Fewer and fewer people are involved in classical music today. At the same time, contemporary composers are exploring the vast range of techniques available to them. Including contemporary music in education can help to make a generation of people informed about the arts, willing and able to understand and support the future of music. But what can contemporary music do for a curriculum?
1. Contemporary music can often involve complex rhythmic relationships. See, for example,
Brian Ferneyhough's music. Listening to music like this for the first time can be overwhelming, but it is crucial to keep an open mind. Teachers and students can listen closely for one musical element, such as complex rhythm, in this case.
This music can illustrate fractions and ratios in a new way:
- A "beat" or a "measure" can represent the whole
- These units are divided into various parts. There are simple relationships, like half notes (half a measure), quarter notes (a quarter of a measure), eighth notes (half a beat; an eighth of a measure) or more complex relationships, like seven notes in the space of a beat (1/7) heard against thirteen notes in the space of a beat (1/13), resulting in a ratio of 7:13. Listening to these relationships provides a new experience for students (hearing fractions!) and helps solidify knowledge by applying it in an unfamiliar context.
2. Contemporary music is the only music that fits in a contemporary cultural context; learning about contemporary music is an elegant, simple way to prepare students for higher-level thinking about contemporary culture.
For example,
John Cage's chance pieces question the difference between music and non-music, art and random chance. These are uniquely postmodern questions posed in an accessible, auditory way. Teachers can discuss Cage's most famous work, 4'33", in this context. Since Cage wrote the piece as an artwork, is it art because he says it is? Or is it not art because it is more-or-less 4'33" of silence? Or is it a profound statement about Zen Buddhism (in which Cage was very interested)?
For a younger classroom, contemporary music can illustrate globalization and multiculturalism. American composer
George Crumb sets poetry by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca in his song cycle
Ancient Voices of Children. Teachers can use songs from the cycle in Spanish classes, and students can discuss elements that are "American" versus elements that are "Spanish."
Composers like
Bright Sheng and
Osvaldo Golijov (born in China and Argentina, respectively) both include elements of their own culture's music in the traditional idiom. Students can learn about those cultures and their music through these composers, and this sort of musical multiculturalism can teach students to appreciate other cultures in addition to their own.
In the future, I will continue to discuss ways contemporary music can add to the curriculum, but feel free to ask any questions about what I have above!
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