OK, I'll admit it- I know of, and have heard very little, of classical composers, as well as non-English, lyrical 'world music' in general. I know far less about both subjects than I'd like to admit, especially bothersome to me since I am a music teacher.

The high school that I used to attend is a mix of an independent study setting, with credentialed mentor teachers overseeing students' work, and classes taught by both credentialed and non-credentialed workshop instructors. Since I am 19 years-old, and lacking in the college-experience and certificates department, this format has enabled me to serve as both a Beginning Piano and Japanese I instructor last year. Most recently, and going off of a syllabus I devised from a host of reference books and my own listening experience, I have begun teaching a class on the History of Rock n' Roll.

I had submitted the syllabus last semester, under the title of History of Popular Music, since I planned to encompass not only rock, but related branches, though I suppose my fellow staff members thought History of Rock n' Roll would sound more appealing to potential students on the sign-up sheet. Unlike the other two subjects I have taught, I was not actually approached to do this; I developed the syllabus, gathered the materials, and prepared for this myself. Why? Well...who else is going to do it?

Schools around the United States, public, alternative, and even private, have been lacking music instruction of any kind, in a very severe way, in recent times. Be this as it may, I happen to work for a school that has an excellent guitar and drum teacher, a large band practice space, and a whole lot of students who are very much music-enthused. It occurred to me that, while all of this was in place and working well, there was a lack of music history education not just here but...everywhere.

Music history is a subject more often delayed until college, and presented as a course for those who are majoring in some music-subject. If it is mentioned in high school, it is usually because of a social context or a personal interest a teacher has that they pass on to their students. Elsewhere, a variety of music can be digested through what family members are listening to, what peers are listening to, and other important intervening factors, like chance encounters with a song on the radio and Internet music discoveries. Oddly enough, not only is the music of the past often obscured, but music of the present as well!

I was recently sifting through my mom's old copies of Rolling Stone, and was taken aback by the diversity of the artists that were making the charts, all around the same time. I am not nit-picking anyone's taste, here; there are a great many artists I like who have charted and plenty who haven't. But, if you look at a chart of 2008 or 2009 and compare it to these 70's and 80's charts, you will see a big, glaring difference between now and the past: despite the fact that there is a wide variety of new music in existence, likely wider than ever, only a fraction of that material is promoted, and it is often the most "safe" of the lot that is, though anomalies slip in from time to time. The charts, the Grammies- these are not wholly accurate pictures of what is happening in music right now.

One may make the argument that it has been like this for a long time, but it is a fact that we're dealing with a different climate; MTV and VH1 are not going to give you the music anymore, regrettably, though you might be lucky and catch the one or two hours they are showing music videos. Traditional radio as we know it will eventually cease to exist, and that too, is a shame. These mediums used to deliver music automatically, just by turning them on, and people are increasingly turning away because the format is undesirable, due to their favourite music not being represented well enough, or because of excessive commercials.

You have to seek out music blogs, aggregators (Elbo.ws and Hype Machine) and websites like Last.fm, MOG, and Pandora, as they are promoted more through word-of-mouth than any other way. But when you do get there, you find this huge world of music and passionate music fiends that are writing about their concert experiences and music-memories, making recommendations, delving into the past, leaking albums, breaking news. The line between so-called mainstream and so-called underground, here, is blurred; you let your taste carry you to new places.

In teaching this class, discussing the stages of popular/rock music development, taking asides into particular movements and genres, showing performance footage, getting insights into what the students are interested in and affected by- these are all important facets. But, also, to let them know where they can hear it, in an environment that is alive with music- the blogosphere and sites designed for music discovery- is to greatly expand the field of music available to them.

~Marilyn Roxie, music-blogger at A Future in Noise

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