Abstract
The aim of this paper is to examine the meaning of learning popular music (jazz, rock, blues, soul) for culturally deprived children in the 1970's. This idea came to the attention of American music educators in the late 1960's. At the same time, music educators began to grapple with urban music education in the urban schools. The children living in these urban areas were called cultural deprived. These children refused to attend music class. This problem was caused by a difference in culture and music interest. Popular music was introduced into the music curriculum of urban schools in order to solve this problem. In order to attain a clear picture of the meaning of learning popular music in urban music education, I examined many resources. I focused my research on the special report on urban music education that was published in 1970 by MENC and lesson plans for urban school that were developed by Otis D. Simmons. Also, I directed some of research attention to discussion about the intelligence of culturally deprived children. As result of my research, I discovered that including popular music in urban school education helped to achieve the following; (1) Popular music called the children's attention to music class and the children actively participated in music learning; (2) Learning popular music helped to enhance the children's musical ability. Also, The children developed the skill of musical analysis and musical performance; (3) Music educators began to recognize the children's hidden musical ability. Also, They found that the children in urban schools could learn and excel in music.
