Popular Music in Elementary Music Education

Popular Music in Elementary Music Education is a practical guide for music education professors, graduate and undergraduate music education students, and in-service elementary music teachers who want to bring popular music and media to younger students in grades PreK-6 in the United States. It shows how to introduce popular music, including Hip Hop, salsa, and more, into the elementary music classroom in meaningful and age-appropriate ways. Written by 34 music educators from a diverse range of backgrounds, the succinct chapters present an impressively broad set of perspectives on a variety to topics, including culturally responsive pedagogy, democratic practices, and social-emotional learning. They explore ways to approach curriculum, such as through songwriting and community building, and provide examples of how to integrate genres and instruments less familiar to typically trained music educators, such as Hip Hop and bass guitar. With real classroom examples and ready-to-use lesson plans accompanied by slides and playlists on the companion website, Popular Music in Elementary Music Education is full of insights from leading teachers. It shows educators how to connect with kids through the music they know and love, while supporting key goals like creativity, cultural understanding, and social-emotional development.