While the proper teaching of technique is vital to the execution of a beautiful sound, many teachers forget an incredibly important fact: Most beginning students have very little idea what their instrument is supposed to sound like. It is in the teacher's interest to control the conversation by putting fine examples in front of the student. The…

Songwriting pedagogy is in its infancy in music education. This article presents a new way to think about pedagogy that utilizes student workgroups that more closely align with the ways songs are written in the real world. Implications for music education's connections to the world of contemporary commercial music are provided.

Nearly all music educators assign grades to students. However, not all methods for grading are equally effective at reporting student achievement. This article describes one approach to grading, standards-based grading, that has the potential to support music educators' efforts to achieve grades that are honest, meaningful, and fair. General…

As we work to connect equity to our curriculum and pedagogy, a rhizomatic approach may provide a valuable lens for reconsidering traditional conventions. Such an approach underlines interconnected multiplicity with a noncentered, nonhierarchical emphasis. Applying a rhizomatic method, I offer music teachers some practical applications to challenge…

Children's literature, including picture books, can be appropriate for any age level and can help students understand complex concepts, such as music. It can also engage students in music learning. Students garner a deeper comprehension of both the text and music when bringing children's literature to life, and reading aloud enhances students'…

This article suggests pathways for supporting habits of creativity and the development of creative mindsets in performance-ensemble learning spaces. The Wallas model of creative thought is used to frame the concept of creative musical mindsets. The author reflects on the assumptions and principles outlined in the stages of this influential model…

In this article, we, culture bearers and music educators, discuss ways of using East Asian virtual musical instruments to promote culturally diverse music activities in classrooms. We introduce affordable tablet-based virtual instruments (Korean "hyang-piri," Chinese "erhu," and Japanese "koto") and hands-on music…

Music is ever expanding and growing. It feels as if there is a new artist, genre, technology, or something happening in the broad world of music on a daily basis. Our ability to access all sorts of music and musical information has never been easier. Running parallel to this ever-changing landscape of music and music-making is a similar pattern of…

Many music educators view activism through the gaze and experience of the U.S. civil rights movement and the protests of the 1960s. This article examines how two Brooklyn, New York-based music educators engage in activism in their school communities by centering student identity and cultivating joyful musical experiences. The authors share their…

In 2014, the National Association for Music Education released music standards that strongly emphasized creativity, encouraging teachers to find new ways to implement creative activities into their classrooms. As such, making cross-modal associations and emphasizing divergent thinking are important priorities for teachers to consider. Synesthesia…

Soundscapes engender historical, cultural, social, and aesthetic meanings through acoustical qualities that reflect a community's lived experiences. In this article, we propose music lesson ideas that help students appreciate and embrace their sociocultural heritage--by creating, performing, and listening to soundscapes that are representative of…

In the past six years, more than 40,000 students have failed the AP Music Theory Exam. Students have struggled especially when sight-singing or taking melodic dictation in compound meter and minor tonality. Research has shown that students can improve these specific aural skills through learning pitch and rhythm patterns, improvisation activities,…

School curricula in the United States tend to focus on students' visual sense, making the teaching and learning of aural art a unique and challenging endeavor. In this philosophical inquiry with practical applications, I propose that the music curriculum be reevaluated with an ear toward the quality of sounds students hear daily as a foundation…

This article describes how I, an American music teacher educator, visited the classrooms of eight Musical Futures Champion Teachers in the United Kingdom and observed their teaching with a focus on informal music learning and nonformal teaching. Musical Futures, a professional development organization in the UK, is the original organization that…

A priority of music educators across the globe continues to be the incorporation of music from various cultures into the classroom. In this article, the term "authenticity" is introduced as it applies to music education. Authentic music teaching experiences for use in the classroom from the West African Ewe music, Cuban cha-cha-chá, and…