Directors' Use and Perceptions of Popular Music in Middle School Concert Band.

The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory research study was to investigate to what extent middle school band directors incorporate popular music in their programs and how they perceive the utility of popular music in their music curriculum. Middle-school band directors in Florida (n = 52) completed a researcher-designed survey containing Likert-type and open response items related to their use of popular music. Survey items were focused on participants' incorporation of popular music into concert programming and perceived utility of popular music to achieve a variety of musical goals. Results revealed that popular music made up less than half of most directors' concert programs, and responses regarding the frequency of popular music rehearsal varied widely. Results also suggested that participants generally found popular music to be useful for motivating students and teaching musical concepts, although there were some differences in popular music usage in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]