The rapid  development of music education in Macedonia after World War II is marked by the formation of numerous elementary music schools, three specialized music high schools (Skopje, Bitola, Shtip, and more recently in Tetovo as a unit of the Skopje music  high school) and the Faculty of Music at the University “ Ss.Cyril and Methodius”. The curriculum of these schools show that their main mission is to cover the so-called “artistic” genre, i.e. occidental music tradition in the three leading stylistic period: baroque, classicism, and romanticism, with backward and forward stylistic digressions. It was only during the last decade that an effort was made to introduce different genre programs which include Macedonian folk and traditional music. Unfortunately, besides these two, educational interests do not cover other genres.
        Which are those other music genres? Those that marked the past century, but also distinguish the century we live in. The current music genres which rapidly developed in the past century are a result of the social changes the tempo of modern living, the need of simplifying matters, the predominance of the individual, the development of technology,  the high-speed flow and accessibility of information. Through the global dominance of mass media (radio, television, music production of sound carriers), these genres contributed to their spreading, reception and adaptation within our environment.
        The rise, reception and adaptation or transformations of genres of so-called entertainment music are equally characteristic of Macedonia. At this level, in the past half-century Macedonia has noted prominent creative and interpretative results. The founder of entertainment and jazz music in Macedonia is Dragan Gjakonovski Shpato, who imported music genres in Macedonia in a specific manner.

These genres are not foreign to our culture: pop music, jazz, blues, soul, rock, grundge, heavy metal, hip-hop, R & B, rap, techno. These are the music genres that appeared in the 20th century and still continue to exist. Macedonia noted a clear distinction of different music scenes: rock was formed by Biz Bes, Leb i Sol, Archangel, Vlatko Stefanovski, Bodan Arsovski, D.N.O...;
 

Leb i Sol  Archangel

Vlatko Stefanovski D.N.O.

pop music was developed through a  rage of singers such as Bobi Avtoski, Nina Spirova, Sashka Petkovska, Dragan Mijalkovski, Kaliopi, Todor Proevski, Karolina Gocheva;
 

Nina Spirova	Dragan Mijalkovski

Todor Proevski Kaliopi

jazz defined through Shpato, Ilija Pejovski, Antonio Kitanovski, Seth;

heavy metal through Sanatorium,

rap recognized in SAF;

techno in Cyborg, Kismet, Kiril, etc.

Festivals played and important role in the affirmation of these genres. Through the “Skopje Jazz Festival, jazz in Macedonia received not only local but also international recognition.

Similarly, pop was recognized through “Makfest”, “Skopje festival”,

and rock through “Rock fest”, ”Taxirat”.

        Nowadays, we also witness the great amount of recurrent techno parties which play an important part in the cultural lives of the younger population. These festivals together with audience, as well as interpreters, bands, i.e. artists devoted to the creation of the manner of specific music genres.
        Due to the lack of opportunity to study these genres in Macedonia, there is a constant, though minimal outflow of young musicians (Pavel Rendzov, Oleg Gjakonovski, Martin Gjakonovski, Antonio Kitanovski etc.). These musicians usually receive education in music academies in Graz, Boston, Sofia, Plovdiv and other academic educational institutions that include jazz, pop and rock music education.On the other hand, the number of people contributing to the creation of music scene who do not have adequate education in the field if quite considerable.

        The lack of adequate education in the high schools and universities is substituted by genre courses, such as: Ilija Pejovski`s course in the harmonic base of jazz, Zivoin Glisichic`s seminars in jazz improvisation, as well Antonio Kitanovski`s private music school etc.
        The current state of music education has been largely influenced by cultural policies in Former Yugoslavia. As Ivan Vandor, president of ISME points out:
        Today we are facing a particularly delicate and complex situation, because the role of music in education of man generally depends on the historical background of society, its cultural heritage, its range of values and its possible pedagogical orientation, which in some cases rests on a system of beliefs, on a ideology …
        We will present several reasons for the still unaccepted modernization of our education:
The first problem is the Ideology of society. Post ?war Macedonia (the 40s and the beginning of the 50s) accepted the Soviet model of education, where music culture associated with bourgeois society has been condemned or totally rejected. According to Djilas, ” America is our sworn enemy, and so is jazz, as its product”. It is only in the 60s and 70s that this concept was cast away and the doors to the original values of different cultures were opened. During this period, former Yugoslavia noted a massive development in the jazz, pop and especially rock scene. Nevertheless, there was an absence of a specific cultural policy concerning the involvement of these genres in music education. This tendency continues to this day.
        On the other hand, modern Europe logically accepts these genres and succeeds in extracting their positive values, thus creating music institutions which treat them in a highly professional manner, such as:  Forschungenszenrum Populare Musik -Humbold University, Berlin; Institut fur Jazzforschung, Grat;, Institute of Popular Music-University of Liverpool;  Jazz Institute, Darmstadt; The Dutch Rock & Pop Institute, Amsterdam, etc.
        The second element that seems to be creating problems within our consciousness is the fear of losing our identity, regardless of the fact that Macedonia has exceptional cultural heritage in terms of folk and spiritual music. However, in today’s global culture, not a single society can remain isolated. Acculturation is a normal process, therefore creation within the imported music genres, the genres that do not originate from this region, in a way is another affirmation of our identity, creativity and ability.
        Part of the problem may rest within the lack of staff skilled in teaching these music genres. Nevertheless, the non-institutional courses, as well as the participation of professionals in the creation of other music genres, as well as the publications discussing contemporary genres all lead to a different conclusion.
        It seems that one of posed questions is evaluation what is beautiful in this music, or deciding whether it is art at all. At least that is what the elitist conduct of our recent educational institutions suggests. Nonetheless, reality speaks of something different. This calls for reforms in our music education.
        Music education should equally include all genres that contribute to the image of contemporary music culture. This would help improve music practice, as well as educate the audience. Skilled musicians would participate in the performance and creation of these genres, and at the same time a constructive audience would be able to critically approach the presented material.
        Involuntary cultural isolation, achieved especially through education today is utterly unprolific and unsuccessful. In the modern world, the quick access and processing of information, Internet access, electronic media, and sound carriers make this type of attempt of isolation impossible. Thus, to be able to achieve the proclaimed openness, freedom of perception and creation and freedom of existence, it is inevitable to include all music genres of contemporary life within the process of music education