[Commlist] Call for Papers: Popular Music Education in Wales

*Call for Papers: Popular Music Education in Wales*

*
*

As noted by the likes of Hobsbawm and Ranger (1992), Ellis (2000),Hill 
(2007) and Carr (2010), Wales has a unique landscape culturally, 
politically, linguistically and of course musically. Like other Small 
Nations, the country, which was devolved in 1998, has a distinct set of 
challenges in order to ensure it exploits the full potential of Creative 
Industries such as music. In terms of popular music education, this 
broader landscape is/has been informed via initiatives funded by Welsh 
Government (The Welsh Music Foundation), the Arts Council (Forté, the 
Music Industry Development Fund, Horizons 12, Community Music Wales), 
Wales Arts International (the International Development Fund) and local 
councils. Cardiff Council for example are working with Sound Diplomacy, 
who are developing a strategy to make Cardiff the UKs first ‘Music 
City’, while Rhonnda Cynon Taff co-fund the Forté project. All of these 
initiatives, some of which are co -funded by the likes of the PRS 
Foundation, The British Council and the BBC, are intended at least in 
part to ‘educate’ stakeholders /within/ the Welsh Music Industry, from 
grass roots to international engagement.

             In addition to these funded activities, a number of 
musicians such as Martyn Joseph, Meic Stevens, The Super Furry Animals, 
The Alarm, and Gwenno Saunders (whose recent album /Le Kov/, (2018) was 
sung in Cornish) can be regarded as indicative examples of musicians 
whose agendas are at least partially related to educating the /general 
public/, in subject matters ranging from the importance of minority 
languages, the Aberfan disaster and the impacts of Thatcherism on the 
demise of the mining industry.

             In terms of education, all of these practices are 
positioned outside of ‘mainstream’ education, but can be regarded as 
existing in tandem with discussions such as the place of popular music 
in the school curriculum, which has been a minor but pervasive part of 
ongoing recent debates in the Senedd. Indeed, over the last few years, 
Wales has received a great deal of negative press concerning the lack of 
importance the Welsh Assembly places on music and although the ‘decline 
of instrumental teaching’ is by far the most pervasive subject, the 
place of popular music within this landscape is an interesting subject 
for popular music scholars to consider. With a recent report by the 
Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee mentioning a 
“distinct lack of infrastructure for rock, pop and folk”, suggesting 
that a “separate line of enquiry” is implemented (/Hitting the Right 
Note/, p. 46), it begs the questions, what would this enquiry look like 
and why is popular music such a peripheral part of mainstream Welsh 
education nationally? Interestingly and perhaps alarmingly, the 
aforementioned recommendation by the Culture, Welsh Language and 
Communications Committee was rejected by Education Minister Kirsty 
Williams in her official response dated July 27^th  2018, although she 
does verify the intension to “continue working with the Minister for 
Culture, Tourism and Sport and the Welsh Local Government Association, 
to support “less traditional forms of music, including rock and pop 
ensembles”.

             These examples represent indicative examples of debates 
and initiatives related to popular music education in Wales, some of 
which are happening now. This collection of essays for the /Journal of 
Popular Music Education/ hopes to examine this complex infrastructure. 
Potential essays may include, but are not limited to:

·Case Studies of good practice in Wales, in which popular music has been 
used as a means of education. This could include government/Arts 
Council/charity funded projects or those that are initiated by the 
community. Practices could range from popular music-based exhibitions, 
community plays, to funded projects such as Community Music Wales and Forté.

·Considerations of the historical practices of Welsh Government 
interaction with popular music education.

·The impact of practitioners such as Martyn Joseph, American vocalist 
Paul Robeson, Meic Stevens and The Super Furry Animals on educating 
communities on historical and political events related to Wales’ 
industrial past and present.

·Analysis of the impacts (positive and negative) and infrastructures of 
popular music in school, further and higher education in Wales.

·Critical considerations of the ways in which the Welsh popular music 
industry has worked or could work with mainstream education systems.

·Factors considering The Welsh Language within Popular Music Education

·The impacts of popular music education on careers in Wales

Please submit a 300-word abstract of your intended area of study to 
either Professor Paul Carr ((paul.carr /at/ southwales.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(paul.carr /at/ southwales.ac.uk)>) or Professor Helena Gaunt by 
((Helena.gaunt /at/ rwcmd.ac.uk) <mailto:(Helena.gaunt /at/ rwcmd.ac.uk)>) by March 
1st 2019. Once authors have been confirmed, essays of circa 7000 words 
need to be complete for December 1st 2019, for publication in the 
November 2020 edition of/The Journal of Popular Music Education/.


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