The effects of the study of popular music on music education

In this article we propose that the introduction of popular music into Australian music syllabuses during the 1970s caused a disruption in and subsequent rethinking of music education. This was the result of the realisation among music educators that methods of teaching art music, which formed the content basis of syllabuses prior to the 1970s, were not suitable for teaching popular music. Responses to this realisation have resulted in the development of alternative methods of music education, and these in turn have reshaped not only teaching and learning strategies but also the ways music educators theorise music education and conceptualise its object of study, music.