The place of traditional music in school curricula: A comparative study of Australia and Greece

The study of traditional music in schools develops aspects of earlier investigations on the place of local music in music education in Australia, and the use of traditional music in music education in Greece. The aim of this paper is to investigate the traditional/local/national music within school curricular in Australia and Greece. The aim of this paper is to investigate the traditional/local/national music within school curricula in Australia and Greece. The questions that initially guided the study were: What is traditional music? And what traditional music is identified in curriculum documents? After an initial literature search this was modified to: Is traditional music identified in curriculum documents? The paper commences with an exploration of definitions and interpretations of what constitutes traditional music and particularly how it is defined within curriculum documents in the two countries. The division between folk and indigenous music and its relationship to popular culture is also considered. This is parallel study of Australia and Greece. The countries offer contrasting cultural and educational perspectives including the development of curricula, and the place of music, and popular culture within the curriculum. The issues associated with the indigenous populations of each country provide significant differenc