een overlaid with recently consolidated processes of modern mass-marketing and consumption. Having provided some background to the climate surrounding musical education, where does this leave the student and what type of scholar may you find considering Popular Music? My belief is that the reasons for studying this topic are diverse, complex and most of all compelling but some possible reasons are as follows: Musicologists People who wish to study how music is formed through elitist, textual or personal motivators, which may lead to conflicts, which can in turn stimulate modernistic ideas. i.e. apart from Opera classical music is almost exclusively instrumental or melody based, while a great deal of Popular Music is rhythm or narrative driven. I went around the room, and asked each student why he or she was taking the course. One student made a provocative comment -- that pop music was attractive for its rhythm, and that classical music also had strong rhythm, but that people were discouraged from expressing it. Music Industry Students who see the rewards and career prospects offered by a major industry who wish to take up vocational careers in the music business such as musicians, managers, technicians, journalists or varied support roles. Managers, particularly good managers, groom and train their bands or solo artists in a structured and purposeful way. Record companies (such as the classic case of Motown in the 1960s) often take this a stage further by employing specialised trainers for the skills and personal attributes relevant to particular genres of musical entertainment. Cultural or Social Studies Pupils who wish to study the impact of Popular Music on modern culture or society using issues such as history, economics, social awareness, politics, ideology, psychology, aesthetics or globalisation. French theories, such as semiotics and post-structuralism, have inspired a greater interest in explicit or recorded culture. Thes...
