Authenticity

I feel that one of the caveats of including "world music" into your classroom is finding a way to incorporate good and authentic world music into your classroom. While there is a great deal of world music material available to educators, there is a great deal of this music that is not as authentic as it could be. As I have seen in my study of world music, there are certain stereotypes that are associated with it (the augmented second being prominent in Egyptian music, for example) that are not always accurate, but are perpetuated in lower quality, less authentic world music. It is my philosophy that when world music is to be incorporated into the classroom, it should be as authentic as possible. It is through the exposure to truly authentic music that students will gain the most information and insight from a musical experience.

There are many ways that authenticity can be incorporated into the classroom. As I alluded to above, the main way in which I intend on including authenticity into my classroom is to choose well-created materials, preferably from a culture-bearer, that are not "stereotypical" of the culture, but are actually from the culture. While this will be more difficult and require more organizational time on my part, I feel that the benefits for my students far outweigh this. I would chose, for example, an arrangement of an actual cultural folk tune as opposed to an "idiomatic" tune that is not actually from the culture's history. I feel that choosing the "authentic" piece will allow for a more deeply enriched lesson as connections to the history and the culture are direct and not muddled through an outsider's interpretation of what the actual, authentic music, was supposed to sound like. This concept can also, and should also, be applied to any element of culture that you attempt to bring into the classroom in addition to music, such as dance or drama.

Additionally, I would also like to apply authenticity to the materials used to create instruments. I also philosophically don't believe in using "substitute" instruments if at all possible. For example, if a composer or melody calls for an oboe or another ethnic instrument, I feel that substituting an alto saxophone would do a disservice to the music and to those studying it. I realize that this is not always possible, either there is no money to purchase an instrument or no student who is trained to play the instrument, but I intend to strive towards playing the music as close to what is indicated, or as authentically, as possible.

In conclusion, I feel that authenticity is a vital part of any study of world music or cultures. Without authenticity, connections to the actual artifacts are not as direct as possible and the student, I feel, will not learn or experience the lesson as deeply as possible through the use of the genuine article. As I said, though, I realize that there are real-world constraints placed upon teachers attempting to bring authenticity into their classrooms, however, I feel that I will strive to incorporate materials as authentic as possible into my classroom for the benefit of my students.