Teaching the ‘people’s music’ at the ‘people’s college’: Popular music education in the junior college curriculum in Los Angeles, 1924–55

The historical foundations of formal popular music education in post-secondary institutions in the United States has rarely been explored. This article provides an overview of the seminal popular music courses and degree programmes at three post-secondary public institutions, from their establishment in the 1920s until the 1950s. Several important music educators responsible for these innovative programmes are profiled, including band director Audre Stong at Pasadena City College, department chair Leslie Clausen at Los Angeles City College and band director Dwight Defty, who introduced the first popular music degree programme, Modern Music, in 1936 at Long Beach City College. Factors that led to the introduction of popular music in the curriculum included the expansion of vocational education in California public schools, softening the boundary between highbrow and lowbrow musical traditions in the Los Angeles music scene, strong local public school music education and the democratic movement towards student- and community-centred education.