Read my doctoral dissertation here.
I profiled three hip-hop educators based in New York City: Toni Blackman, Martin Urbach, and Brandon Bennett. I examined their teaching practice, their value systems and guiding beliefs, and how their personal identities shape their approach to the music. In the second phase, I had the opportunity to put the results of the first phase into practice when I co-taught the NYU Steinhardt Popular Music Practicum for Music Education. My portion of the class was devoted to songwriting, culminating in a rap songwriting project. We also did series of reflective and critical readings about and discussions of issues of race and cultural appropriation. Through interviews with students and a study of their projects, I will identify the methods and frameworks that might be put into practice in music education programs going forward.
- Toni Blackman on the wisdom of the cypher
- Brandon Bennett: the ethnopedagogical remix
- Rap transcriptions
- Mr Ethan, I want to hear you rap
- Future jazz
- White people with acoustic instruments covering rap songs
- The orchestra hit as a possible future for classical music
- About my writing process
