While the nature of music education is predominately aural, the profession itself has evolved its practices to use visual, kinesthetic, cognitive, and affective pedagogies that have strong interdisciplinary advantages. For example, music can be used to teach grade school children about their bodies through kinesthetic musical cues (i.e. “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”) or grammatical mechanics through catchy melodies like those found in the American Broadcast Company’s learning series, School House Rock. Additionally, students can use some of the masterworks in music as well as the relevancy of popular music to make connection to historical events and social movements. An example of this type of learning can be seen in making the connections between hymns and spirituals and period music from Detroit’s Motown Record Company and how they spurred several events within the 1960’s Civil Rights
While the nature of music education is predominately aural, the profession itself has evolved its practices to use visual, kinesthetic, cognitive, and affective pedagogies that have strong interdisciplinary advantages. For example, music can be used to teach grade school children about their bodies through kinesthetic musical cues (i.e. “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”) or grammatical mechanics through catchy melodies like those found in the American Broadcast Company’s learning series, School House Rock. Additionally, students can use some of the masterworks in music as well as the relevancy of popular music to make connection to historical events and social movements. An example of this type of learning can be seen in making the connections between hymns and spirituals and period music from Detroit’s Motown Record Company and how they spurred several events within the 1960’s Civil Rights