the pedagogical argument that we should be approaching electroacoustic vs. pop electronic music composition differently beyond strictly the immediate aesthetic level is an outdated and often racialized argument.
barry schrader defines electronic music as anything that requires electronic transduction, something as simple as amplification or speaker reinforcement.
by this definition, we can begin to draw parallels not only from the technological perspective, but from the compositional perspective as well.
what early tape music pioneers such as El-Dabh, Schaeffer, Henry, etc started was a trajectory initially carved out by electroacoustic academics, yet through the proliferation of consumer tape/playback technology and more affordable synthesizers, pop music democratized it.
obviously we saw pink floyd use the shit out of the ARP in dark side of the moon and the beatles do multilayered tape collages on the white album, but i would argue the strongest bridge between EA and pop music isn’t a genre at all but a device: the turntable.
@Chavezsayz could say it a lot better than me, but the turntable transcends categorization. playback device, musical instrument, sound object.
it was through creative minded people on a budget utilizing the tech tools around them that paved the way not only for hip hop, but house and techno as well.
it’s ultimately through these genres that we begin to see music tech developers creating tools specifically for them, most notably the digital sampler instrument.
what dilla, doom, and madlib did through their vinyl collection and an MPC is just a continuation of what tape music pioneers started, it’s proven through the technology.
and yet, hip hop, house, and techno are not considered “high art” academic styles of electronic music. one could draw parallels between this division we see now and how conservatories used to view jazz (and in some places they still do and don’t teach it either)
from my perspective it is a specific breed of old school electroacoustic tenured nerds in academia who hold the keys to the gates of what is considered conservatory-worthy electronic music. it’s quite possible to be a trad douche even in music that is less than a century old.
so as within all music ed conversations regarding composition and aesthetics, we do our classrooms a disservice by shunning popular electronic music from the curriculum. to not draw these connections as a means of enticing new students is to be willfully ignorant.
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