KU music education and therapy professor publishes new book

Debra Hedden, associate professor of music education and music therapy at the University of Kansas, has published a new book entitled, Threading the Concept: Powerful Learning for the Music Classroom. This new release will be available from Rowman and Littlefield Publishers on September 28.

Threading the Concept focuses on a unique pedagogical approach of using one concept at a time to help children learn through singing, moving, performing, listening, reading/writing, and creating music. There are two segments of the book: the first focuses on how children learn and how teachers teach; the second is a host of model lessons that offer learning experiences based on a particular concept — melody, harmony, rhythm, or form — at each grade level. Dr. Hedden has presented a number of workshops related to the idea of threading the concept through all music learning experiences.

Hedden received a B.M. in music education from the University of Iowa, an M.A. in music education from the University of Northern Iowa, and an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in music education from the University of Northern Iowa. She has been recognized as an outstanding teacher in Iowa by MENC and IMEA, named in MENC's Teaching Music, October 2000 and received various teaching awards at UNI. At KU, she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in music education and has founded the KU Youth Chorus (KUYC) in which both undergraduates and graduates work with her in conducting weekly choral rehearsals.