A Practical Guide to Teaching Music in the Secondary School

This updated second edition of A Practical Guide to Teaching Music in the Secondary School provides valuable support, guidance and creative new ideas for students and practising teachers who want to develop their music teaching practice. Written to accompany the successful textbook Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School, it explores a range of current issues, developments and opportunities within music education.

The book supports the reader in undertaking practical enquiries across the breadth of the subject to support their critical reflection and the development of their own context-relevant strategies and understandings. Key themes explored include the pedagogy of:

• singing;

• composing;

• improvising;

• performing;

• responding;

• musical literacy;

• music and cross-curricular learning.

Using practical examples and reflective activities, this book will help you critically examine ways in which you can place pupils at the centre of learning music. It is an invaluable resource for those involved in teaching music who are seeking to develop their practical and theoretical understanding, whether at a trainee or practising music teacher level.

Carolyn Cooke has worked as a secondary school music teacher, a head of music and a lecturer in education. She currently works for The Open University in Scotland and is actively writing and presenting in the areas of music education, STEAM education and transdisciplinarity.

Chris Philpott has 16 years’ experience as a secondary music teacher and is currently an Emeritus Reader in Music Education at the University of Greenwich, London. He was previously Dean of Education and the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor in the university’s Faculty of Education and Health.