The Problem With Teaching Popular Music…And Its Solution
- SoundTree
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Irwin Kornfeld Publisher of In Tune Monthly
I left my post as a Billboard associate publisher 25 years ago and created the reading resource In Tune Monthly shortly thereafter. These were the days of Napster and the beginning of the great digital disintermediation - the sea change that would upend the music business as we knew it, and when the next stylistic shift in music rolled into town (see: “boy bands” and “hip hop”). The mighty music moguls were shaken, and for good reason, as it turns out. I, however, saw a more insidious villain. Music education was being labeled as non-essential, and funding for programs was being cut from coast to coast. I saw it as a disease and sought to produce an antidote.
My core belief was that there was a way to include the use of popular music in the middle and high school music curriculum and doing so could hedge against student attrition, which at the time was broadly accepted as a fait accompli. It was said that as students matriculate, their busier schedules, at the hands of commitments to sports, SAT prep, (or the perceived limitations of talent) were natural and unavoidable causes as to why students elected to end their scholastic music education. Personally, I’d always thought it was the repertoire.
I then thought, what if all of the kids playing music in garage bands could take music in school? What if their nascent songwriting interests were fostered? Wouldn’t their added number require more music educators to be hired? Wouldn’t it at least force more funding for music programs? So I charged into the fray, signing up with others on a mission to change music education, and quickly learned that the only one who likes change is a wet baby….(sorry).
Decades before, I played guitar, accordion, and a (borrowed) Farfisa Combo Compact organ in bands that sprang up in the wake of the British Invasion, and there was no place in my school’s music program for me – except in the pit band. When they needed an accordion for the senior play, I got the call. It was glorious to be a part of that orchestra, at least for a few months. But it made me aware of the chasm between the music and instruments I wanted to play, and what my school wanted to teach. At the turn of the 21st century, I found that the chasm was still there.
Having immersed myself in the commercial music industry during my Billboard years, I came to believe that the future of the music business, and the future of music education were intertwined and that both could benefit from a more diverse music education curriculum. If that were to happen, school music programs might attract and produce more, and more creative, young musicians. At the same time, I realized that there were, and still are, a variety of challenges to accomplishing that growth. I deduced that beyond schools acquiring different instruments, and their teachers learning to use music technology to teach things like music creation, there were societal and institutional barriers between the kinds of music young listeners want to play and listen to, and the kinds of popular music that would be appropriate for classroom use. Nevertheless, I believed, and still believe that by embracing a few key principles, classroom materials could be created that could help to overcome the root challenge to teaching a broad spectrum of popular music in the classroom. The classical, jazz and marching music being taught was largely instrumental. The repertoire I thought would save the day constituted a minefield of inappropriate lyrics. How then to step ahead? Veeerrry carefully. But it could be done by applying a unique rigor to the selection of popular music with which to teach. What we came up with was a set of standards.
The guiding principles we’ve been using in the creation of In Tune Monthly are:
All music is good. From the drone of bagpipes, the squeal of guitar effects, the atonal cacophony of whatever genre, musical “quality” is a matter of personal taste.
Popular music played, studied and discussed in the classroom should be chosen to illustrate specific musical concepts.
Examples of technique, social commentary and the expression of emotion can be found that don’t include hate or hurtful speech. Lyrics about violence, bigotry, drug or alcohol use, or denigration of any kind, automatically disqualify a song. We don’t owe it to music students to be comprehensive in our selection of music examples. Whether an artist is at the top of the charts or their songs have won Grammys doesn’t matter.
Likewise, artists who run afoul of the law, indulge in immoral behavior, are pictured on album covers in compromising dress (or no dress) or other similar situations, are out.
Without getting into health issues, songs with lyrics about sex are unnecessary, but lyrics about love are fine. The distinction is fairly easy to make.
It also doesn’t matter whether students are listening to songs on the bus, singing them to one another, or if their parents are fans of music with lyrics we deem inappropriate for classroom use. If songs or artists don’t conform to our principles, they won’t be mentioned in In Tune. That goes for contemporary or classic music by new artists or icons. We use music examples to teach musical ideas, and songs that are appropriate for that purpose, without explicit lyrics, can always be found.
Adhering to these standards has allowed us to publish media about popular music for scholastic use for 23 school years. We continue to provide classroom materials that can be taught with confidence, that are authentic, that have engaged generations of teens and been of value for programs that seek to broaden their offerings by adding to their classical, jazz and marching repertoire. The seven education institutions that distribute In Tune to their member teachers and their students (without cost) know this to be true, and I couldn’t be prouder of our run.
Following his years in senior management positions with Billboard Magazine, Forbes, Business Week and others, Irwin Kornfeld founded In Tune Partners in 2003 and currently serves as its CEO. In Tune Partners publishes music education magazines In Tune Monthly, Music Alive! and Drum Corps International. In Tune also represents Lucid Technology’s hearing health company Etymotic Research for the education community.
Mr. Kornfeld also founded and runs Westchester Media, Inc. which has been a third-party producer of concerts and other live events and has worked in support of ASCAP’s “I Create Music” EXPO,” the CD Baby DIY Musicians Conferences, The TAXI Road Rally and most recently MusicPro ’26, coming to Hollywood in March. In Tune Partners Westchester Media
Etymotic Education
P.O. Box 166
Thornwood NY 10594
musicpro26.com 914-557-1053
914-358-1200
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