Teaching Popular Music in the Classroom

Teaching Popular Music in the Classroom explores approaches to teaching popular music from culturally rich communities in the United States. Students in the course will learn teaching methods that engage youth with the basics of improvisation, technology, songwriting, arranging film score, and writing to the strengths of small bands. The course models how to integrate principles of authentic cultural relevance and positive youth development with contemporary music instruction, while providing to

• Employ techniques to teach blues and jazz improvisation
• Apply songwriting teaching methods for youth
• Integrate sociocultural contexts in instruction
• Explore diverse technology uses in music creation