Teaching Tips – Teaching Music History

Annotating Taruskin and How It Went

In memoriam by Anna Zayaruznaya To use, or not to use? That is the problem. We teachers know what textbooks are and what they aren’t; what they enable…

Post date 13 October 2023
Post categories In Pedagogy Study Group, Resources, Teaching Tips
Tags annotation, creativity, pedagogy, Pedagogy Study Group, textbook

Picturing Music History: A Community-Based Public Musicology Class Project

A few years ago, based on increasing student interest, I was asked to create my college’s first course in Black American music history. I use a variety of media in my teaching, from primary sources to film to comics to picture books. It is this last format that provided the inspiration for my students’ capstone project in the Spring 2022 semester.

Post date 23 January 2023
Post categories In Pedagogy Study Group, Teaching Tips
Tags assignment, creativity, pedagogy

Active Learning Strategies for a (Post?) COVID-19 Era Music History Course

Many music history teachers quickly gained facility in the new teaching formats and modes during the pandemic, but change has not stopped. A “new normal,” which can involve face-to-face and hybrid class settings, as well as temporary periods with remote delivery, both invites and requires new and more flexible pedagogical approaches.

Post date 15 January 2023
Post categories In Pedagogy Study Group, Teaching Tips
Tags assignment, hybrid, in person, Pedagogy Study Group, virtual

Rhetorical Analysis Essays in Music Appreciation: A Sample Assignment

Many of us college music professors have struggled to create writing assignments that meet our pedagogical goals and engage students. As music teachers, we need to create equitable assignments that meet our students where they are, help them gain the skills that will be necessary for their success, and meet our course general objectives for thinking and writing about music. In this post, I discuss the rhetorical analysis assignment I use in my music appreciation sections and how I scaffold the informal low-stakes writing and research skills necessary for students to be successful.