A Flaming Lip for Your Thoughts

Perhaps, because it preserves a facile link with the forebears of the genre, we tend to assume that rock music is an organic art form—one that lives and grows outside the walls of formal institutions. Of course, that’s only a falsity. People like to romanticize the musicians that they love. Popular jabber makes it out to be as though Kevin Shields or Jack White walked out of the desert one day with a new sound for the world. Well, they didn’t study to college for their craft, but they did study. Even still, many other musicians got schooled in music, like the famous Wesleyan contingency in Billysberg, with a classical focus. But, how about going to college for a BA in rock music? Could studying subject dependent on lifestyle pay off in a classroom setting, and, more importantly, would it be heresy? Flaming Lips guitarist Steven Drozd thinks not. He’s gone ahead and, with the bands Manager Scott Booker, opened The Academy of Contemporary Music at The University of Central Oklahoma. He’s teaching a masters class there.

The Academy of Contemporary Music opened its doors last Fall, as an American branch of its English counterpart in Guildford. It offeres a two-year associates degree, with an emphasis on both musicality and the aspects of business regarding rock music. To add more incentive, The Who’s very own Roger Daltry lead a class last year. This could be fun, in a flippant kind of way… But come on. Do you really need a tuition to learn scales, self-promotion, and hear an anecdote or two about an acid trip from a geriatric in the Winter of his career? Probably not.

But if you’re interested and want to learn more, here’s a link to their school’s website, and here’s a radio interview with Drozd and Booker from NPR.