The future of American music education may be found in its past--a time when music teachers instilled lifelong amateur music-making in their students. There are differences between amateur and professional musicianship, and the focus of American music education shifted from amateurism to semiprofessionalism in the mid-twentieth century. An…

Songwriting is a form of composition that relates directly to adolescents' personal experience of music. This article provides a rationale for establishing courses in songwriting at the middle school and high school levels. Other topics in the article include curriculum development, instructional procedures, and assessment. The article ends with…