Popular music and public education: Culturally responsive to the past and present alike

Popular music is included to varying degrees in American public school curricula despite the fact that experts in the field have called for its inclusion since the Tanglewood Symposium in 1968 (Choate et. al, 1967). Green (2008) found that some educators might be uncomfortable with popular music programs that feature open-ended learning outcomes in an age where educators are held accountable by national standards of music education. This paper presents a possible method for including popular music in the large ensemble setting in a way that could work within existing music programs and lead to more definite learning outcomes. The proposed method is based on alternative music notation called 1) harmonic reductions and 2) formal outlines. Intended learning out comes include improvisation, arranging and composition, improving aural skills, and peer-to-peer learning in informal settings.