Friday, October 19, 2007
Not Critical Pedagogy
But it's about Music Ed Lab today. I personally think this documentary is pretty awesome. Especially the lady with the fro. But anyway, I've been kind of thinking about what they said about people taking the music out of Pop music and making it pop culture. And it makes me wonder, if we bring up pop music in classrooms, will we be teaching music? How do we relate pop music to other music if pop music isn't actually music. I really have no opinion, I was just wondering if anyone might want to comment on something, you can disagree, agree, call it a stupid question, i don't care. But the let the comments roll
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3 comments:
In "Save the Music," they talked about how popular music was becoming more about the look and the commercials than the music. I think it should be our jobs as music educators to teach popular music in classrooms, such as electronic sound production and digital recording and all the ingrediants of popular music. I think we should do this so that in future generations, popular music can go back to being about the music thanks to the skills we will hopefully be able to provide students before they're snatched up by record companies just for their looks.
On a side note, I think they should do away with most computer correction programs, because while you can add right pitches, you can't add a soul. If someone for example, the model they used in the film, just can't find a pitch, then either that music style is not for her, or the music industry just isn't where she belongs. Now I say MOST because, if a naturally/hardworking talented musician flubs a note during a long recording session, I think it's acceptable to just "fix it."
Maybe we can watch more in CP if there's time? *nudge nudge*
We will watch the rest of "Before the Music Dies" in Music Ed Lab at some point this semester. I agree, the advances made in digital technology raise a bunch of musical/ethical questions. There are times when I am amazed at what new technology affords musicians, and other times when it's actually kind of scary. I can say that I've spent a great deal of time as a saxophonist practicing so that my intonation is good. But I have also played on some rather expensive recording sessions where, after listening back closely, that my pitch was just slightly off on a note or two. And yes, the recording engineer ended up fixing the notes digitally. Should I have practiced harder so that my intonation was better? Maybe. Should the engineer have left the notes alone? Maybe. Knowing that there would not be a chance for me to go back and fix it, am I glad he fixed it for me? Yes.
I think that teaching popular music in the classroom is not a bad thing. It is something that the kids can relate to, and we do always want to "connect to their world". And because it is something they can relate to, when you find things to teach them from it they will be more likely to understand and retain it, ir WANT to anyway. I think the key is to draw the line. You can teach the music, just don't teach the lifestyle and the "look". "Music" education is about the music after all.
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