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!
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5 Elements of Voicework is a philosophical framework and learning methodology in vocal (personal) development informed by 5 Element and Yin Yang Theories. This model has been enriched with the integration of Polyvagal Theory; presenting scope to be utilised as a teaching resource for therapeutic practitioners and those exploring creative modalities to support trauma-experienced individuals.
Soul Jazz is an approachable and listener friendly way of entry into jazz for students unfamiliar with jazz. Students and educators of all levels will be enlightened to the vast potential of Soul Jazz to inspire and motivate those unfamiliar to learn more about Jazz.
In this session, we will explore a qualitative study in which high school participants in nontraditional (modern band) music classes detailed narratives related to student agency. We will discuss the findings and implications for future research.
The AIRBAG framework offers educators an approach to exploring negotiated assessment methodology with their students to help them make personlaised meaning of their learning experiences. Utilising a combination of military debrief tactics and a inquiry focussed approach, the framework helps promote criticality and agency within HE study.
This music teacher education program includes popular music from diverse cultures throughout the curriculum. Freshmen learn guitar informally and perform cover songs in bands. Senior student teachers teach Hip Hop and Latin pop through iPad classes. The program enhances preservice teachers’ development of both comprehensive musicianship and cultural competency.
This session explores modern approaches to music course design, focusing on industry relevance, digital skills, and interdisciplinary collaboration. It examines how project-based learning and portfolio assessment enhance professional readiness and progression to HE. Attendees will gain practical strategies to align popular music education with the demands of today’s creative industries.
This presentation examines the potential benefits and challenges of implementing informal music learning in formal school music contexts and raises critical questions. This session may benefit school music teachers who wish to expand their music teaching horizons and accommodate music students’ diverse music learning needs and interests.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
As modern band programs continue to expand across the U.S., so too has the presence of modern band honor ensembles. This session will explore the process, challenges, and innovations of modern band honor ensembles, from audition to performance, with an emphasis on student agency and musical diversity.
Metadata is the key to connecting artists with their ideal audience and unlocking lucrative sync opportunities. This demonstration will discuss its significance, how it boosts discoverability, and how it can supercharge your music career. Additionally, this session provides educational tips on teaching good metadata habits to young aspiring artists.
The presentation of a simple visual decision-making model for use by musicians and music educators that guides all types of musicians to identify the different types of day-to-day decisions they encounter and make more informed choices.
This presentation will nuance the treatment technology's enculturation and audibility in order to suggest a growing area between the audibility of technology and its understanding and perception. This therefore leads to a conflation of technological sonorities and human vocal technique which can have a huge effect on the vocal health of new learners.
Teaching students to think independently requires a reexamination of ingrained cultural biases. This demonstration will discuss some of the ways in which curricular structures, creative projects, and collaborative experiences in popular music education may be designed to interrupt the feedback loop of social normalization and foster independent artistic thinking.
The BIG question: How can we balance the old with the new... academics with originality? In this session, we’ll explore ways to update music curricula so students get the best of both worlds, strong foundational skills alongside the creative tools they need to thrive in today’s professional music scene.