Genres in ensemble lessons in high school : Teachers and pupils choice of repertoire

The purpose of this study has been to research which music is being played during ensemble lessons, how teachers relate to the syllabus, and lastly how teachers work to integrate music from different cultures and genres into their lessons. This study is of a qualitative nature and the method that has been used are interviews. Three interviews have been conducted with three music teachers from different schools. The results of this study show that music from other cultures than the Afro-American music tradition is barely being played in school, a large contributing factor is that the teachers do not have knowledge to teach music from other music traditions than the Afro-American tradition. The result state that students have influence regarding what music is being played at the ensemble lessons, which leads to the loss of many genres due to a democratic voting system regarding which songs to play. The students usually pick music from modern pop and rock music genre