Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook for Middle School General Music - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 160709438X ISBN 13: 9781607094388

Publisher: R&L Education, 2012

Synopsis

Middle school general music may be a student’s last encounter with school music. A practical book with accessible pedagogical resources on middle school general music is needed for methods courses and music practitioners' use. The book Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook for Middle School General Music presents numerous ways to engage adolescents in active music making that is relevant to their lives so that they may be more apt to continue their involvement with music as a lifetime endeavor. Structured in twelve chapters, the book begins with perspectives on adolescent development and working with students with special needs. Five chapters are devoted to the pedagogy of teaching students practical musical skills such as singing, playing the keyboard, guitar, drums and percussion. Chapters on starting a steel band, using informal and formal music learning strategies, incorporating technology, implementing world music techniques, composing in the classroom, and the use of music-based learning centers lead the reader into implementing musical approaches focused on the doing of making music. The book is filled with musical examples, sample rubrics, and resource lists that take the reader beyond the book’s content. Engaging Musical Practices provides exciting and classroom-tested content that connects in and out of school music making for adolescents, generating excitement for musical participation. This book is a necessity for any practitioner who teaches students in the middle grades or as a text for secondary general music methods courses.

About this title

About the Author:

Suzanne L. Burton is associate professor of music education and director of graduate studies at the University of Delaware. Her research interests include music acquisition, school-university partnerships, community engagement, and the construction of professional knowledge. She teaches undergraduate methods courses in early childhood and general music, graduate courses in research methods, curriculum development, and the psychology of music and advises undergraduate and graduate research.

Review:

I would recommend this book to new middle school teachers who are not sure where to begin with their curriculum planning, experienced middle school teachers who may want to introduce a new component to their curricula, or those looking for a potential textbook for a middle school general music methods course. (Music Educators Journal)

Engaging Musical Practices offers valuable guidance to both the experienced educator and the pre-service educator for a variety of active music teaching strategies applicable to the 21st-century middle school music classroom. Chapters on such topics as guitar, drumming, world music, and composition provide exciting avenues for music exploration for today’s middle school students. The book most definitely takes the 'general' out of 'general music.' (John Kratus, Ph.D., Professor of Music Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI)

Suzanne Burton brings together 14 authors who address issues relevant to middle-school music teaching, learning, and learners. Authors present information about and suggestions for performance ensembles at the middle-school level and (perhaps most importantly) alternative music learning opportunities for those students who are not in performance ensembles. Each chapter includes hands-on, practical classroom suggestions for middle-school music educators as well as those who might not have had training in adolescent musical development. Burton and the contributing authors present viable means for bridging the gap between school music and ‘real’ music by offering best practices for working with teens in engaging, creative, and musical ways. (Jody L. Kerchner, Ph.D., Professor of Music Education, Oberlin College/Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, OH.)

These fourteen authors offer an inspiring collection of creative, diverse and musical approaches to teaching secondary general music. Their ideas are practical, classroom-tested, and actually enjoyable to read. (Ann Marie Stanley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music Education at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY)

Secondary general music has recently gained a new vitality, leaving behind yesterday's filmstrips and cardboard keyboards in favor of flexible student-oriented offerings with rich educational possibilities. Reflecting this development, Engaging Musical Practices provides teachers with inspiration and new ideas from leading thinkers in the field, making this volume a valuable contribution to any library. (Matthew D. Thibeault, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music Education and Education (Affiliate) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and author of the “Secondary Scene” column that appears in General Music Today.)

About this edition

• Publisher: R&L Education
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 160709438X
• ISBN 13: 9781607094388
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244
• Editor: Burton Suzanne L.