The musical preference of most Malaysian young people, their
knowledge of music in general and popular music in particular are
shaped through informal music education. Factors that contribute to
this include the wide dissemination of popular music, the status of
music in the school curriculum, and the perception of most
Malaysians towards music. This article presents an overview of the
popular music scene in Malaysia and examines the incorporation of
popular music in the Malaysian music education curriculum as well
as the curriculum of teacher training programmes. As accessibility
to popular music is wider than accessibility to music classes in
schools, most young people are growing up with a knowledge of only
the types of music they are regularly exposed to.