Rock N' Roll Clown

I don't know what is it like in other countries, but in my country the educational system is very wrong. From 1st to 4th grade we learned only some children's songs, and then we started learning only classical music. Of course children won't accept the good music this way. So, I started thinking how children could be introduced to music easier. Here are some artists who MUST be learned in school:

1st - 4th grade: Beach Boys, Beatles, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Simon & Garfunkel, Bo Diddley, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Al Green, Johnny Cash

5th - 8th grade: Neil Young, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Little Richard, Otis Redding, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Queen, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mozart, Tchaikovsky

9th - 12th grade: Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Handel

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Paedantic Basterd

Or we could not take all the fun and discovery out of music.

jackhammer

I think all music teachers should introduce Frank Zappa and The Residents albums to their students.

Musical theory is sorted.

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bob.

in second year German....10th grade as i remember....we had an exchange teacher who due to my taste in music at the time did a class report on some band called Einstürzende Neubauten and their album Kollaps.....that definitely steered my musical interest in new and wonderful directions

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gunnels

I think a comprehensive education of the history of western music should be required. It's a part of our culture that needs to be preserved, in my opinion. What they like, of course, has little to do with the actual education.
As far as pop bands go, most people seem to be fine discovering what they like on their own terms. However, I do think that jazz history should be taught in America considering it's our most unique art form. I don't know what would be native equivalents in other countries, but they of course should be taught as well.
(damn that sentence sucked)

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Lisnaholic

Yes, it`s an interesting question, but just replacing classical music with a list of something else obligatory is surely not the way to go.
I was only taught about classical music in school, except for one memorable occassion when a visiting American teacher played a couple of songs from The Paul Simon Songbook in our English class. Maybe it was that kind of extreme behaviour that caused him to leave after only six months.
Carl Orff, btw, has written some nice material for children :-



I wonder if you have any special Zappa in mind for the kids, Jackhammer - maybe Dinah Moe Hum or something ?

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Frownland

I recall lessons in American History regarding the beginnings of jazz in the Harlem movement, and that it was regarded as the most American form of music. Beyond that, there wasn't much.

I think that there should be some music history classes taught in schools as an option, I would have loved taking one of those instead of world history where I was taught that World War I happened, then a few years later, World War II happened, and that was pretty much the whole curriculum .

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Electrophonic Tonic

As someone who took a history of rock and roll class, learning about the music in a formal setting is not the way we should learn about it (excluding music theory and such). So much of music is about your perception to what you hear. Having a teacher tell you what's good and what's not (which is what that class unfortunately boiled down to) is totally the wrong way to go about music listening. Pedestrian is right, music is about discovery and listening to new things on your own accord.

I will say if the class was taught more as a history class rather than a humanities type class (i.e. I will grade your knowledge of Elvis' significance to spreading rock and roll to white audiences vs I will grade your interpretation on this Elvis song) then I think you have something.

Psy-Fi

I had a similar experience with music education at my school in the US. We went from children's songs to traditional American songs to classical. As I recall, there was an occasional class on music from Africa, Asia, South America and The Middle East.
Mostly though, we were left to discover music on our own (probably the best way to acquire an appreciation of music.)

Your list of artists is mostly music I was already listening to on my own between 1st & 12th grade anyway. My parents had many records by Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Sinatra, Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly and many others that they played regularly at home from the time I was a baby until I started buying my own records at the age of 9. The Beatles album 'Help' was my first purchase (still have the album.)

My musical explorations expanded rapidly from there so that by the 7th grade I was listening to everyone on your list except for Metallica, Iron Maiden and Prince (before their time) and Bruce Springsteen (didn't like him then and still don't today.)

I don't think I would have enjoyed the music as much if I had been exposed to it in a classroom setting, though.