Knowing the Children We Teach

Danette Littleton is a retired professor of music education and a former music teacher in elementary and preschools. She lectures and writes on children’s musical development, specifically the relationship between music learning and play. Her first book When Music Goes to School: Perspectives on Learning and Teaching is available through Rowman and Littlefield.Meryl Sole teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education at New York University and Teachers College, Columbia University. She is an active researcher who focuses on the musical lives of toddlers, musical parenting and popular music education.

• PrefaceEssay 1. Born to be GoodEssay 2. Music and the Aesthetics of CareEssay 3. What Children NeedEssay 4. Music and the Spiritual ChildEssay 5. Children’s Play with MusicEssay 6. Wonder-filled Knowing and LearningEssay 7. Knowing Those Who TeachEssay 8. Toward a Pedaogy of HopeConclusionAppendixReferencesAbout the Authors

In this book Danette Littleton and Meryl Sole explore the nature of chlldren: their worlds of imagination, creativity, spontaneity, play, care and resilience and the many musical experiences that contribute to these worlds. Drawing on an interdisciplinary array of literature and on the testaments of multiple teachers, Littleton and Sole develop a child-based framework for music teaching, with attention both to the characteristics and needs of children of varying cultural and musical identities and social attributes. Throughout the essays, vignettes illustrate the ideas being discussed in a highly accessible way. The insights from this book provide a unique perspective on teaching that is valuable to music teachers and teacher trainers alike.