Skip to content
1981
Volume 8, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2397-6721
  • E-ISSN: 2397-673X

Abstract

Western popular music began to dominate the Chinese music market after China implemented the open-door policy in 1978, which led to its introduction in schools in 2001. Popular music remains common outside of the classroom while occupying a small portion of school curricula. This study explores the influence of popular music in primary and secondary schools in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, China. A combination of questionnaires, interviews, observations and an examination of the author’s teaching experience was used to gather data on issues affecting students’ and teachers’ acceptance of popular music and the relationship between popular music and music education. Findings indicate that popular music can be integrated into the curricula, improve teaching effectiveness, make learning more attractive for students and relate to the students’ everyday lives.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jpme_00104_1
2022-02-24
2024-12-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Barton, G. (2018), ‘The relationship between music, culture, and society: Meaning in music: Implications for classroom practice’, in G. Barton (ed.), Music Learning and Teaching in Culturally and Socially Diverse Contexts, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 2341.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Basic Education Curriculum Guide: To Sustain, Deepen and Focus on Learning to Learn (Primary 1–6) (2014), Hong Kong: Curriculum Development Council, https://cd.edb.gov.hk/becg/english/chapter1.html. Accessed 2 September 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Beijaard, D., Meijer, P. C. and Verloop, N. (2004), ‘Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity’, Teaching and Teacher Education, 20:2, pp. 10728.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bohlman, P. (1988), ‘Traditional music and cultural identity: Persistent paradigm in the history of ethnomusicology’, in D. Christensen (ed.), Yearbook for Traditional Music, vol. 20, Toronto: International Council for Traditional Music, pp. 2642.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Brahmstedt, H. and Brahmstedt, P. (1997), ‘Music education in China’, Music Educators Journal, 83:6, p. 28.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bray, M. (2003), ‘Community initiatives in education: Goals, dimensions, and linkages with governments’, Community Initiatives in Education, 33:1, pp. 3145.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Charles-Dominique, L. (2015), ‘Traditional music and its ethnomusicological study’, in S. Tresize (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to French Music (trans. S. Trezise), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 24570.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Chin, T. and Rickard, N. S. (2013), ‘Emotion regulation strategy mediates both positive and negative relationships between music uses and well-being’, Psychology of Music, 42:5, pp. 692713.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Chinese Music Forum-Future of Chinese Music (2006), ‘Future of Chinese music’, 26 August, http://ent.sina.com.cn/x/2006-08-26/04071217741.html. Accessed 8 November 2020.
  10. Choate, R. A. (Music Educators National Conference) (1968), Documentary Report of the Tanglewood Symposium, Washington, DC: United Nations.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Cockrill, A. and Liu, Y. (2013), ‘Western popular music consumption by highly involved Chinese music fans’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 20:3, pp. 26371, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2013.01.008.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Cremata, R. (2020), ‘Sociology for Music Teachers: Practical Applications, Hildegard C. Froehlich and Gareth Dylan Smith (2017), 2nd ed.’, Journal of Popular Music Education, 4:2, pp. 25862, https://doi.org/10.1386/jpme_00029_5.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Dunbar-Hall, P. and Wemyss, K. (2000), ‘The effects of the study of popular music on music education’, International Journal of Music Education, 36:1, pp. 2334, https://doi.org/10.1177/025576140003600104.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Etikan, I. and Bala, K. (2017), ‘Sampling and sampling methods’, Biometrics & Biostatistics International Journal, 5:6. pp. 21517.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Evans, P. and Schubert, E. (2008), ‘Relationships between expressed and felt emotions in music’, Musicae Scientiae, 12:1, pp. 7599, https://doi.org/10.1177/102986490801200105.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Fung, A. Y. (2007), ‘The emerging (national) popular music culture in China’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 8:3, pp. 42537.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Green, L. (2008), Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Hall, S. (1992), ‘Race, culture, and communications: Looking backward and forward at cultural studies’, Rethinking Marxism, 5:1, pp. 1018.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Hargreaves, D. J., Marshall, N. A. and North, A. C. (2003), ‘Music education in the twenty-first century: A psychological perspective’, British Journal of Music Education, 20:2, pp. 14763.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Hess, J., Watson, V. W. and Deroo, M. (2019), ‘“Show some love”: Youth and teaching artists enacting literary presence and musical presence in an after-school literacy-and-songwriting class’, Teachers College Record, 121:6, pp. 144.