The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education

The proliferation of scholarship on popular music education in recent times is exciting, but daunting. It was thus absolutely delightful to read The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education, an eclectic but cogent collection that, as its subtitle suggests, celebrates diverse perspectives and practices. Chapter after chapter provides insights that help to bring understandings of the field into sharper focus. Highly recommended! * Roger Mantie, Associate Professor and Program Director, Music and Culture, University of Toronto, Canada * Offers a fascinating glimpse into the diverse ways we play, teach, and interact with contemporary music in a variety of contexts. I particularly appreciate hearing the voices of music educators whose perspectives are not frequently heard in the research literature. Essential for anyone interested in exploring the unique experiences of researchers and practitioners involved in popular music education. * Virginia Davis, Professor of Music Education, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA * A valuable new resource on the perspectives and practices related to the use of popular music in education, this collection of essays by well-known educators and musicians addresses many significant topics, such as the conception of popular music education and creativity. These essays also offer an assessment of popular music education, musical meaning, identity, and values of popular music education and professional development in music education, ranging from formal to informal and from school to higher education in international contexts. * Wai-Chung Ho, Professor of Music Education and Sociology of Music, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong * Moir, Powell, and Smith have provided a thoughtful landscape for artists, teachers, researchers, and teacher educators to consider the different roles, settings, routines, and practices of popular music and popular music education. Presenting a variety of situations and experiences, from considering the versatility of an artist’s voice in popular music, to the online technological opportunities which might foster musical communities, to strategies for incorporating popular music through traditional methods such as Orff, the authors challenge us to think beyond methods and best practices that “teach” popular music invite us to consider frameworks for learning with and through popular music. This book is a superb contribution that combines the authors’ artistic expertise with practical examples for classroom applications. * Cara Bernard, Assistant Clinical Professor of Music Education, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut, USA * This book makes a gratifying addition to the blossoming field of popular music education, shining a light on a range of key topics - from theory and literacy to songwriting, record production and beyond. A valuable resource for anyone who takes seriously the challenge of teaching popular music well. * Matt Brennan, Reader in Popular Music, University of Glasgow, UK *