Popular Music, Youth and Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Popular Music, Youth and Education - Essay Example Music plays a big role in the youth today. Some youth use music as a form of identity, while others use it to relax and ‘get away.’ To understand the role of popular music in the lives of young people in the framework of education, we have to look at popular music from a social and cultural aspect, how popular music is embedded into taste and identity of young people and dissect the way popular music is perceived by the education system. Green’s Music on Deaf Ears: Musical Meaning, Ideology and Education explains the status that popular music plays on a social standpoint. Green explains that the set-up of music in classrooms came about because of the roles and eventual division social classes in society. Because the only way to measure skills and set classifications for music was based on the performances of the students, the students who received the most education had enough money for private lessons (Green 51). Therefore, on a social level, it was the higher-cl ass students whose parents set the standard for what music was going to be like in the school system. There was a study done on how social class affected students’ interest in music. ... cal training and thought they had a better understanding of the need, awareness and wisdom that this music brought to an educational setting (Green, 51). The willingness to learn and the likelihood that the students in the higher classes listened to this type of music out of POPULAR MUSIC, YOUTH AND EDUCATION 4 the classroom were higher than students who did not receive this opportunity (Green, 52). The liking of classical music in the upper division and the fact that students who were fond of popular music over classical music not being represented in this study shows the role that music played in society and the relevance in education (Green, 45, 48). According to De Nora’s Music in Everyday Life T.W. Adorno was the biggest advocate of the ‘production of culture,’ an emerging trend that took place in American culture in the 70’s and 80’s (De Nora, 1). Adorno offers a strong insight to this trend and how popular music has embedded itself in culture. In addition to being influential in molding society, Adorno believes that culture plays a part in representing what the society was going through at that particular time in history (De Nora, 2). Other advocates argue that culture dictates how social groups act and behave. For example, in Profane Culture, Paul Willis makes the connection between culture and the labeling of each member of a social group. He says that it is the interaction with culture that gives the overall meaning to the group (De Nora, 6). The constant use of this culture is what makes up social verve. The influence that popular music has in affecting society and culture can be proof that if incorporated into the education system, it can be valuable. Ed Dorn, poet, describes the communal aspect of music as â€Å"that great Zero/Resting eternally