A place for TPACK in popular music education: A review of existing literature

Abstract

This article is a synthesis of literature pertaining to the connections of music technology and popular music education. Music technology has become a vehicle through which music educators address the inclusion of popular music practices into existing models of music education. Making these connections has proven useful and engaging but has also helped to illuminate issues regarding technology and popular music training at the pre-service and in-service levels. Through a discussion of the role of technology in popular music education pedagogy, current collegiate curricular offerings and current professional development offerings, I argue that the inclusion of the technological pedagogical and content knowledge framework is necessary to prepare pre-service and in-service music educators to embrace popular music pedagogies. Drawing from the research conducted in various contexts, the following literature review is geared towards the music education paradigm in the United States. In the concluding section, I suggest avenues for future research and implications for pre-service and in-service music education practices.