Philip Tagg

Philip Tagg (born 1944 in Oundle, Northamptonshire, UK) is a British musicologist, writer and educator. He is co-founder of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) and author of several influential books on popular music and music semiotics.

Tagg attended The Leys School in Cambridge in 1957–1962. He has mentioned his organ teacher, Ken Naylor, as particularly influential on his development as a musician and thinker. He then studied Music at the University of Cambridge (1962–65), and thereafter Education at the University of Manchester (1965–66). Tagg had some success as a choral composer during these early years. For example, on Trinity Sunday 1963, Tagg’s anthem Duo Seraphim was performed at Matins by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge under David Willcocks. His Preces and Responses were also broadcast by the BBC from the Edington Festival in 1964. Tagg also worked as volunteer at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1963. During this period he also played piano in a Scottish country dance ensemble, as well as in two pop-rock/soul/R&B bands.

Dismayed at the prospect of becoming a music teacher in 1966, Tagg moved to Sweden where he taught English in Filipstad while running a youth club and playing keyboards in two local bands (1966–68). Deciding to retrain as a language teacher, Tagg then attended the University of Göteborg (1968–71), while also both singing in and arranging for Göteborgs Kammarkör. In 1969 he met Swedish musicologist Jan Ling who, realising that Tagg had experience in both the classical and popular spheres, asked him to help with the new music teacher training programme (SÄMUS) that the Swedish government had asked Ling to set up in Göteborg.

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