Creating spaces for songwriters, collaborators and musicians in higher education
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Conservatory schools of music have long favored musicians with specific performance backgrounds in the Western-European art traditions. Historically, they have acted curatorially with a conservationist approach to music teaching and learning. This approach enables a good life for a small and privileged few, but not for many others. A vast population of undergraduate students outside the conservatory exhibit creativity using a range of instruments and musical genres/styles, including electronic, rap, hip-hop and rock music. In an effort to provide opportunities for students outside the conservatory to create and perform music with others, an undergraduate college course called Being Musical & Being Human: Musicianship Through Music Making Processes was created. The newly formed course centralized student experiences around: (1) creativity, (2) student-led and leaner-centered ideologies, (3) autonomy, (4) vernacular musicianship, (5) peer-based collaborations, and (6) a lifelong appreciation of music. This session intentionally contextualizes the course by providing an overview of student population, their creative processes, offers samples of student performances, exposes student perceptions related to the class, and will compare and contrast the challenges of vernacular music making for students in higher education. The presenters of this session will engage participants in a discussion about implications for the profession and the responsibility conservatory schools of music have in breaking down barriers of access to music making in formal institutions.
