CanRock classroom: Two pre-service teachers’ experiences of a popular music pedagogy course in Canada

Research on popular music pedagogy tends to centre on teaching and learning practices related to school-aged students; less research has focused on the training of pre-service teachers. We present the perspectives of two pre-service teachers on their experiences taking the first iteration of a popular music pedagogy course at a university in Canada as part of their music education studies. The examination we present is limited to one site and two pre-service teachers’ perspectives, but focuses on some important themes including group dynamics, songwriting, integrating technology and learning popular music instruments. We begin by surveying some recent related literature on popular music pedagogy before outlining our purpose and method. Then, we detail the underpinning ‘informal learning’ ethos of the course and provide a course description. Finally, we present our findings on the two pre-service teachers’ experiences with the course and conclude with a brief discussion that contextualizes these results with related literature.