# Modern Music Appreciation: What Would You Include in the Curriculum? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [August 28, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455 "2022-08-28T01:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/1 "2022-08-28T01:00:13Z")
You’re a teacher of a Music Appreciation class for middle or high school students. Your course covers classical and popular music. In the case of the latter, what recordings do you assign as the quintessential examples of a particular musical genre or sub-genre? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/2 "2022-08-28T02:59:03Z")
Eminem’s Lose Youself would be my first pick. Something they could relate to and old enough to now be a considered a classic. That and a very simple style, easy to follow. I bet I could even learn to play the piano part. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/3 "2022-08-28T04:16:07Z")
Our high school had an amazing music director who taught a great Modern American Music Appreciation class. My kid (who was into metal and hiphop) loved it. The class started with a sampling of the best of the blues (which segued into white rip-offs like folk/protest music, then Led Zeppelin, of course). At least once a week the kid would come home excited about a new band or genre. One day he ran in and immediately started downloading some YES and Rush, “We just learned about Prog Rock! Ever heard of it?” ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/4 "2022-08-28T07:56:13Z")
lets see bands for 70s punk the Ramones,black flag the clash, johnny T and friends dead Kennedys and the sex pistols oh and mission of burma I For 90s and 00s punk rancid, social distortion, NoFX bad religion ( in fact anything on epitaph records really ) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/5 "2022-08-28T10:34:08Z")
One³ = 4′33″ (0′00″) + 𝄞 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/6 "2022-08-28T12:18:27Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > You’re a teacher of a Music Appreciation class for middle or high school students. Your course covers classical and popular music. In the case of the latter, what recordings do you assign as the quintessential examples of a particular musical genre or sub-genre? I had some ideas, but…how would offensive terms in lyrics be handled? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/7 "2022-08-28T12:34:01Z")
If the music fails to be offensive or otherwise evoke powerful emotional responses then maybe it sucks and has no place in the curriculum… ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/8 "2022-08-28T12:38:47Z")
Sure, that’s an opinion. In all truth I’m not entirely sure I understand the OP. The course covers classical and popular music. But nothing in between? Popular means what is popular now, I take it? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/9 "2022-08-28T13:38:00Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Popular means what is popular now, I take it? I certainly wouldn’t assume that. I thought it meant “pop music” in the broadest sense of the term. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/10 "2022-08-28T15:56:30Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > quintessential examples of a particular musical genre or sub-genre? Electronic Music - Daft Punk “Discovery”, something by Kraftwerk Pop-Rock - Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”, Beatles “Abbey Road” Singer-Songwriter - Carole King “Tapestry”, Joni Mitchell “Ladies of the Canyon” Prog-Rock - Moody Blues “On The Threshold of a Dream” or “A Question of Balance”, Supertramp “Crime of the Century” or “Breadfast in America” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/11 "2022-08-28T16:24:05Z")
I would throw My Bloody Valentine’s “Only Shallow” in there for shoegaze, but not just that, but rather how to approach rock music from a sonically textural point of view: the lyrics are obfuscated to the point of incoherence, but their melodic drive set against this heavily distorted and gently rocking in-and-out-of-tune guitar background makes for a wonderful sonic journey. The reason I like My Bloody Valentine and _Loveless_ is its textures and abstraction… I liken it a bit to abstract expressionism in its manner of creating emotion out of a wall of sound, and less on the literalism (or even understanding) of the lyrics. Also, Neu!'s _Hallogallo_ for driving one-chord motorik Krautrock. If all you’re knowledgable about is three- or four-chord pop songs with verse-bridge-chorus, this sounds absolutely alien to you. Gently hypnotic and trance-like. Big influence on many artists and genres to come. You can follow it up with Stereolab’s “Jenny Ondioline”, which is basically a more modern (20 years after “Hallogallo”) take on it. Just driving, hypnotic, rock with swirls of sounds and textures