Teaching the Core Arts Standards in Modern Band

The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards released standards for music education in 2014. These standards are guided by artistic processes and measured by performance standards specific to content areas and grade levels. As school districts in the United States adopt the Core Arts Standards for their music programs, it is imperative that modern band teachers demonstrate how their curriculum aligns with this new framework. Modern band is one approach to popular music education that is particularly well suited to address this new framework; the emphases of songwriting, improvising, critical listening, and group work in a learner-centered modern band class/ensemble are associated with a wide variety of standards. This article explores connections between popular music pedagogies and each of the processes in the Core Arts Standards and examines which standards may be most appropriate for modern band contexts.