Teaching general music: Approaches, issues, and viewpoints

The feelings and perspectives that surround “general music” in music education range from the excitement of those who teach or experience it to curiosity or puzzlement from those who do not. Many people frame general music as an elementary school phenomenon that features recorders, Orff instruments, singing, and teaching approaches such as Orff, Kodaly, and Dalcroze. Others are at a loss when trying to figure out what they might do in a general music setting.

The newly published book (affiliate links included) Teaching General Music: Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints, edited by Carlos R. Abril and Brent M. Gault is an excellent starting point for deepening and expanding one’s understanding of what General Music can be and how to go about teaching this type of music course. Teaching General Music is sure to serve as a foundational text for anyone who teaches or might eventually teach general music.

In full disclosure, I have a chapter in the book. This is currently the most comprehensive and up to date look at general music in music education. Many of those who read Teaching General Music will benefit by expanding their understanding of general music, the variety of approaches to facilitate musical engagement and learning in the context of general music, and the possibilities for young people across elementary and secondary settings. 

A key strength of this book is how it provides a landscape of approaches and perspectives through the first half of the text with a set of chapters in the second half that provide critical lenses from which to view the first set of chapters. Another strength of the book is the way that all of the authors weave in research and literature to support the approaches. This provides a launching point for those interested in particular approaches to delve even deeper into related ideas by reading the cited work.

Many of the chapters include vignettes (rich descriptive examples) that give a sense of what the approaches might look and sound like in action. The introductory and ending chapters by editors Carlos Abril and Brent Gault do a fabulous job of situating general music teaching and learning in larger contexts and helping people think through the ways they might expand their own practice in this area. Teaching General Music also features a companion website with additional information related to many of the chapters

People who read through Teaching General Music: Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints will be able to make informed choices about the ways they might expand their own teaching approaches and possibly try out ways of teaching that were previously unfamiliar. This book has the potential to expand options for people who teach music in all types of contexts and provide young people with even more opportunities to experience and learn music in varied ways.

To give a sense of the diversity of approaches included in the book, here’s a list of the chapters and authors that focus on approaches (first half) and chapters focusing on issues and viewpoints (second half):

Approaches

• Orff Schulwerk: Releasing and developing the musical imagination – Amy Beegle & Judith Bond
• Teaching music with a social constructivist vision of learning – Jackie Wiggins
• Kodaly-inspired teaching A bridge to musical fluency – Brent M. Gault
• World music pedagogy: Where music meets culture in classroom practice – Patricia Shehan Campbell
• Learning with digital media and technology in hybrid music classrooms – Evan S. Tobias
• The Dalcroze approach: Experiencing and knowing music through embodied exploration – Marja-Leena Juntunen
• Adopting an interdisciplinary approach to general music – Janet R. Barrett
• Music learning theory: A theoretical framework in action – Cynthia Crump Taggart
• Informal learning in general music education – Ruth Wright

Issues and Viewpoints

• Thinking about and responding to culture in general music – Carlos R. Abril & Jaqueline Kelly-McHale
• Shifting landscapes in the 21st century: Adaptability and flexibility in general music teaching – Chee-Hoo Lum
• Questioning the unmusical ways we teach children music – Peggy D Bennett
• Applying the principles of universal design for learning in general music – Alice-Ann Darrow
• Teaching general music in the digital age – Ann Clements
• “Reading” methods – Cathy Benedict

Who should read this book?

• Current music educators who teach general music
• Instrumental music educators interested in broadening what occurs in their ensembles and lessons or interested in teaching new types of classes
• Pre-service music educators interested in having a comprehensive education for teaching k-12 music
• Music teacher educators who want to stay up to date on approaches to teaching general music [This is an excellent text for undergraduate and graduate music students in a number of courses ranging from intro to music education to methods or teaching and learning]
• Teaching artists interested in deepening and expanding their pedagogy and connecting with schools
• Community music staff and faculty interested in offering more than instrumental/vocal lessons, classes or ensembles
• School of Music faculty and teaching assistants interested in expanding from a lecture or demonstration focused approach to teaching music courses
• Homeschool parents/teachers interested in providing music instruction

I highly recommend obtaining your own copy of Teaching General Music: Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints and considering updates you might make to your own teaching!