Singing World Music: Issues and Ideas for Culturally Responsive Teaching

Implementing culturally responsive teaching is helpful when singing songs in different languages in the general music classroom. Two main hurdles exist when planning music lessons that include songs in different languages—maintaining musical authenticity and overcoming language barriers. One must then find a way to balance an aim for authenticity while also meeting instructional objectives. To help with the planning and execution of culturally responsive lessons that use songs from different countries, the author has included lesson plan examples and music notations for two types of songs in different languages—traditional and translated. There is also a table with online sources for world music.