The traditional Tampa Convention Center bathroom selfie, FMEA 2020
My name is Emily and I teach music. I believe in the analysis & practice of popular music in the secondary ensemble classroom & the K-12 general music classroom. I am currently in my 17th year of teaching, all in public schools, all in Florida, all as a union teacher. I have taught:
PK-5 General Music
Middle School Band
Middle School Chorus
High School General Music
I am a graduate of UCF & FSU and both institutions supported my musical & educational worldview. I am currently furthering that worldview as a doctoral student at the University of South Florida, because why not?!
Due to my lifelong obsession with popular music, along with a genuine appreciation for Western music theory, I am continuing to write about where popular music & traditional academic music classrooms collide. Most practicing teachers are still responsible for teaching specific standards and content. I want to provide innovative ways to do that. Sometimes, though, I still write about things because they’re really cool.
I am happy to support organizations such as Little Kids Rock (now Music Will), the Association of Popular Music Education, Decolonizing the Music Room, and Orlando Girls Rock Camp. I am also a member of my state & local music teacher organizations.
This blog is all about teachable features of popular songs. My primary master’s research project was all about teachable pop songs. Upon beginning this project, I was hard pressed to find any comprehensive lists of popular songs in 3/4 (or 6/8 or 7/4 or 13/8) or a list of Picardy Thirds or other deceptive cadences, among other teachable features. My end goal is that anyone who wants to can access lists of “teachable pop songs” for classroom use, opening new pathways of learning.
My intended audience is music teachers. You might have also been directed here if you are a pop nerd wondering about meter and intervals in Rush songs. I hope you'll like the rest of this blog, too.
“What songs do you write about? I like the song ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat.’ Can you write about that?”
I really like that song, too! The entries contained here are mostly about songs that can be used to teach specific musical concepts, primarily related to melodic, harmonic, or metrical concepts, and/or samples of jazz & classical music. The entries are focused on popular songs with tangible, teachable features — e.g. the epic key change in Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.” (Update: “Six Months in a Leaky Boat” made it in on the Handclaps vol. 1 list.)
In 2014, as I was starting to compile lists, I was mostly lurking on old, near-archived guitar message boards. You guitarists spend a lot of time thinking about modes & key changes, don’t you? Interspersed with blog entries about songs, you'll find longer pieces about the current state of teaching and/or popular music (or teaching popular music), and occasionally some slightly more traditional band, chorus, and general music teaching ideas & resources.
Also! Yes! In September of this year, there will be a book! A digital book, full of actual lesson plans for teachers, published by F-Flat Books, which is the best music education publishing company. If you'd like to support the labor behind writing the book before it comes out, you can also buy me the digital equivalent of a cup of coffee.
If you're just dying for it, you can read my CV here.
Welcome to my little corner of the world.
*When I say "popular music" I mean that which is generally released for commercial distribution in the 20th century popular music model. All of which was essentially born of jazz and/or rock & roll, which means it is all music born of the African diaspora.
I don't necessarily mean music students are familiar with. The most popular entry on this blog — ever — is about The Stranglers' "Golden Brown", which was a British single from the early 1980s. Kids will be weirded out by that, I promise, so you should play it in class as much as possible.
Incorporating Music Theory Learning through Popular Music Listening found in Action-Based Approaches in Popular Music Education
The Ed Podcast Conversation 60 (thanks Shane!)
West Music blog Music ConstructED
Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, TikTok @rebelmusicteach
