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Dilemmas of purpose in higher popular music education: A critical portrait of an academic field

Parkinson, Tom (2017) Dilemmas of purpose in higher popular music education: A critical portrait of an academic field. Journal of Popular Music Education, 1 (2). pp. 133-150. ISSN 2397-6721. E-ISSN 2397-673X. (doi:10.1386/jpme.1.2.133_1) (KAR id:69353)

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Abstract

Since the first degree programme in Popular Music opened in 1990, the academic field of higher popular music education (HPME) has grown exponentially in the United Kingdom. The current provision includes 128 programmes offered by 47 institutions including Russell Group universities, specialist conservatoires and private providers. The majority of programmes, however, are found within ‘post-92’ institutions, reflecting the political and cultural conditions from and challenging which the field has emerged. This article critically appraises the field’s emergence within the frames of higher education policy, discourses of employability and widening participation, the high/low culture dichotomy and the dialectic of commerce and art, which has been identified as a perennial issue at the crux of popular music as a cultural phenomenon. It proposes that the field is characterized by dilemmas concerning its nature and purpose, and that the narrative of HPME’s emergence might serve as a valuable case study against which other young fields or subject areas might be compared and appraised.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1386/jpme.1.2.133_1
Uncontrolled keywords: popular music studies, popular music education, purpose, dilemma, disciplinary culture, HPME
Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
M Music and Books on Music > MT Musical instruction and study
Divisions: Divisions > Directorate of Education > Centre for the Study of Higher Education
Depositing User: Thomas Parkinson
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2018 13:35 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2022 01:50 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/69353 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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