Pedagogical Considerations. Inside Perspective (from Lamont)

Alongside the cultural and musical considerations we have provided for music educators, we have some pedagogical approaches that might also assist teachers and students engaging Hip Hop in the classroom. Research studies exploring how Hip Hop musicians learn have suggested that Hip Hop musicians learning experiences do not entirely mirror those of the guitar-based rock musicians whose experiences have dominated popular music education research in recent decades (Kruse, 2018b; Martignetti & Brewster, 2020; Millares, 2019; Snell & Soderman, 2014). Therefore, pedagogical approaches informed by Hip Hop reflect some of these differences (e.g., more solitary work, more focus on original creation as opposed to listening and copying).

Inside Perspective (from Lamont).I feel like Hip Hop is the ultimate application of project based learning and scientific process internalized. Learning by doing is in the DNA of Hip Hop’s expression as art and technique. In my experience teaching new beat makers of all ages, the younger the learner, the more likely they are to just want to start doing the thing. I set up MIDI controllers with interesting sounds that can be automatically triggered without much thought to recording, mixing, or sequencing.

Creating rhythmic patterns by playing a MIDI controller is an easy entry point into the craft. It’s weird how graduate students are afraid to just try things and want to know so many details before they start, but I get it. Sixth graders, for example, will just come in and start. If they want to record something, they let me know and I show them how. If they want something to sound better—they really want it mixed but they don’t know that yet, so we won’t hinder their zone of proximal development with that—I show them the easiest and fastest way to do it.

My style of scaffolding provides corridors taking students deeper into the craft. Hopefully, it’s done without encumbering students with information that takes up too much mental bandwidth and dims their curiosity. What educators might think of as a “learning curve” is often represented in the pedagogy of beat-making as a gap between a student’s current skill level and their artistic tastes. My responsibility as an educator is to help bridge that gap.

There is almost always some song, artist, or producer that an aspiring beat maker has heard who inspired them to start or whose sonic aesthetic they want to emulate. In the very beginning, that represents a student’s target sound. This target will define their entry point and early trajectory. For example, if a student likes Dua Lipa’s music, their point of entry into beat-making might be a deconstruction and classification of the elements and techniques used in Dua Lipa’s records. The student’s own creative work might then center around the application of similar elements and techniques.

Understanding your students’ personalities, passions, and preferences is best practice. Best practice in creating Hip Hop, R&B, and other Black musical art forms is groups of people perfecting and executing roles that they’re passionate about. Not every student wants to rap or sing, some want to make beats or write. Some want to engineer. Part of your job in the classroom in teaching this music and art form is to help students discover what roles may fit them best.

The deeper you’re willing to take your class into the culture, the more roles will become available to your students. Don’t focus only on creating and performing practices, but also make time for detailed listening. As students grow as creators, they will feel like they have a new set of ears as they listen to their favorite songs with an emerging new skill set. Just like the importance of the loop in Hip Hop composition, there is a skill development loop between listening and creating. Composing will lead to improved listening, and improved listening will lead back to improved composing.