpad
to start to create
something.
It should not be
surprising
hat
some of the most
creativeBritishrock musi-
cians
were educated at art
colleges.
It is not that
Green is
arguing
that all is
perfect
in the
learning
of
popular
musicians.
Some of this is
quite
haphazard,
and no
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BRITISH
JOURNAL OF
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2002 161
doubt much
time
and effort is wasted
in
blind
alleys.
Some
learners
fall
by
the
way-
side,
among
them
those who could
have
been
encouraged
to
continue with a
timely
intervention
by
someone
who could under-
stand the
problem
they
were
experiencing.
On the other
hand,
the
attritionrate
in
terms
of
formal
instrumental lessons is
high;
many
pupils
do
not
respond
to them
posi-
tively
and
give
up (including, interestingly,
some of the
interviewees
who
went on to
become
successful
popular
musicians).
Similarly,
in
spite
of the
changes
that have
been made in
the
school music curriculum
which have
tried to make the
subject
"music
for all", GCSE Music only attractsa small
percentage
of
the numbers who take
GCSE
Art and
Design
courses.
I
think
Green
might
be a little
over-generous
in
her estimate
of
the
wide-ranging
nature of the
GCSE
(introduced
in
1988).
It
certainly
did free
composing
and
performing
from
stylistic
constraints
where
teachers
et this
happen),
but
in
the
listening
section of the
papers
the
position
of
western
classical music
is still
dominant,
with
popular
and world
music
styles seemingly a token presence. The
reluctance of
successful GCSE students
interested
in
popular
music to take
up
A
Level is
to be
expected
as this
emphasis
on the
western classical tradition ncreases
at
A
Level
(166).
Green,
however,
notices a
significant
change
in
the
way
school music was
expe-
rienced
by
her older and
younger
inform-
ants.
Those
who
experienced
what she
describes
as "traditional
music education"
gainedlittle from it andgenerallyfelt alien-
ated
during
class lessons. The
popular
music
skills these
pupils acquired
were not
recognized
and
encouraged by
teachers.
In
contrast,
the
younger
interviewees'
responses
to
"the new music education"
were far
more
appreciative
as
post-National
Curriculum eachers
developed
more inclu-
sive
attitudes and
practices
to the
range
of
music
supported
and
encouraged by
the
school.
While
casting
no doubt on these
findings
at
all,
the small size of Green's
group
of
interviewees
might
mean
that the
full
range
of
students'
experiences
is not
reflected. In a recent
survey
that I
myself
carried
out,
of 50
first-year
music
undergrad-
uates
(popular
and
"unpopular"
tudents
-
the words fail
us ).
I found a
complete
range
of
assessment
of the value of their
school
experiences
to their musical
development.
There still
seem to be
plenty
of
schools
where
pupils
are not
getting
a
positive
experience
of
Music
in
spite
of the
National
Curriculum,
OFSTED and
the
Qualifica-
tions and Curriculum
Authority.
One of
the
really fascinating
findings
of
the book is that when those
who
have
mainly acquiredtheir skills throughinfor-
mal
learning
become teachers
themselves,
the
positive aspects
of their own
informal
learning
are not reflected
in
their
teaching.
In
short,
they
tend to teach
popular
music
skills
in a
very
traditional
instrumental
teacher
way.
As
Green
notes,
"It
s
one
thing
to
experience
a
way
of
leaming
and another
thing
to
recognise
its
feasibility
as
a teach-
ing
method ... it is reasonable
to
hypothe-
sise that
formal
popular
music
instrumental
tuition methods have muchin common with
formal
classical instrumental
tuition and
relatively
little in
common
with informal
music
learning
practices"
(178).
Green is clear what
the benefits of
informal
learning
are,
and
these include
the
enjoyment
the
popular
musicians
derive
from their
practice
and
learning.
A
key
find-
ing
in
Green's book is
that,
because
they
enjoyed
and valued what
they play,
the
motivation of
popular
music
learners
is
high. They like the music they play so they
persevere
with it.
Interestingly, hey
demon-
strate a
tendency
to consider
that
they
had
not
learnt
anything
unless it
had been
taught
to them
formally
-
a
sad
reflection on
contemporary
attitudes and
values.
