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Considering orchestration and arrangements with Laura Mvula’s Sing to the Moon

I often enjoy listening to multiple examples of the same song by the same artist. In addition to being enjoyable in and of itself, having multiple recordings of the same music can be a nice way to have learners listen to and discuss the decisions that musicians make when orchestrating or arranging music. Check out some of these recordings of Laura Mvula’s Sing to the Moon and maybe have students/learners listen and chat about the similarities and differences among the… Read More »Considering orchestration and arrangements with Laura Mvula’s Sing to the Moon

Performing Music with Digital Media

Check out Sight Machine by Trevor Paglen, Kronos Quartet, and Obscura Digital commissioned by Cantor Arts Center (recently featured on WIRED): You can also read a New York Times article by Julie Baumgardner about Sight Machine and themes of the project.  I find this collaboration interesting for some of the following reasons in relation to music learning and teaching: it explores socio-cultural issues through the arts it is driven by artistic inquiry  it combines digital media and acoustic instruments in a hybrid… Read More »Performing Music with Digital Media

Flow, Beats, & Style – Hip Hop Meets Llama Llama Red Pajama

The Cruz Show on Power 106 Los Angeles has a running segment where MCs rap the children’s book Llama Llama Red Pajama over a beat.   Besides it being fun to hear a children’s book getting some rap treatment, it provides an interesting way to get a sense of how MCs approach flow differently and approach rap with a particular style.  If you are unfamiliar with the artists you might find it worth listening to their other music to get a… Read More »Flow, Beats, & Style – Hip Hop Meets Llama Llama Red Pajama

Sound Explorations Music Learning Playlists – Digital Media and Learning Competition 6

I am currently leading a project to develop connected learning playlists focused on music. The Sound Explorations: Creating, Expressing, Improving Communities project is an awardee of the 6th Digital and Media Learning Competition, with support from the MacArthur Foundation. Sound Explorations: Creating, Expressing, and Improving Communities, connects pre-service and in-service music educators, teaching artists, community youth organizations, and youth to create a set of six interconnected learning playlists with multiple learning pathways around the following themes: Building instruments and interfaces Coding… Read More »Sound Explorations Music Learning Playlists – Digital Media and Learning Competition 6

Journal of Popular Music Education and Popular Music in Music Education

The first volume and issue of the new Journal of Popular Music Education is available for free online. Congrats to editors Bryan Powell and Gareth Dylan Smith, who were a driving force in the journal coming into existence.

Some Context on Popular Music in Music Education

People sometimes have the misperception that engaging with popular music in music programs is new. It is not. You can find examples of music educators in the US discussing aspects of popular music in music education for over half a century – whether in letters to the editor of MEJ, articles on approaches to teaching popular music, and (more recently) numerous research studies that address aspects of popular music in music learning and teaching ranging from approaches to learning by ear to socio-cultural issues around gender, identity, and power dynamics. You can get a sense of the long histories of popular music in US music programs by reading Dan Isbell’s article Popular Music and the Public School Music Curriculum and Robert Woody’s article Popular Music in School: Remixing the Issues.

Photo by Scott W. Vincent

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