Resources for Popular Music and Music Learning and Teaching
These popular music and music education resources can be useful for those engaged in the practice of facilitating engagement and learning with popular music and those engaged in researching aspects of popular music in relation to music learning and teaching.
This curated set of resources will always be incomplete, in-process, and ever-growing. Send a message with additional suggestions.
Related Posts on this Website
Posts & project ideas related to popular music and music learning and teaching on this site.
Examples of public forensic musicology for aural skills and analysis.
Connecting Research and Practice
Contemporary Musicianship Initiatives via the Consortium for Innovation and Transformation in Music Education (CITME)
Music Education Books
Approaches & Plans
- Coaching a Popular Music Ensemble – Steve Holley
- Action-based Approaches in Popular Music Education – ed. Steve Holley, Kat Reinhert, Zack Moir
- Pop-Culture Pedagogy in the Music Classroom: Teaching Tools from American Idol to YouTube [situated mostly in the context of higher ed music theory and musicology courses] ed. Nicole Biamonte
- Electronic Music School – Will Kuhn & Ethan Hein
Research & Contextual Information
- How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education – Lucy Green
- Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy – Lucy Green
- Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education – ed. Carlos Xavier Rodriguez’s
- Alternative approaches in Music Education: Case studies from the field – ed. Ann Clements
- Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education – [pre-release] ed.
Web-based Resources
- Musical Futures (curriculum & pedagogy resources)
- HipHop Music Education Resources
- Journal of Popular Music Studies Blog
- WhoSampled
Dedicated Research Journals
- Journal of Popular Music Education
- Journal of Popular Music Studies
- Journal on the Art of Record Production
- DanceCult – Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture
- PerfectBeat – the Asia-Pacific Journal of Research into Contemporary Music and Popular Culture
- Popular Music
- Popular Music History
- Popular Music and Society
Communities of Practice & Organizations
- Association for Popular Music Education
- International Association for the Study of Popular Music
- International Association for the Study of Popular Music (US-Branch)
- HipHop Music Ed Facebook Group
- Journal of Popular Music Education Facebook Group
- Journal of Popular Music Studies Facebook Group
- Rock and Roll Camp for Girls
- Girls Rock Camp Alliance
- Girls Rock Camp Foundation
- Beats by Girls
- Women’s Audio Mission
Related Books to Inform Practice
Electronic Dance Music (EDM)
- Dance Music Manual: Toys, Tools, and Techniques 3d ed. – Rick Snoman
This book gives concrete suggestions and process for creating electronic dance music.
- Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music – Mark J. Butler
- Playing with Something That Runs: Technology, Improvisation, and Composition in DJ and Laptop Performance – Mark J. Butler
These two books provide analyses of EDM music and processes that can lead to new ways of hearing and understanding the music. This can be helpful for music educators generating lessons, units, or projects that provide students with interesting ways of engaging with the music.
Hip Hop
- How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC – Paul Edwards
- How to Rap 2: Advanced Flow and Delivery Techniques – Paul Edwards
Both books include information on how MCs flow and could inform approaches to helping learners rap.
- Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop – Adam Bradley
Addresses issues of flow and rapping but with a larger focus on the lyrics of rap music and their relation to poetry.
Take a look at other curated resources for music education.
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