A
central
learning
practice
of
the
popu-
lar musicians studied is
attentive
learning
and close
copying
of
recordings.
This
goes
along
with a
disposition
to
make the written
always secondary
to
the aural
(a
great
deal
of
commercially published popular
music is
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BRITISH JOURNAL
OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL. 11/i
2002
inaccurate
anyway
-
so
it is
good
that the
musicians can use their aural
skills
well)
(96).
A
great
deal
of
popular
music learn-
ing
is
"by
feel,
ear,
trial and error"
92).
In
addition,peer learning goes
on
though
the
copying
and
exchanging
of ideas and tech-
niques
(97).
Learning
practices
are akin to
the
ways young
children
pick up language
(100),
which
begins
with a
jumble
of rela-
tively
unconscious
processes
out
of which
greater
levels of conscious
systematization
develop
(103).
Earlier
n
the book Green comes
up
with
the rather
startling hypothesis, yet
to be
fully
tested,
that
"Young
musicians
who
acquire their skills and knowledge more
through
informal
learning practices
than
through
formal music education
may
be
more
likely
to
continue
playing
music,
alone
or with
others,
for
enjoyment
in
later
life"
(56).
If
this is
true,
and
my
own
research and observations
suggest
that
it
might
well
be,
it is a considerable
indict-
ment of formal music education.
If
the main
achievement of
any
form
of education is to
show
people
that
ultimatelythey
are failures
and to so demotivate
them that
they
do not
wish to continue with that
activity,
that
hardly
rates
as a
significant
educational
achievement.
Formal music education
"neglects"
hese
informal
learning practices,
Green
argues,
and is
impoverished
as a result.
Formal
music education cannot
attempt
an exact
emulation
of informal music
learning prac-
tices but
it
can
incorporate
ome of the valu-
able practicesinto its repertoryof methods
(184).
Of
these,
crucial would be
listening,
watching
and
copying, including "solitary,
close attention to
recordings
of music
they
like and
identify
with"
(185, 189).
Defying
the aural nature of
music,
it
is
common with some teachers
in classical
instrumental uition for students o
work at a
piece
that
they
have
never heard
performed.
(I
would
go
further
han
Green
and
say
that
I
have known teachers
who felt that to listen
to a
piece
that was
being
studied was a
type
of
cheating
-
the test of the student should
be whether
they
could
get
the music "off the
page".)
Green would have instrumental
teachers
incorporate
listening
as
part
of
their
preparation
nd
practice
routines
188)
and have
pupils
learn
by listening
and
closely copying recordings
-
ironically
a
replication
of "a
highly
traditionaland
for-
mal
pedagogic
method in that it involves
obedience to the
authority
of a master"
(189).
I
totally agree
with this: I have
long
felt that
aural
copying
is a
great
stimulant
to the
development
of
musicianship
and
so much more
rewarding
than
arid
aural
exercises.
The otherimportantarea that instrumen-
tal
pedagogy
could
incorporate
would be
stimulating "interacting
with their friends
and
peers".
In
classroom
teaching
I
have
long
felt that too often far too much
time is
taken
up
with
explanation
and
instruction
and
not
enough
with
actually
playing.
Dex-
terity
and
facility
come
throughpractice
and
use,
and thus lessons
I
have observed
where
most of the time is
spent performing
and
interacting musically
(as
in
a West
African
percussion
ensemble)
have,
I
would
say,
resulted
in the best
learning experiences
for
pupils.
Western instrumental eachers
have
long
been wedded to the idea of the solo
instrumental esson
and have
only
tendedto
move
away
from it with reluctance under
the
pressure
of economic
necessity.
As a
number of educationalists have
argued
and
as is the
practice
n
other
countries,
t is
per-
haps
time to see the
positive advantages
of
groupinstrumental eaching.
I
am loath to
suggest
an
area that
the
book does not tackle and
which
it was
not
Green's intention to
tackle,
so
this
para-
graph
is more
of a
thought sparkedby
her
book than a criticism.
Certain
social forces
in
recent
years (including
both Conservative
and New Labour
politicians)
have made
social class a sort of taboo
subject.
