Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook for Middle School General Music

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.

Gareth Dylan Smith is Manager of Program Effectiveness at Little Kids Rock, Visiting Research Professor at New York University, USA, and founding editor of the Journal of Popular Music Education.