Dozens and dozens of songs-set to favorite tunes-that help children build background knowledge and vocabulary.

Children are inherently musical. They respond to music and learn through music. Music expresses children's identity and heritage, teaches them to belong to a culture, and develops their cognitive well-being and inner self worth. As professional instructors, childcare workers, or students looking forward to a career working with children, we should continuously search for ways to tap into children's natural reservoir of enthusiasm for singing, moving and experimenting with instruments. But how, you might ask? What music is appropriate for the children I'm working with? How can music help inspire a well-rounded child? How do I reach and teach children musically? Most importantly perhaps, how can I incorporate music into a curriculum that marginalizes the arts?This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children. This book guides professionals to work through music, harnessing the processes that underlie music learning, and outlining developmentally appropriate methods to understand the role of music in children's lives through play, games, creativity, and movement. Additionally, the book explores ways of applying music-making to benefit the whole child, i.e., socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and linguistically.

A collection of easy-to-learn activities helps children improve memory, build motor skills, enhance hand-eye coordination, and learn new words.

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

Have you ever been frustrated when people don't get what you're trying to say in your song? Are you tired of waiting on inspiration to complete your songs? Are you not getting the response you hoped for from your songs? Is the songwriting process painful at times? Song Building, written by multiple hit Nashville songwriter Marty Dodson and aspiring songwriter and best selling author of 30+ books, Bill O'Hanlon, will help you: Write songs faster Avoid getting stuck on second verses Generate song ideas and lyrics without waiting for inspiration to strike Make your co-writing sessions go faster and easier Upgrade your song lyrics to make them communicate better to your listener

This timely book explores teaching music in the urban setting along with interviews and journal accounts from urban music teachers in a variety of specializations. Written for pre-service music education students and music teachers new to urban teaching, this is a must-read for those considering teaching in the urban schools. Selected topics include culturally responsive teaching; White teachers working with students of color; nurturing pedagogy for at-risk youths; working with ESL students and immigrant families; creating a democratic and socially just music classroom; and developing habits of teaching that promote resilience and confidence in the emotional, social, and academic well-being of young musicians. A valuable resource for music teaching, this book features an accessible blend of theory and practice with authentic stories from the field.

Trying to understand the complex interplay between effective learning and personal experience is one of the main challenges for instrumental music education. Much of the research that focuses on effective learning outcomes often adopts experimental methodologies that do not allow for a thorough examination of the subjective and social processes that accompany each student's musical journey; on the contrary, contributions dedicated to the detailed analysis of the learners' lived experience often do not offer generalizable outcomes to different types of learning and teaching.

The Psychology of Teaching and Learning Music introduces readers to the key theoretical principles, concepts, and research findings about learning and how these concepts and principles can be applied in the music classroom. Beginning with an overview of the study of teaching and learning, and moving through applying theory to practice, and reflective practice in the process of personal growth, this text focuses on music learning theories, behavioral approaches, cognitive, social-cognitive development, and constructive views of learning. It includes culture and community, learning differences, motivation, effective curricular design, assessment, and how to create learning environments, illustrated by practical case studies, projects, exercises, and photos. Showing students how to apply the psychology theory and research in practice as music educators, this book provides a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate music education students and faculty.

Creating Learning Settings examines the design and implementation of learning settings informed by the newest, most expansive insights into how people learn in the post-industrial age. Educators today are tasked with moving beyond the fixed, traditional practices that have long dominated formal schooling and becoming more dynamic and strategic in arranging learners, facilitators, resources, on-site and virtual environments, and learning experiences. Integrating contemporary theoretical approaches and empirical studies, this book offers a systematic approach to creating settings that leverage the physical, digital, resource, and social dimensions necessary to support learning.

Viewing the plurality of creativity in music as being of paramount importance to the field of music education, The Routledge Companion to Creativities in Music Education provides a wide-ranging survey of practice and research perspectives. Bringing together philosophical and applied foundations, this volume draws together an array of international contributors, including leading and emerging scholars, to illuminate the multiple forms creativity can take in the music classroom, and how new insights from research can inform pedagogical approaches. In over 50 chapters, it addresses theory, practice, research, change initiatives, community, and broadening perspectives. A vital resource for music education researchers, practitioners, and students, this volume helps advance the discourse on creativities in music education.