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Ho, W. (2014), ‘Music education curriculum and social change: A study of popular music in secondary schools in Beijing, China’, Music Education Research, 16:3, pp. 26789, https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2014.910182.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Ho, W. C. (2003), ‘Westernization and social transformations in Chinese music education, 1895–1949’, History of Education, 32:3, pp. 289301.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Ho, W.-C. (2010), ‘Moral education in China’s music education: Development and challenges’, International Journal of Music Education, 28:1, pp. 7187, https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761409351351.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Ho, W. C. (2016), Popular Music, Cultural Politics, and Music Education in China, London: Taylor & Francis.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Ho, W. C. (2017), Popular Music, Cultural Politics and Music Education in China, Abingdon: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Ho, W.-C. (2018), Culture, Music Education, and the Chinese Dream in Mainland China, Singapore: Springer.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Ho, W.-C. (2022), ‘Toward the political philosophy of hip-hop education and positive energy in China’, in B. Powell and G. D. Smith (eds), Places and Purposes of Popular Music Education: Perspectives From the Field, Bristol: Intellect, pp. 30713.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Ho, W.-C. and Law, W.-W. (2012), ‘The cultural politics of introducing popular music into China’s music education’, Popular Music and Society, 35:3, pp. 399425, https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2011.567916.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Humphreys, J. T. (2004), ‘Popular music in the American schools: What history tells us about the present and the future’, in C. X. Rodriguez (ed.), Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education, Reston, VA: The National Association for Music Education, pp. 91105.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Ilari, B., Chen-Hafteck, L. and Crawford, L. (2013), ‘Singing and cultural understanding: A music education perspective’, International Journal of Music Education, 31:2, pp. 20216.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Isbell, D. (2007), ‘Popular music and the public school music curriculum’, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 26:1, pp. 5363.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Jin, W. (1997), The Introduction of the History of China’s Music, Beijing: The People’s Music Publishing House.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Kloet, J. De (2005), ‘Popular music and youth in urban China: The Dakota generation’, The China Quarterly, 183: September, pp. 60926.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Kothari, C. R. (2004), Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques, New Delhi: New Age International.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Krikun, A. (2009), ‘Mixing Memphis soul into the community college curriculum stew’, Journal of Popular Music Studies, 21:1, pp. 7689.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Law, W.-W. and Ho, W.-C. (2015), ‘Popular music and school music education: Chinese students’ preferences and dilemmas in Shanghai, China’, International Journal of Music Education, 33:3, pp. 30424, https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761415569115.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Lawson, F. (2012), ‘Consilience revisited: Musical and scientific approaches to Chinese performance’, Ethnomusicology, 56:1, pp. 86111.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Leroi, A. M. and Swire, J. (2006), ‘The recovery of the past’, World Music, 48:3, pp. 4354.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Mauch, M., MacCallum, R. M., Levy, M. and Leroi, A. M. (2015), ‘The evolution of popular music: USA 1960–2010’, Royal Society Journals, 17 February, pp. 110, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.150081/. Accessed 9 April 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Merriam, A. P. (1964), The Anthropology of Music, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Mills, S. W. (2000), ‘Recognizing middle school students’ taste for popular music’, General Music Today, 13:3, pp. 36.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China (2017), Putong gaozhong yinyue kecheng biaozhun (Ordinary High School Music Curriculum Standardization) (trans. Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China), Beijing: Beijing Normal University.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Ministry of Education, the People’s Republic of China (2011), Yiwu jiaoyu: Yinyue kecheng biaozhun (Music Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education) (trans. Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China), Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Mitchell, T. (ed.) (2001), Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Moir, Z., Powell, B. and Smith, G. D. (2019), ‘Introduction: Popular music education: Perspectives and practices’, in Z. Moir, B. Powell and G. D. Smith (eds), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspectives and Practices, London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 17.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Mu, Y. (2003), ‘Ethnomusicology with Chinese characteristics? A critical commentary’, in S. Wild (ed.), Yearbook for Traditional Music, vol. 35, Los Angeles, CA: International Council for Traditional Music, pp. 138.