What Is Otherness in Popular Music and How Can It Be Taught in Higher Education
What is ‘Otherness’ in Popular Music and How Can ‘Otherness’ Be Taught in Higher Education
By Matthew Clyma Gooderson
Matthew Gooderson!
Page 1 of 23
Introduction
This practitioner research based project will take on the form of a composition task designed for foundation degree, popular music students. Teaching composition, unlike other subjects like mathematics, is not just about technical information and skills, where there is a clear idea of “right” and “wrong.” Teaching someone how to write music introduces an unknown, non-technical quantity: creativity. This is the really big question: can creativity be taught? Taken a step further, we might also ask: assuming creativity can be taught, can it be assessed? This means that to teach music composition well, both the technical and non-technical aspects must be addressed, and if possible, we need to put a system of assessment in place. In this paper, I will address how creativity might be taught and assessed. I will be focussing primarily on the idea of ‘otherness’ (Levitin, 2006) – the non-technical aspects of music - in popular music composition, as a method of fostering creativity (Burnard & Younker, 2002; John-Steiner, 2000; Petty, 2003). I will also discuss the difficulties of teaching composition in terms of assessment (Faultley, 2010) together with an examination of different pedagogical approaches. This will lead to a description of a curriculum I implemented, and my review, reflection and evaluation of the project. Part 1: Research and Theoretical Background
Teaching composition requires fostering creativity (Burnard & Younker, 2002). Sternburg and Lubart (1999) stated how little we know about the science of the creative process. Therefore, I instigated a series of discussions between myself and the programme leader with the purpose of raising key questions about the pedagogical approach. The main theme of our discussion was: when composing popular music, what knowledge is most important for
By Matthew Clyma Gooderson
Matthew Gooderson!
Page 1 of 23
Introduction
This practitioner research based project will take on the form of a composition task designed for foundation degree, popular music students. Teaching composition, unlike other subjects like mathematics, is not just about technical information and skills, where there is a clear idea of “right” and “wrong.” Teaching someone how to write music introduces an unknown, non-technical quantity: creativity. This is the really big question: can creativity be taught? Taken a step further, we might also ask: assuming creativity can be taught, can it be assessed? This means that to teach music composition well, both the technical and non-technical aspects must be addressed, and if possible, we need to put a system of assessment in place. In this paper, I will address how creativity might be taught and assessed. I will be focussing primarily on the idea of ‘otherness’ (Levitin, 2006) – the non-technical aspects of music - in popular music composition, as a method of fostering creativity (Burnard & Younker, 2002; John-Steiner, 2000; Petty, 2003). I will also discuss the difficulties of teaching composition in terms of assessment (Faultley, 2010) together with an examination of different pedagogical approaches. This will lead to a description of a curriculum I implemented, and my review, reflection and evaluation of the project. Part 1: Research and Theoretical Background
Teaching composition requires fostering creativity (Burnard & Younker, 2002). Sternburg and Lubart (1999) stated how little we know about the science of the creative process. Therefore, I instigated a series of discussions between myself and the programme leader with the purpose of raising key questions about the pedagogical approach. The main theme of our discussion was: when composing popular music, what knowledge is most important for