Preservice Music Teachers’ Recognition of Western Art Music Found in Popular Culture

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice educators’ knowledge of basic information about classical repertoire found in popular culture. Specifically, preservice music teachers answered whether they (a) had heard the music before, (b) could name the titles of the music, (c) could name the composers of the music, and (d) could identify the music history periods in which the music was composed. Participants (N = 200) for this study were preservice music educators who listened to 30 classical music excerpts and answered the research questions for each piece. The majority of preservice educators (94%) reported previously hearing the music. However, many could not correctly title the music (71%), name the composer of the music (65%), or identify the period the music was composed (61%). Further results and implications are discussed within the article.