Issues of
social class
impinge strongly
on this area
and
yet
tend not to
get
discussed. The
matter is
quite simple.
The admission to
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university
courses of music is often
condi-
tional on
the
achievement of
a
high grade
in
an
ABRSM
instrumentalexamination.
This
in turn
almost
always
depends
on
long-term
parental
moral and
financial
support
n
buy-
ing
instrumentsand
paying
for
instrumental
lessons
(whether
private
or
school-based)
and
supporting
and
encouraging practice.
This
therefore
depends
on
having
sufficient
financial
resources and
the
disposition
to
see
this as a
good
thing
to
spend
money
on.
This
inevitably
leads to
a
filtering-out
process
that
excludes
people
from
family
backgrounds
that
are unable
or
not cultur-
ally
disposed
to
give
the
necessary support
to musical children. Let us hope that the
development
of
popular
music
courses,
more
flexible
entry
requirements
and dif-
ferent
methods of
assessing potential
and
ability
will
do
something
to address the
accessibility
of
university
music
study.
Some of the
interviewees were
rejected
when
they
tried
to enter
university.
I
would
have loved
to know
more about
the
social
and
cultural
backgrounds
of the musicians
Green
interviewed.
There is much
that is
rich,
challenging
and
thought-provoking
in
this
book. It
is
challenging
to
many
established
ideas
and
practices.
It is also
optimistic
and humane.
It will
be
interesting
to see the
reactions
to
the book and
its
proposals.
I
seriously
expect
it to be
rubbishedor
ignored
in
some
quarters
as it is
simply
too
challenging
to
existing
paradigms.
But
Green,
in her
care-
ful
empirical
work,
has
grounded
her
study
well and her ideas and findings need to be
considered
seriously.
Reference
Everitt,
Anthony
1997)
Joining
n: an investi-
gation
into
participatory
music. London:
Calouste
Gulbenkian
Foundation.
VIC GAMMON
School
of
Music,
University of
Leeds
v.a.f
gammon
@
eeds.ac. uk
Y.
KOJAMAN,
The
maqam
music
tradi-
tion
of
Iraq.
London:
Y. Kojaman
2001.
258pp.,
illustrations,
musical
exx.,
tables, compact discs. ISBN 0-
9539752-1-5.
When
Rodolphe
D'Erlanger
wrote
his
monumental
study
of the melodic
modes,
rhythms
and
forms of
modem
Arab
music,
he classified
his data
according
to
two
main "branches"
r traditions: he
"hispano-
arabe",
represented by
Morocco,
Algeria
and
Tunisia,
and the
"orientale",
repre-
sented
by Egypt,
Syria
and,
implicitly,
the
rest of the Arab world (D'Erlanger 1949:
334ff;
1959:141ff).
D'Erlanger's
work was
originally pre-
sented
to the first international
congress
of
Arab
music,
held in
Cairo in
1932. At this
landmark
event,
an
unprecedented
gather-
ing
of
ensembles
from
Morocco,
Tunisia,
Algeria, Syria,
Lebanon,
Egypt
and
Iraq
performed
to
leading
musicians
and
schol-
ars from
Europe, Turkey
and
various
Arab
countries. As
ChristianPoche has
observed,
"musicians
coming
from far
afield ...
who
were
thought
to
practise
the same
art,
far from
revealing
themselves as
homoge-
neous,
literally
astounded
observers with
their
degree
of
diversity"
Poche
1987:100).
The
Iraqi
urban
radition,
l-maqdm
al-iraqi,
was
represented by
the
celebrated
singer
from
Baghdad,
Muhammad
al-Qubbanchi,
accompanied by
the
traditional
ensemble
known as
al-chalgi
al-baghdadi.
Their
performances revealed a unique melodic
repertory,
distinct
in its
formal
procedures,
performance
practice
and
terminology
from
the
neighbouring
"oriental"
traditions of
Egypt
and
Syria.
Since
1932,
numerous
historical and
theoretical
studies
on the
Iraqimaqdm
have
appeared
n
Arabic,
and
several notated
ver-
sions of the
repertory
have
been
published.
Yet,
with the
exception
of the
important
contributions of Scheherazade
Qassim
Hassan,
the
European-language
literature
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