Using popular music to teach music literacy to 5th and 6th grade students in general or Kodaly music classes

Although the inclusion of popular music in curricula has been endorsed by MENC and validated by research, a critical gap exists between what is being taught and what concerns the musical preferences of youth culture. The primary purpose of this study is to examine popular music repertoire from different eras in American music history suitable for use in a 5th and 6th grade general music curriculum. The objective is to find popular music literature that has musical value based on inherent concepts that can be practically applied to music literacy and learning within an established Kodaly curriculum.;Teacher and student surveys were conducted to gather qualitative and quantitative data to examine the current sentiment of music educators concerning the use of popular music and determine students' recognition and preference of popular music from the 1950s to 2000.;From this study, the researcher concludes that:1) Music educators desire to find and utilize popular song material with clear examples of musical concepts that are time-worthy and appropriate in theme and language. 2) Recognized and preferred popular music selections from 1950--2000 contain musical concepts of form, beat/rhythm, melody and harmony.;As a result of this study, the following recommendations are made: 1) An expanded survey of teachers is needed to reveal the true sentiment and goals of general music teachers concerning the use of popular music in non-performance, upper elementary general music classes. 2) Utilizing the information from this study and others like it, music educators may design lesson plans based on the familiarity and preference of popular music among their students. Future research could determine the effectiveness of using popular music to learn inherent, musical concepts.