Rathgeber, J., & Rathgeber, W. (Forthcoming). Approximating by ear: A scaffolded approach. In B. Powell & G. D. Smith (Eds.), The Modern Band Handbook: Practical Perspectives and Lessons for Music Educators. Oxford University Press.

Description: In this chapter, we describe a series of scaffolded activities with pedagogical suggestions for teachers to help younger/beginning learners develop their competencies with creating approximations of personally and culturally meaningful songs. We present a structure that centers listening-centric learning and scaffolded exploration, making use of tasks common to modern band literature as well as the personal practices of many popular musicians. We encourage you to personalize, reorder, and remix the ideas below to best meet the desires and needs of the learners with whom you work. 

Rathgeber, J. (2017). A place in the band: Negotiating barriers to inclusion in a rock band ​ setting. In G. D. Smith, M. Brennan, P. Kirkman, Z. Moir, & S. Sambarran (Eds.), Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education (pp. 369-381). London, UK: Routledge.

Introduction: In this chapter I discuss means of fostering inclusive music making experiences as demonstrated in the practices of a music therapy rock band, the Smooth Criminals. The band uses many adaptive strategies to mitigate physical barriers to participation that may be useful in other music learning spaces. The band’s practices provide means of identifying and negotiating social barriers deeply rooted within popular and informal learning practices.