Welcome to the APME Liverpool 2025 conference. Here, you’ll be able to register for the conference and update your Sched profile. We encourage you to browse the various presentations and to create a custom schedule. If you have any questions, please visit our conference website or contact us at conference@popularmusiceducation.org We look forward to coming together as a community July 22–24, 2025!
Sign up or log in to add sessions to your schedule and sync them to your phone or calendar.
“The jam session is…the…true academy ” according to Ralph Ellison. Jam sessions continue to exist and have branched out into other styles, like blues, rock, and funk, better known as “open jams.” Where do open jams and PME align and conflict? How do we better create “the true academy”?
This study explores how adolescents in two distinct regions -- rural Ireland and Los Angeles county -- discover the songs that become the soundtracks to their lives. In an age of infinite content and evolving technology, this research creates a window into the musical world of our high school students.
Arranging and interpreting pop songs collaboratively, with groups of 10, 15 or 25 members, is a challenging and rewarding experience. I want to show how we can tackle these group processes by offering structure and cultivating openness. After a warm-up with participatory elements, we sing and play a pop song together. I give some input to get started, and then leave space for developing ideas. We will make the song our own by changing roles and taking artistic decisions together. Own instruments are welcome!
The presenter describes his work as a professor and provocateur at a US university. The presenter gives drum kit performances in a university art gallery, modeling noisy, relational resistance in co-musicking as fundamental to a necessary paradigm shift to counter perpetuation of racist, regressive social policy in the United States.
Join Drs. Davis, Kennedy, and Wacker as we present our analysis of Journal of Popular Music Education articles (2017–2024). We’ll explore trends in research methods, participant types, and topics, compare findings with other music education journals, and discuss emerging gaps and future directions in the field.
Classical and media composers face contrasting workflows: classical composers create polished scores for musicians, while media composers create realistic audio demos for nonmusicians. This demonstration bridges the gap, teaching composers to balance quality and efficiency by creating realistic mock-ups within notation software using sample libraries, playback engines, and DAWs.
This panel explores how music education can better support students’ mental health by addressing industry-related challenges. Attendees will gain insights into current training gaps, discover successful wellbeing initiatives, and leave with practical tools to foster resilience, self-awareness, and sustainability in the next generation of musicians.
Composing and Improvising in the Music Classroom: Ideas and techniques to support the early stages of group composition, encouraging creative music-making. Designed to develop key skills in performing, listening, composing, and improvising by breaking down a musical example into simple rhythmic and melodic riffs, transforming it, improvising on its various elements before using these as the basis for pupils own creative compositions.
New music technologies have created opportunities to explore science, technology, engineering and math, through the art of music. This demonstration is for teachers, students, and music technologists who are interested in connecting music with STEM. An interactive demonstration of software and hardware tools for educators and students will be provided.
This paper outlines the interdisciplinary approach taken in an undergraduate module in which music students to analyse visual aspects of their promotional materials and performances. Theories from disciplines including persona studies, visual studies, image studies, performance studies, audio-visual studies and fashion studies are synthesised to inform constructively critical analysis.
The session examines gender and positionality in digitally-supported music education, highlighting how media reinforce stereotypes. It critiques the exclusion of marginalized groups through biased technology and representation. Solutions include positionality, active unlearning, and counter-storytelling, fostering inclusivity in music education by addressing power structures and promoting reflective, creative practices.
This presentation explores the integration of video game music (VGM) into higher education curricula as a tool for teaching popular music. I illustrate how VGM can serve as an effective pedagogical tool for engaging students in the study of popular music history, theory, composition, and performance at the tertiary level.
This interactive workshop offers practical strategies to support neurodivergent students in music education. Participants will explore inclusive teaching techniques, engage in hands-on activities, and leave with a toolkit for fostering creativity, wellbeing, and resilience—both in the classroom and throughout students’ careers in the music industry.
While popular genres are slowly being integrated into music theory curricula, many university music programs continue to struggle with how to accomplish this task while serving the needs of their entire student body. This session is meant to foster a discussion of solutions, both tried and untried, failed and succeeded.
How do collegiate R&B ensemble directors gain and develop their knowledge for teaching R&B music? How do these ensemble directors employ their expertise in their instructional contexts? This session will present the findings of a dissertation study that focused on the pedagogical content knowledge of three collegiate R&B music instructors.
This presentation explores how AI skill sets can be taught and assessed in degree-level popular music education to enhance employability. It examines effective teaching methods, assessment strategies, and real-world applications, ensuring graduates are AI-literate and industry-ready. The session will discuss best practices and future opportunities for text-generative AI in popular music education.
This study explores the role of music as a resource for the social inclusion of migrants and refugees, addressing linguistic, cultural, and social barriers. Qualitative research and practical activities examine how musicking fosters belonging, identity, and cohesion, contributing to more equitable and inclusive educational and social environments.
This project centres around music literacy education practices and teaching 'active consumption', a phrase and method for combining various states of critical thinking about popular music. It also focuses on determining teaching methods that prioritise students' own interpretations and independence over binary correctness and incorrectness.
This session explores how popular music set works are analyzed in GCSE and A Level curricula, questioning the authenticity of current methods. It highlights gaps in traditional frameworks, suggesting inclusive pedagogical approaches to better represent the cultural and stylistic dimensions of popular music for deeper student engagement and learning.
The Colombia Workshop explores traditional Colombian music through movement, rhythm, and collaborative creation. Participants engage in interactive activities, discovering diverse pedagogical tools and traditional repertoires. The workshop fosters reflection, dialogue, and hands-on experiences, enhancing teaching methodologies while celebrating Colombia’s rich musical heritage.
Terminology in vocal studies often varies, causing confusion for vocalists trying to develop their skills. This presentation highlights research on vocal pedagogy in HPME, addresses the disparities in terminology used for vocal studies and introduces the creation of a unified framework that integrates language and terminology from various existing vocal pedagogies.
Popular music related materials exist in archives, museums, libraries, and private collections, providing knowledge and evidence of events, individuals, institutions, and cultures. This paper consider the role of artefacts in popular music higher education, the treatment of the curator, and collections as a tool for narrative building to be fostered through more inclusive and considered circumstances.
This paper will reflect on a survey conducted that studies developments in instrumental popular music grades for the guitar. Drawing on other scholarship and experiences, the paper observes how the establishment of these examinations in the 1990s and their subsequent developments have shaped the opinions and approaches of music students.
