More Than a Book: A Canadian Conversation Years in the Making
Some projects begin with a grand plan. This wasn’t one of them.
In many ways, The Why and How of Popular Music Education: A Canadian Perspective grew out of countless conversations. Conversations in conference hallways. Conversations over coffee. Conversations with students. Conversations with teachers who were asking the same questions many of us have been asking for years:
“How do I bring the music my students actually love into my classroom?”
“How can I teach popular music authentically?”
“What does popular music education look like in a Canadian context?”
Those questions eventually led Darren Hamilton and me to ask an even bigger one:
What if we created the book we wished had existed years ago?
A national conversation was about to burst onto the Canadian Music Education Scene.
Why We Felt This Book Needed to Exist
Popular music education has grown tremendously over the past two decades. There are some outstanding books and research coming from around the world, but much of it is rooted in educational systems outside of Canada. While many of the ideas are universal, Canadian educators often find themselves translating those concepts into our own curriculum documents, school systems, communities, and unique cultural landscape.
But Canada is different.
Our classrooms are different.
Our students are different.
And our stories deserve to be told.
For me, this project also represents a personal journey that has been unfolding for much of my career. The questions that eventually led to this book first emerged during my undergraduate studies, became much more tangible in my early years of teaching with starting a rock band with a group of grade 4 students at my very first school, and ultimately formed the basis of my Master’s research at Acadia University. My thesis explored the value of out-of-school musicking and informal learning in Canadian classrooms, and it fundamentally changed the way I thought about music education.
Those ideas continued to grow through my work as a teacher, curriculum writer, clinician, and presenter. They found their way into articles for the Canadian Music Educator Journal which eventually turned into books like Rock Coach, Creative Musicking, and Technology for Unleashing Creativity. Looking back, editing this volume feels like the natural next step—not simply sharing my own perspective, but helping bring together the voices of educators from across Canada.
Rather than writing another book ourselves, Darren and I felt the strongest book would come from bringing together voices from across the country. We wanted readers to hear from researchers, classroom teachers, post-secondary educators, and leaders in popular music education who have each been shaping the field in their own way.
Bringing the Canadian Music Education Conversation Together
One of the most rewarding parts of this journey was watching the community rally around the project. After putting out a national call for chapter proposals, we were thrilled by the response. Educators, researchers, and post-secondary faculty from across this vast country we call Canada submitted ideas that reflected an incredible diversity of experiences and perspectives. Reviewing those proposals was both exciting and incredibly difficult because there was so much excellent work being done.
As editors, our role quickly shifted from simply compiling chapters to helping shape a conversation. We worked closely with every contributor through multiple drafts, revisions, peer feedback, and editorial discussions. Each chapter became stronger through collaboration, and although every author maintained their own voice, a common thread began to emerge: a shared passion for making music education more authentic, creative, relevant, and meaningful for today’s learners. The result is a collection of voices that is both scholarly and practical, grounded in research while remaining connected to real classrooms and real students.
More Than Just Research
One thing I have always believed—whether writing Rock Coach, Creative Musicking, or Technology for Unleashing Creativity—is that research only matters if it helps teachers make better decisions in the classroom. That philosophy carried over into this project.
While this book is certainly an academic text, it is also a practical one. The chapters explore philosophy, pedagogy, creativity, technology, teacher education, inclusion, curriculum, informal learning, assessment, and countless other topics through a distinctly Canadian lens. More importantly, they encourage readers to reflect on their own teaching and consider new possibilities for engaging students through popular music.
Whether you’re teaching elementary general music, secondary, guitar, songwriting, music technology, gospel music, drum kit, cultural musics, or post-secondary courses, there is something here to challenge your thinking and inspire new ideas. Check out the Table of Contents below.
A Personal Milestone
Editing a volume like this is very different from writing a book alone.
When writing my previous books, I was responsible for every page. This time, Darren and I had the privilege of working alongside an incredible group of authors whose expertise often exceeded our own in their particular areas.
It was humbling.
It was challenging.
It was a tremendous amount of work.
But seeing all of those voices come together into one cohesive collection has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.
Looking back, this project feels like the culmination of many different paths coming together—years in the classroom, graduate research, conference presentations, curriculum writing, my own books, and countless conversations with music educators across Canada. While writing my previous books allowed me to share my own perspective, this project gave Darren and me the opportunity to help amplify many voices. In many ways, that’s what makes this book so special. I truly believe this book represents where popular music education in Canada is today while also helping point toward where it could go next.
Looking Ahead
My hope is that this book becomes more than just another title sitting on a university library shelf. I hope it sparks conversations, encourages teachers to try something new, or helps researchers build on the work that has already been done.
Most of all, I hope it reminds educators that popular music isn’t simply something students listen to outside of school—it’s a powerful vehicle for creativity, identity, community, and meaningful musical learning and if teachers can envision other everyday Canadians doing those things through this book, they will feel empowered to try.
If Darren and I have accomplished anything with this project, I hope it’s helping bring together a growing community of Canadian educators who believe that music education should continue to evolve alongside the students we teach.
After several years of planning, recruiting authors from across the country, editing countless drafts, and bringing together 32 perspectives from coast to coast to coast, we’re incredibly proud to finally share The Why and How of Popular Music Education: A Canadian Perspective.
If you’re passionate about creativity, popular music, and reimagining music education in Canada, I think you’ll find something in these pages that resonates with you.
And I can’t wait to hear where the conversation goes next.
Until next time, Happy Musicking.
Comments