Music might be the most overlooked teaching tool in our field. We assign documents and speeches, but what about the songs students are already streaming? A three-minute track can open a historical doorway in ways a dense essay sometimes can’t.
Take protest music. Bob Dylan, Public Enemy, Childish Gambino—different eras, same power. Students hear anger, hope, irony, and resistance embedded in rhythm and rhyme. But I push them beyond just “what does the song say?” I ask: Who was the audience? What was the risk in writing this? How does this connect to other voices of the time?
And the beauty of music? It’s visceral. Students don’t just read about history—they feel it. That’s the difference between memorizing dates and actually understanding why events mattered.
So if you haven’t built a playlist for your classroom yet, try it. You’ll be surprised how quickly students start to make connections—and how often they’ll come back the next day with new songs to add.
Happy teaching,
Ryan Wagoner
The Lyceum of History
“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.” ~Alexander the Great
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