Leading Music Education International Conference

So You Think You Can Glee? Implementation of Popular Styles in the Secondary School Arts Programs

This paper addresses the issues of popular culture, media- in particular television programmes such as Glee and So You Think You Can Dance Canada- and the effects on music and dance programs in the secondary school system. A comparison of the two performing art forms demonstrates many similarities and some significant differences in their current position within an educational context and the challenges that potentially face the two streams. A small-scale qualitative study was conducted using interview methodology seeking data from a dance teacher (secondary school and private studio) investigating this teacher’s opinions on the issues identified above and the similarities and differences between the two subjects-dance and music. This data is contrasted with the researcher’s own perceptions of the issues based on her experiences as a secondary school music teacher of nine years. An examination of the implications that are faced by music and dance educators is discussed in consideration of sociological theories of culture and education drawn from the work of scholars such as Bourdieu, Bernstein, Green and Wright. The paper identifies the relevance and challenges of implementing popular music and dance into the secondary school arts curriculum while examining the relationship of music and dance through an exposition of their commonalities. The connection of dance to music is established in their similar social function, personal identity relationships, relationship to cultural capital, gender issues and communicative forces. These similarities are further examined as both forms are confronted with challenges of how to negotiate classical technique with popular style infusion. An underlying factor of student perception and attitudes toward popular music and dance as a result of their portrayal in the television industry is revealed through the teachers’ perspectives. The challenge for dance and music in education arising from their association with visual media is discussed with particular reference to the issues facing students and teachers as they are forced to negotiate a discovery between the images presented by such shows and the ultimate reality of replicating that ideal.