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Nettl, B. (1975), ‘Music in primitive cultures: Iran, a recently developed nation’, in C. Hamm, B. Nettl and R. Byrnside (eds), Contemporary Music and Music Cultures, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, pp. 71100.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Nie, J. (2014), ‘Analysis on the element integration of popular music and folk music’, in 3rd International Conference on Science and Social Research (ICSSR 2014), 14–15 June, Guizhou, China: Atlantis Press, pp. 45861.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Pellegrino, K. (2009), ‘Connections between performer and teacher identities in music teachers: Setting an agenda for research’, Journal of Music Teacher Education, 19:1, pp. 3955.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Plato (2008), The Republic (trans. B. Jowett), London: Forgotten Books, http://www.forgottenbooks.org/info/9781605064413/. Accessed 22 June 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Powell, B. (2022), ‘A history of modern band and little kids rock from 2002–2014’, Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, pp. 123, https://doi.org/10.1177/15366006221093984.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Przybylski, L. and Niknafs, N. (2015), ‘Teaching and learning popular music in higher education through interdisciplinary collaboration: Practice what you preach’, Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 5:1, pp. 10023, https://iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/view/706. Accessed 8 November 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Regelski, T. (2009), ‘Curriculum reform: Reclaiming “music” as social praxis’, Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 8:1, pp. 6684.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Robins, K. and Webster, F. (1999), Times of the Technoculture: From the Information Society to the Virtual Life, London: Psychology Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Semati, M. (2017), ‘Sounds like Iran: On popular music of Iran’, Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, 15:3, pp. 15562.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2004), Curriculum Standard for Music in Primary and Secondary Schools, Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Shimizu, T. (2010), ‘Attractive features and potential value of the Chinese Traditional Theater School as a tourist spot: A case study of the Shaanxi Opera in Xi’an City’, Senri Ethnological Studies, 76: June, pp. 5575.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Smith, G. D. (2022), ‘External examining: An insider perspective on a neocolonial practice’, in B. Powell and G. D. Smith (eds), Places and Purposes of Popular Music Education: Perspectives From the Field, Bristol: Intellect, pp. 34348.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Smith, G. D., Moir, Z., Brennan, M., Rambarran, S. and Kirkman, P. (2017), ‘Popular music education (r)evolution’, in G. D. Smith, Z. Moir, M. Brennan, S. Rambararran and P. Kirkman (eds), The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education, London: Routledge, pp. 513.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Smith, G. D., Powell, B., Fish, D. L., Kornfeld, I. and Reinhert, K. (2018), ‘Popular music education: A white paper by the Association for Popular Music Education’, Journal of Popular Music Education, 2:3, pp. 28998.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Stuessy, J. (1994), ‘When the music teacher meets Metallica: Rock music strongly influences students: Joe Stuessy gives suggestions on how to take musical advantage of that influence’, Music Educators Journal, 80:4, pp. 2832, https://doi.org/10.2307/3398727.
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Sun, Z. and Leung, B. W. (2014), ‘A survey on the quality of rural primary school music teachers in Northeast China,’ International Journal of Music Education, 32:4, pp. 43761.
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Tagg, P. (1966), Popular Music as a Possible Medium in Secondary Education, Manchester: The University of Manchester.
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Theodore, G. (2008), ‘The aesthetics of popular music’, The Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/m/music-po.htm. Accessed 10 July 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Waters, S. S. (2014), ‘Sharing global musics: Preserving the past, preparing for the future: A look at music education in China’, Music Educators Journal, 101:1, pp. 2527.
    [Google Scholar]
  66. White, C. and McCormack, S. (2006), ‘The message in the music: Popular culture and teaching in social studies’, The Social Studies, 97:3, pp. 12227.
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Wilson, L. (2018), ‘Definition of popular music’, International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, https://www.iasa-web.org/selection/definition-popular-music. Accessed 20 January 2022.
  68. Woody, R. H. (2007), ‘Popular music in school: Remixing the issues’, Music Educators Journal, 93:4, pp. 3237, https://doi.org/10.2307/4127131.
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Wuthnow, R. (2004), ‘Presidential address 2003: The challenge of diversity’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 43:2, pp. 15970.
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Yu, Z. and Leung, B. (2019), ‘Music teachers and their implementation of the new Music Curriculum Standards in China’, International Journal of Music Education, 37:2, pp. 17897, https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761418820647.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jpme_00104_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/jpme_00104_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error