Teaching Music

Through practical examples Keith Swanwick illustrates layers of musical experience and outlines key principles for music educators on musical teaching. Chapters deal with the value, culture, assessment and the future of music education. There is a also a broader appeal to anyone who invents or performs music, those involved in music psychology, sociology, music promotion and music instructors.

Music educators and practicing musicians have failed to benefit as much as they could from the past two decades of music psychology research. In this volume, Parncutt and McPherson propose to improve the situation by describing new approaches, informed by recent psychological research, to teaching music, learning music, and making music at all educational levels. Each chapter represents the collaboration between a music psychologist and a music educator. The articles begin by outlining music-psychological issues that are probably unfamiliar to musicians and music educators. Then, they propose teaching strategies and materials inspired by the psychologists' findings. The volume's twenty-one articles cover the broad issues of "the developing musician", "subskills of musical performance", and "instruments and ensembles".

Designed for both the practicing choral director and the choral methods student, this is a compact and comprehensive overview of the many teaching methods, strategies, materials, and assessments available for choral sight-singing instruction. Sight-singing is an important, if sometimes neglected, facet of choral music education that often inspires fear and uncertainty in student and teacher alike. Written in an accessible style, this book takes the mystery out of teaching music reading. Topics covered include the history of sight-singing pedagogy and research, prominent methods and materials, and practical strategies for teaching and assessment. This is the only book to provide such a wealth of information under one cover and will become an essential part of every choral conductor's library.

What is music? Does music deserve a place in general education? If so why? Music Matters ,develops new answers to these questions through a wide-ranging examination of Music as a diverse human practice. The result is a ground-breaking philosophy of music education that provides critically reasoned perspectives on the nature and significance of performing, listening, musicianship, multiculturalism, creativity, consciousness, curriculum development and more. Music Matters is exceptional for the attention it pays to many aspects of music and education that past music education philosophy either misses of ignores altogether. Following an incisive critique of conventional thinking, Elliot develops a multidimensional concept of music that explains why music-making and listening are unique forms of thinking and unique forms of the most important kinds of knowing human beings can achieve. In a richly detailed narrative that examines a wealth of recent philosophical foundation allows teachers to affirm to themselves, and others, that music deserves a central place in the education of all people. Among many working ideas of this new philosophy is a distinctive concept of "curriculum-as-practicum" that explains how music educators can fulfil their educational mandate. Through intended first as a text for pre-service and in-service music teachers, Music Matters is for anyone who takes a serious interest in music and music education.

The New Oxford History of Music is an authoritative ten-volume survey of classical music from ancient times up to 1960. Each volume is devoted to a recognised period in music history, and is written by noted scholars in the field.

This stimulating Very Short Introduction to music invites us to really think about music and the values and qualities we ascribe to it. The world teems with different kinds of music-traditional, folk, classical, jazz, rock, pop-and each type of music tends to come with its own way of thinking. Drawing on a wealth of accessible examples ranging from Beethoven to the Spice Girls to Chinese zither music, Nicholas Cook attempts to provide a framework for thinking about all music. By examining the personal, social, and cultural values that music embodies, the book reveals the shortcomings of traditional conceptions of music, and sketches a more inclusive approach emphasizing the role of performers and listeners.