The World Well Lost, Found: Reality and Authenticity in Green's "New Classroom Pedagogy"

Abstract

In her recent work, Green (2001; 2008) builds on the idea that there is a gulf between "real-world music" and classroom music (Ibid., p. 2). One of her main goals seems to be to pave the way for the former in the latter: to make the music in schools more in touch with reality. The learning practices of popular music are taken to bring the needed verisimilitude. As most students prefer popular music to other types of music, it is assumed that at least for this majority, its "naturally" arising learning practices appear as more real to students than other, more formal procedures (Ibid., p. 41). It is not surprising that popular music is preferred by many of the students, especially in Green's target group (13-14 year olds). In fact, some of the students interviewed for Green's projects did not even seem to count classical music as "real" music! (Ibid., pp. 154-158) This makes one wonder how music becomes "real" for someone; moreover, it makes one ask, how can a "musical world" be claimed for someone for whom it is "well lost"? In this article, the author aims to raise discussion on the reality and authenticity in Green's "new classroom pedagogy." The author's interpretations of Green's texts are influenced by his background in the pedagogy of popular music and a pragmatist philosophy of music education, which makes his approach hermeneutic to begin with. The author focuses on the role of music based learning practices in music education. The author believes that this discussion is needed, not just for the obvious reason that popular music is becoming commonplace in many music classes around the world and calls for an elaboration of conventional pedagogical practices, but also because this development might have more far-reaching implications. (Contains 39 notes.)