Playing video games is one of the most popular leisure activities across the world. Video game music (VGM) is a musical art form prevalent in popular culture, and there is potential to use it for the music education of students. Using informal music learning (Green, 2002) and online participatory culture (Jenkins, 1992/2013) theories as grounds…

The theories of international relations (IR) are often difficult topics for students to understand: What are these and how are they useful? This is especially true among students who have likely never taken a political science class, are not political science majors, and are attending a rural regional university with limited exposure to the world.…

In 1963--a racially-charged time in the United States--James Baldwin delivered "A Talk to Teachers," urging educators to engage youth in difficult conversations about current events. We concur with Giroux (2011, 2019) that political forces influence our educational spaces and that classrooms should not be viewed as apolitical, but…

This paper employs the new materialist methodology of diffraction to probe the entanglements of matter and discourse that comprise the assemblage of Pilipinx becoming, or the ways by which people are racialized as Pilipinx. By methodologically diffracting Pilipinx becoming through the public pedagogy of punk rock, this research complicates…

Many music educators address aural skills and analysis by drawing on strategies designed for the realm of Western classical music. Focusing solely on aural skills and analysis within paradigms of Western music can limit students' musical learning and engagement to particular ways of knowing music. To diversify and broaden the types of aural skills…

Music history and punk rock have long had an uneasy relationship because historians often fail to take two major factors into account when approaching the subject matter. One: punk's raison d'etre is to subvert much that music historians rely on in order to deem a particular performer or group significant. And two: punk is a living, thriving…

In Geoff Edgers's biography of the Beatles, "Who Were the Beatles?", young readers learn of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison's youth and growth as musicians, the band's formation, and their contributions to music in popular culture. "General Music Today" columnist, Cardany provides music teachers with related music…

To provide a comprehensive and balanced curriculum, the accomplishments of women composers and performers must be included in general music classes. This article addresses obstacles that have challenged women musicians and provides an outline for a unit that highlights seven American women who have achieved significant "firsts" in the world of…

In response to neoliberal policies that have been in place since 1985, Bolivian young people have increasingly used hip hop music as a means of protest and to reclaim social and political participation. Hip hop in Latin America tells the story of the struggles that marginalized people have suffered, and speaks to the effects of international…

In this article, the author describes a true story about Dwayne Carter Jr., a rapper most music educators probably don't know but one who is beloved throughout the world as "Lil Wayne." Critics overwhelmingly proclaimed Lil Wayne the top rapper in the hip-hop game, and the album and his work leading up to it were universally regarded as some of…

Over the last 30 years, the hip-hop movement has risen from the margins to become the preeminent force in US popular culture. In more recent times academics have begun to harness the power of hip-hop culture and use it as a means of infusing transformative knowledge into the mainstream academic discourse. On many college campuses, hip-hop's…

This article provides general music teachers with resources they can use in their class to: (1) introduce the instrument to their students; (2) energize and reshape their students' attitudes toward the instrument; (3) show older students who are very musical recorder and low flute players who share their love of the instruments through podcasts…

The Great Depression is typically taught through history textbooks, but the music of this time allows students to learn about this era through different perspectives. The Great Depression witnessed many musical styles--from the light heartedness of popular music to the sadness of the blues, gospel, which offered inspiration, to the tension between…

Over the last forty years, popular music in America has consistently shown great variety, originality, and evolution. While American music has clearly flourished and evolved over the last several decades, it is difficult to say the same for American music education. Although there are important reasons to preserve long-standing traditions of…

This paper presents an elaboration of the relationship between politics and music video, to discern if the political climate impacts upon the cultural landscape. The paper analyzes in detail Don Henley's "The End of Innocence" because Henley is a prominent political activist and views music as a vehicle for change. The paper also makes…