Signals and noise: How higher music education institutions define popular music

Research has illustrated how some cultural forms that were once excluded from higher education institutions become incorporated over time through a process known as “cultural legitimation.” While this process has been well documented for arts forms such as jazz and film, less is known about artforms in the middle of this process, as definitional boundaries and educational aims remain in flux. To better understand this, we ask: how do music educators define popular music and what are their perspectives on educational aims? Using data from an original survey, we analyze opinions using a mixed-methods approach, bringing the results of Q methodology and a thematic analysis together using multiple correspondence analysis. The results suggest the existence of four perspectives on institutional popular music: (a) musicians as professional culture producers, (b) popular music as institutionally legitimate, (c) popular music as an aesthetic enterprise, and, finally, (d) a lack of definitional form.