ABSTRACT
American music education is confronted with advancements in how people experience music and the ways in which children are educated. Tradition and modernization, which are too often viewed as opposite ends of a continuum, serve as a point of tension within the field as people consider future directions for school music. While some music teachers feel the profession is not moving fast enough toward the new, others believe that curricular expansion puts our traditional school music culture at risk. The combination of tradition and modern presents meaningful and unique opportunities for learners to develop a large variety of musical skills while providing school music education to a larger number of students. The teaching practices that accompany the inclusion of popular music, hereon referred to as popular music pedagogies, provide an opportunity for music teachers to utilize a multitude of approaches that change the dynamic of the traditional teacher–student power relationship.
