Zukas, Alex. “Different Drummers: Using Music to Teach History.” (1996)

In this article, Zukas argues that since music shapes the lives of students, history teachers should use music in the classroom to engage their students. Using music in the history classroom is the same as using any primary source, and should be analyzed using the same reflective and critical skills used in approaching another document. The author believes that music can be integrated into history courses at all levels, and he focuses on integrating music into an introductory college world history course. He suggests asking general questions about the music, allowing students to create connections, and then following up with questions more specific to the piece of music or time period in question. He further suggests using brief excerpts of music since they can be repeated if necessary and allow time for discussion. Music can be used both to help students understand a distant past and make connections between events of the current century and the present.  After providing this general outline, he provides concrete examples of how he has integrated music into his world history courses.