Popular Music and the Public School Music Curriculum

Tanglewood, at which there was a push for increased efforts to relate music education to contemporary adult society. A primary objec-tive of the symposium was to help all students gain the broad skills and knowledge necessary to function effectively as adults and to con-tribute to society (MENC, 1994). Those in attendance believed that there was a growing disconnect between adult music experiences and those of public school music programs. Attendees at the symposium wanted to find ways to close the gap between school music experiences and the experiences students had with music outside of school. Music educators at Tanglewood agreed that “music of all periods, styles, forms, and cultures belongs in the curriculum. The musi-cal repertory should be expanded to involve music of our time in its rich variety, including currently popular teenage music and avant-garde music, American folk music, and the music of other cultures ” (Choate, 1968, p. 139).