Songwriting as Musicological Inquiry: Examples from the Popular Music Classroom

Drawing upon firsthand experience developing and assessing such assignments and contextualizing these projects within the best practices developed in music education, this essay argues that songwriting and composition exercises, coupled with guided reflection and analysis, can offer rich opportunities for students to engage creatively with key musical concepts, to learn about musical structure and style through hands-on activities, and to reach a strong understanding of the various ways that music can signify meaning across time and social settings.