Bomba is an emblematic Puerto Rican musical genre that emerged 400 years ago from the colonial plantations where West African slaves and their descendants worked. It remains one of the most popular forms of folk music on the island and serves as significant evidence of its rich African heritage. This article explores the main components of bomba…

In the third segment of the series, we explore general music behaviors and techniques that may be incorporated into the secondary performing ensemble in order to provide enrichment and depth to performance-focused instruction. Using research-based evidence and ensemble experience in both the choral and instrumental settings, we will discuss…

The teaching of music-reading skills has been cited as a neglected area of music education needing improvement. Music reading is the process of translating notation into sounds. Producing the notated sounds by singing, more specifically referred to as sight-singing, is especially demanding because it requires the individual to first mentally…

In this second of three in the series, we explore methods for incorporating instrumental ensembles into your music classroom. Experiences such as performing on ukulele, bucket drums, and in modern popular music ensembles are excellent ways to provide meaningful, relevant music education to students of all ages. Using both research-based…

In elementary general music, the need for culturally responsive pedagogies and trauma-informed practices may coexist. Creating an environment and developing instruction in ways that are both culturally responsive and trauma-informed may be possible, because both approaches share common theoretical underpinnings and practices. In this article, we…

Students come to the music classroom with varying degrees of skill, interest, and comfort toward making music, yet educators must consider how to meet the needs of all students regardless of ability. Using differentiation as a framework, we examine how participatory music making (PMM) might meet these needs. We offer strategies for implementing…

Secondary general music is hard to define. For some, this denotes an accelerated version of elementary general music or a decelerated version of a college music appreciation course. Others view this as any nontraditional ensemble geared for middle or high school students, such as guitar, keyboard, or steel pans. Still, for others, secondary…

Given its importance in children's development and learning, researchers have rigorously studied play, and many teachers have used it as a classroom tool. Music researchers have observed that music regularly accompanies children's play because music is part of their culture, and "playing with music" is the most natural form of expression…

Folkloric music and dance in Bulgaria are performed as has been for generations, but also present are innovative hybrids in text, form, and instrumentation. Historically, traditional musical activities were divided by gender with singing a priority for women and playing instruments for men. This has been rapidly changing as in so many countries,…

This article focuses on teaching play party songs in a general music curriculum, using their authentic form and historical context. The history of play party songs is discussed, as well as the social conditions in America during the time they were used in the late 19th to mid-20th century. Descriptions of the songs include variations in lyrics and…

In order to bring music of Puerto Rico to the general music classroom, it is important to understand the sociocultural and sociohistorical context of the music. The traditional genre of plena shares cultural threads with West Africa, Spain, and indigenous (Taíno) culture. Commonly known as "El Periodico Cantado" (the singing newspaper),…

In recent years, there has been much criticism of multiculturalism for its failure to address the power and privilege that keep the status quo in music education. Continued support and education is needed to grow preservice, practicing, and even veteran teachers' skills in teaching and learning music genres from a broader range of music cultures.…

The purpose of this article is to address the issue that children's natural singing voices and pitch perception are in a treble range, and a male elementary general music teacher's natural singing voice is an octave below. There are many strategies to overcome this significant but manageable obstacle in daily teaching, including monitoring of…

Music and reading domains require similar auditory processing skills. Students employ these skills when learning a new song through an oral/aural or rote-teaching approach. In this article, I review literature on the effectiveness of immersion and phrase-by-phrase approaches for teaching a song with or without words. Then, using an amusing…

As teachers are increasingly asked to respond to assessment and evaluation demands in their schools, the aim of this article is to provide suggestions and scales for singing accuracy. A description of each step in the assessment design process is provided, along with specific suggestions for a singing development scale and a singing accuracy scale.