Quantum degrees of formalities in popular music education

As music teacher education progresses into the popular music space, it is shaped by a binary which has placed the conservatory musician and popular musician in a distinct dichotomy: formal learning, rooted in direct instruction and theoretical knowledge; and informal learning, characterized by self-directed exploration. If we disengage from this binary and engage instead with a quantum approach to learning, portraits emerge of dynamic musicians who partake in a constant flow of formal and informal music learning methods throughout their development. This set of portraits proposes an approach to music instruction which challenges biases towards the popular musician, challenges artificial hierarchies and invites individual and community experience into the music classroom.