1. Teaching traditional music in an institutional setting
Music Teacher Conference –
Simon Keegan-Phipps

2. This session… Some quick introductions… Why Teach Folk? to me!
to “traditional music”
Why Teach Folk?
Opportunities
Challenges
Responses

3. Background… … Who am I? … Who are you?
… What do we take ‘folk’ or ‘traditional’ [music] to mean ?
(in the British Isles, at least..?)

4. ‘Folk’ or ‘Traditional’ Music
Folk Music: ‘A musical genre perceived by participants, audiences or commentators to be historically rooted (in repertory, aesthetic or connotation), often connected to a specific geographical area, and fundamentally vernacular in its origins.‘
(Keegan-Phipps, Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture [forthcoming]).
Latest in a long history of trying to define ‘folk’!
A construct, not a scientific label!
Common features of past definitions:
“Oral transmission”
Vernacular (“the voice of the people”)
Distinct from “art”/“classical” music
Distinct from “pop” music.

5. “Teaching World Music”?
The “World Music” on our doorstep…

6. Opportunities:
Oral/aural transmission - introduces and values alternative method of learning, creating and performing.
Informal participation as an aim, not only a first step.
Familiar soundscape! (regular pulse/meter; diatonic/modal; etc.)
A legitimate space for short-and-simple melodic structure (i.e. [2x 8 bars]+[2x 8 bars])… lends itself to:
Melodic composition
Aesthetic range… “Scottish traditional” gets you anything from this:
To this:

9. Opportunities:
Oral/aural transmission - introduces and values alternative method of learning, creating and performing.
Informal participation as an aim, not only a first step.
Familiar soundscape! (regular pulse/meter; diatonic/modal; etc.)
A legitimate space for short-and-simple melodic structure (i.e. [2x 8 bars]+[2x 8 bars])… lends itself to:
Melodic composition
Arrangement and improvisation of accompaniment (no “right/wrong answers”!)
Heterophony (“playing around a tune”) makes for an inclusive framework
allows for differentiation and development within group music making.
Availability of inspiration (and a wide aesthetic range)
Aesthetic range… “Scottish traditional” gets you anything from this:
To this:

10. Challenges The ‘heritage’ problem
Is the historical element of folk a positive (cross-curricular learning opp), or a negative (e.g. irrelevant ‘museum piece’)?
Implications of ‘ownership’ (EDI)
There’s ‘folk music’ and there’s ‘folk music’…
Selecting subgenres
If it’s vernacular, doesn’t it change when it’s brought into the classroom…?

11. Possible responses…
Focus on process, rather than ‘finished product [performance]’
i.e. structured reflection on semi-structured music learning!
[Links in with ‘informal learning’ principles of Musical Futures programme]
Example… MUS140 Folk Music Participation
Students take part in weekly [folk] sessions
Assessments are [written] reflections:
Repertoire (characteristics… analysis)
Modes of learning (and their impact on playing/singing)
Social interactive elements (and how they connect to the other two elements).

12. Conclusions
“Local” [British Isles] folk musics have a very different working model of music-making (sounds, processes, values)
But they are also
readily available (“live” - more on resources later!)
relatively familiar (people, contexts, sounds and musical structures)
So they make the point that ‘We’ [whoever that is!] are
diverse in our approaches to music
not somehow separate/different from the world of ‘world music’.