Transformative Approach for Popular Music Education from the Perspective of Global Citizenship Education

This study reconsiders and reflects on the issues surrounding contemporary education such as anti-bias education, transformative education from the perspective of global citizenship, and education in the context of Korean popular music learning. The scope of popular music education not only comprises physical sonic elements but also includes complex socio-cultural phenomenon such as modernity and colonialism. However, a tendency to adopt a western art music-centric curriculum based on enlightenment notions persists in Korean popular music education. These factors are becoming a serious obstacle to approach contemporary virtues of music education. This study examines the asymmetric curriculum of the class based on the question of “how popular music in Korea is being reflected and how the meaning of authenticity is being defined.” To this end, this study includes comparative explanations on the reconstructed popular music curricula from different countries and seeks to understand the ethno-semantic aspects of the Korean classroom context. The different meanings of reflection upon a critical perspective are emphasized to approach the core competencies of contemporary popular music education such as global citizenship, critical, anti-bias, and transformative competency.