In chapter two on page 29 Woodford makes the following statement:
"An overemphasis on on intellecualism, skill, or talent may contribute to elitism and the political and cultural mainstrems, while an overemphasis on emotion, spectacle, ritual or musical commodification may also contribute to the undetermining of democratic culture by failing to adequately prepare children to participate in public musical life. Either approach may contribute to the disfranchisment of children when music teachers ought to be providing more musical leadership with repsect to increasing the breath, depth and vitaltiy of students' musical experiences so that they can contribute to democratization of musical culture."

My question is that how do you find a middle? Outside of the music classroom students are exposed to the media frenzy of music, as Woodward loosely describes it the Disney version, but in the classroom music educators are considered to be old-fashioned, putting too much emphasis on skill and talent to promote "elitism". I strongly believe that music is for everyone, regardless of natural born ability, but I also think that students need to have the opportunity to build stronger musical skills than they have been given in the past. Where do we find the line between pop culture and western cannon then if both are important in their own right?