The Impact of the Application of Critical Pedagogy for Music Education in the Middle School Guitar Class: An Action Research

The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of the principles of Critical Pedagogy for Music Education as an intervention for teaching and learning to play the acoustic guitar in a Middle School beginning guitar class. The researcher sought to investigate the extent to which an eight step lesson planning model developed by Abrahams could reorient, focus, and motivate the children to know the world of guitar music in order to transform it.

Research questions that connected to the tenets of Critical Pedagogy for Music Education framed this action research. Over the period of one year, lesson plans were developed to better connect the guitar course content to the children’s world. Data were collected from student journals and videotapes and analyzed for patterns and themes. The results confirmed that the application of the principles of Critical Pedagogy for Music Education, as delivered in the eight step lesson planning model, was an effective intervention for the Middle School guitar class. The researcher suggests further research to apply these principles at the Middle School level.