Skip to content

popular music

Rap, rhyme, and rhythm for music teaching and learning

The following Vox video Rapping, deconstructed: The best rhymers of all time, produced by Estelle Caswell, provides an introduction to the ways that rap musicians use rhyme and rhythm in their music and traces changes over time. (NOTE: The video contains language from some of the music that is not appropriate in many school settings). Take a look & listen and consider any connections you might make to existing or potential music curricula:

What implications might this have for music teaching and learning?Read More »Rap, rhyme, and rhythm for music teaching and learning

EDM producing for music teaching and learning

Do you ever watch videos that feature musicians sharing their creative process? I find that listening to musicians speak about their music in connection with sonic examples helps expand the ways I think about and know music. It is also interesting to consider the format itself as a model for music learners to reflect on their own processes and share with others. This can serve as a great component of formative or summative assessment in learning contexts.

Consider the following video featuring Joel Thomas Zimmerman AKA Deadmau5 and Steve Duda discussing Deadmau5’s Imaginary Friends (hosted by Razer Music):

How might this connect to or inform music teaching and learning?

Here are just a couple of thoughts I jotted down as I watched the video (and I am curious about yours as well!):Read More »EDM producing for music teaching and learning

Perspectives on garageband and musical engagement?

The article Democracy of Sound: Is Gargageband Good for Music by Art Tavana is an interesting read. It’s also the type of article that could surely include the perspective of music educators, but does not. Coincidentally I had a very productive conversation with students in my Art of Teaching Contemporary Musicians course the other day about how music educators should consider the affordances and constraints of technology when situating them in teaching and learning contexts, another conversation with a music… Read More »Perspectives on garageband and musical engagement?

Inspiration or appropriation? Impetus for analysis

NPR’s weekend edition recently featured the story Inspiration Or Appropriation? Behind Music Copyright Lawsuits. The story leads with the question: “Where do you draw the line between inspiration and appropriation when it comes to musical compositions?” This is a fabulous generative, essential, or driving question that could lead to variegated investigations, projects, and student problem solving. As with similar reportage, this story features the perspectives of musicologists, in this case Judith Finell. This and similar generative questions can provide an impetus for… Read More »Inspiration or appropriation? Impetus for analysis

Sofia Ashraf: Social justice through music

Thanks to a post by Jay Smooth, I just learned of Sofia Ashraf, who uses the power of music to address critical issues facing the people of India such as reinterpreting Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda to address environmental justice in Tamil Nadu, India. Check out Kodikanal Won’t: Given that Ashraf’s Kodikanal Won’t is part of a larger environmental justice campaign, she is receiving some mainstream media attention, such as a recent New York Times article by Robert Mackey. Yet, music educators and… Read More »Sofia Ashraf: Social justice through music