If there is only one thing I have learned from teaching, it's that students generally seem obsessed with the idea of "good versus bad" music. ""I like this...I don't like that...", etc. In and of itself there is nothing wrong with this. Frankly as consumers, it's important to evaluate what we're listening to based on personal preferences. But as a student of music, if you don't move past that point of evaluation you risk missing out on some really wonderful things.
I encourage my students to take a different approach. Start with good versus bad - if nothing else it's good to get that part out of the way - but then move on to a more important question, "is it viable?" In other words, like it or not, is it, on some musical level, working?
The distinction is important. The issue of good versus bad is always going to be pretty subjective. No real way around that, and to some extent it's a bit of a waste of time after a while. But the concept of musical validity is far more objective because it allows you to focus on actual fundamental music concepts. And if even one of those concepts can be found represented in the music in question then there is another way to get inside the music past "I like it so I'll work on it," or some such.
And that's the key step. At that point you're open to whatever the music holds for its own sake, not because of personal preference. That seems like a pretty good teaching goal to me.
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