and, once again, obfuscated vocals. (“Hallogallo” is an instrumental.) Oh, and Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” if we want to get mainstream. Giorgio Morodor was a huge influence on electronic music for the decades to come. He was on a mission to create “a sound of the future” when producing this record, and settled upon a Moog modular synth hooked up to a sequencer, sequenced drums, and Donna Summer’s initially improvised (I believe) repetitive vocals over it. Still sounds fresh to my ears in 2022. I would also pair that with Daft Punk’s “Giorgio by Morodor” which contains snippets of an interview with him where he discusses his background and how and why he got to creating this song (though it’s not explicitly named). Perfect for a class for its historical context. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/12 "2022-08-28T22:33:28Z")
_Kind of Blue_ Rubaiyat al Khayyam (Umm Kulthum version) ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/13 "2022-08-28T22:58:53Z")
I would include a lot of Smooth Jazz into the curriculum, with music from groups like The Rippingtons, Spyro Gyra, the Yellowjackets and a lot of female artists like Jazmine Ghent, Ragan Whiteside, Pamela Williams, Mindi Abair, Candy Dulfer, Kim Scott as well as other well-known artists like Grover Washington, Jr., Stanley Clarke, Earl Klugh, Kirk Whalum and Wayman Tisdale. Smooth Jazz has so much to offer. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/14 "2022-08-28T23:08:19Z")
_Hallelujah_ by Leonard Cohen. _Spirit in the Sky_ Norman Greenbaum. And a Weird Al version of a song that is taught. Maybe _“American Pie”_ by Don McLean, and _The Saga Begins._ Compare and Contrast. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/15 "2022-08-29T14:53:49Z")
These are all great suggestions I can only recommend too. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/16 "2022-08-29T15:15:08Z")
My own suggestion: for understanding modern popular music, it’s crucial to have some knowledge of the blues. So I would recommend starting with early urban and country blues, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Charley Patton, Son House and Robert Johnson and stuff like that, then play early electric blues by guys like T-Bone Walker and jump blues of the forties (Louis Jordan as the quintessential example), some Ray Charles to demonstrate the switch to rhythm and blues and soul, essential Chicago blues acts like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, then the switch to early rock’n’roll with their Chess labelmate Chuck Berry and some bluesy stuff by Elvis, of course the Rolling Stones as the founders of blues rock and some stuff by blues rock greats like Eric Clapton and of course Jimi Hendrix, and I’d finish with some Cream and Led Zeppelin to demonstrate the development into hard rock and heavy metal. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/17 "2022-09-01T23:15:46Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I certainly wouldn’t assume that. I thought it meant “pop music” in the broadest sense of the term. In the context of this thread, “pop music” means anything that’s not classical. There’s also no limit to how old the music can be. I was also going to discuss in the OP how homework would be done. I am assuming everyone would have access to the internet so the assignments would be along the lines of “For Monday’s class, listen to ‘Kind of Blue’” with the students going home to listen to it on Spotify or YouTube (or even an old LP/Tape/CD their parents may have). However, maybe I’m expecting too much from current technology. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/18 "2022-09-02T00:03:14Z")
I would include some jazz standards from the great American songbook, with a sidebar about their connection to musicals, how Rogers and Hart became Rogers and Hammerstein. You have to choose wisely, because certain changing social conventions can make some lyrics or arrangements seem dated or corny.\*\* Depending on how deep a dive they’re going for, I’d consider the heyday of the studio as an instrument, some Pet Sounds, some later Beatles some Queen, maybe the studio scene from Bohemian Rhapsody. I’d definitely go for some Pentatonix, they have older and newer tunes, and it strips away all the effects and arrangement quirks to just focus on harmony and melody. \*\* I adore _This Guy’s in Love with You_, but I cringe a little bit with the line about my hands are shaking and OMG, I’ll just die. So maudlin, so Romeo and Juliet. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-music-appreciation-what-would-you-include-in-the-curriculum/970455/19 "2022-09-02T00:21:28Z")
> [@digs](#): > > At least once a week the kid would come home excited about a new Watching kids get excited about learning something new is one of the coolest things ever.