Opinion: Music Curriculum Should Embrace Culture, Technology

In a USA Today (10/3) op-ed, David Sall, associate director of the Music Access Project of Portland, Oregon, writes about declining music and arts education in US schools reports the in addition to the expense associated with buying or renting instruments, and the fact that "No Child Left Behind has increased focus on test scores in 'core' subjects," there is "a more fundamental reason why music education is in trouble: the way that music classes are taught." Sall suggest that the current "traditional band-orchestra-choir conservatory method of teaching" is not relevant to "the way that high school students listen to and experience music today," and argues in favor of a more technology- and pop culture-based approach to music curriculum so that there is a broader appeal.