Modern Band: A Review of Literature

Abstract

The recent increase in popular music education in K–12 school music programs is in part due to the expansion of modern band programming throughout the United States. Modern band is a term used to describe school music ensembles that include popular music instruments and focus on performing music that is meaningful to the students while incorporating songwriting. The purpose of this literature review was to examine relevant research related to modern band music programs in the United States and provide implications for music teaching and learning. Music researchers and professionals have recently addressed specific issues related to increasing the diversity of school music programs, addressing elements of culturally responsive curricula, and positively affecting the social and emotional development of students through modern band. Throughout this literature review, I provide implications for music teachers and discuss areas for future research.

Inservice Music Teachers’ Vernacular Practices: A Self-Study of Curricular Application

“…Students (Blackwell et al, 2022;Mercado, 2019) and music teachers (Kastner, 2014;Vasil, 2019) have benefited from popular and informal music-making in the classroom, particularly in cultivating 21st-century skills (Vasil et al, 2019), energizing the Modern Band movement (Gramm, 2021;Powell, 2021;Randles, 2019), and reinforcing musical concepts and skills that students learn formally (Kastner, 2014;Weinstein & Haning, 2022). However, music teachers have disagreed about the perceived value and appropriateness of using popular music in the classroom, and how to incorporate it (Weinstein & Haning, 2022).…”

Little Kids Rock and modern band in US schools: A punk problematic

“…Over the last decade, publications about modern band programmes in the US have burgeoned (Powell, 2021). Recent research indicates that the inclusion of modern band in school music programmes can increase overall participation in school music, especially among non-White students and students who receive school assistance to pay for lunch (Clauhs and Cremata 2020).…”

“…Further deepening ties between these two organizations, and in the process muting any disruptiveness of LKR, NAfME frequently publishes articles on modern band in its research and practitioner journals (e.g. Burstein and Powell, 2019; Knapp, 2020; Powell, 2021; Vasil et al, 2019). Furthermore, as of January 2022, there is also a dedicated Modern Band Journal , a trade publication from artistpro, LLC (artistpro, 2022), which produces well regarded and widely read trade magazines to thousands of music teachers across the US.…”

An investigation of musical “boundary crossers”

“…The pedagogical implications of these findings are perhaps strongest for tertiary music educators who must help preservice teachers build a musical skill set that will serve them well in the school classroom. As abundant as calls for embracing popular music have been, few advocate a zero-sum takeover in which traditional ensembles must be abandoned and replaced—nor is this what seems to happen when popular music offerings are added to traditional ones (Powell, 2021). The same teachers who provide innovative, forward-looking school music experiences may also be stewarding time-honored school music traditions—requiring that they boundary cross and utilize “broad, versatile musicianship” to help them “solve [this] musicianship conundrum” (Taggart & Hill, 2019).…”

“…Teachers who implement popular music and/or informal learning report positive effects on student engagement and musical progress (Hallam et al, 2017a, 2017b), and a growing body of literature has begun to capture promising practices in popular/informal music education and professional development (e.g., Mercado, 2019; Powell, 2021). Still, many teachers experience “dissonances” (Mercado, 2019, p. 34) as they implement these practices.…”