For many, traditional music education summons memories of noisy band and orchestra rooms, antiquated choir chorales and, of course, learning to play the recorder. And while these staples can help build a strong foundation, connecting with today's music students in a meaningful way requires something more…

In a recent essay, GRAMMY Music Education Coalition executive director Lee Whitmore details his traditional music education prepared—and didn't prepare—him for success in the classroom. What was missing? Cultural and social relevance were missing, according to Whitmore.

"Being culturally responsive means teaching music where kids are, and with what interests them," he writes. "It means using songs by Bebe Rexha or Wiz Khalifa before an American folk song. It means teaching kids to play a synthesizer, electric guitar or drum kit, not just a violin or recorder."

Executive Director Lee Whitmore shares his perspective on modern music education curriculum and the gaps we need to fill. ft. @whitmorel https://t.co/eTkyKV53DW

— GRAMMY Music Education Coalition (@GRAMMYMusicEd) July 21, 2019

Techniques like these ignite interest and effort in students, and Whitmore doesn't stop there. He outlines how relevant music programming can and should go beyond the rote textbook-to-recital progression and be truly creative and original.

"Being culturally responsive means having students write and record the music they practice, not just playing it onstage at a holiday or end-of-year concert," he writes.

Connecting with students means meeting them where they are regardless of where they come from. For example, Whitmore relates the experience of visiting schools in the Metro Nashville Public School District. At one such school, John Overton High School, "students represent more than 100 countries and 50 languages in its approximately 2,000 students." These impressive numbers create incredible opportunity for culturally responsive school music programming. Whitmore lauded their efforts, writing, "The district’s approach in this high school and its feeder middle schools is impressive and “culturally responsive.” Of the many musical options at Overton—which include band, orchestra and choir—entering students who don’t speak English have the option to take a world percussion class."

Other schools in the Metro Nashville Public School District offer Mariachi ensemble, modern band—with guitars, drums, basses, microphones and songwriting—and many other nontraditional music classes, according to Whitmore.

Whitmore's aim is not to disregard the value of traditional music education, nor to wax progressive about pop-culture classroom gimmicks, but rather to enrich and support music education with materials that speak to the individual students.

"To be clear, I’m not just sharing an opinion about relevant music education here," he writes. "My narrative makes a case for much more. While my traditional pre-service music education was outstanding, it didn’t completely prepare me to be successful with our most important constituent in the public education system: individual students, regardless of their background or path to a particular community or school."

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— GRAMMY Music Education Coalition (@GRAMMYMusicEd) May 5, 2019

In an increasingly data-driven world, especially in the field of education, it's easy for the creative and expressive power of music and the students it reaches to get lost in the margins. But Whitmore makes two seemingly opposite yet complimentary and game-changing points: the research backs up the benefits of quality music education with hard numbers. And yet, the most important constituent in the public education system is, in fact, the individual student. Regardless of where these individual students come from, it should be the mission of the over 100,000 music educators employed by U.S. schools to "offer a combination of the basics with contemporary and culturally responsive approaches to music that draw in and engage all students."

To read Whitmore's essay in full, visit the Washington Post. To learn more about the GRAMMY Music Education Coalition, visit the organization's website.

2020 Music Educator Award Quarterfinalists Announced

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Twenty-five music teachers have today been announced as semifinalists for the Music Educator Award, an annual award, presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, that supports and celebrates music education and music educators across the U.S. The 25 semifinalists, who hail from 25 cities across 17 states, were selected from a pool of more than 2,000 initial nominations from across all 50 U.S. states. Finalists will be announced in December, and the ultimate recipient of the 2024 Music Educator Award will be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2024, days ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs.

Nominations for the 2025 Music Educator Award are now open.

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Presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, the Music Educator Award recognizes current educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the music education field and demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. The Award is open to current U.S. music teachers. Anyone can nominate a teacher — students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators — while teachers are also able to nominate themselves; nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application.

Each year, the recipient of the Music Educator Award, selected from 10 finalists, receives a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school's music program. The nine additional finalists receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining 15 semifinalists, among the group announced today, will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants.

The Music Educator Award program, including honorariums, is made possible by the generosity and support of the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Read More: 5 Organizations And Scholarships Supporting Music Education

The full list of the 2024 Music Educator Award semifinalists is as follows:

Name	School	City	State
Dawn Amthor	Wallkill Senior High School	Wallkill	New York
Jeremy Bartunek	Greenbriar School	Northbrook	Illinois
William Bennett	Cane Bay High School	Summerville	South Carolina
Meg Byrne	Pleasant Valley High School	Bettendorf	Iowa
Ernesta Chicklowski	Roosevelt Elementary	Tampa	Florida
Michael Coelho	Ipswich Middle and High School	Ipswich	Massachusetts
Drew Cowell	Belleville East High School	Belleville	Illinois
Marci DeAmbrose	Lincoln Southwest High School	Lincoln	Nebraska
Antoine  Dolberry	P.S. 103x Hector Fontanez	Bronx	New York
Jasmine Fripp	KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School	Nashville	Tennessee
J.D. Frizzell	Briarcrest Christian School	Eads	Tennessee
Amanda Hanzlik	E.O. Smith High School	Storrs	Connecticut
Michael Lapomardo	Shrewsbury High School	Shrewsbury	Massachusetts
Ashleigh McDaniel Spatz	Rising Starr Middle School	Fayetteville	Georgia
Kevin McDonald	Wellesley High School	Wellesley	Massachusetts
Coty Raven Morris	Portland State University	Portland	Oregon
Trevor Nicholas	Senn Arts at Nicholas Senn High School	Chicago	Illinois
Vicki Nichols	Grandview Elementary	Grandview	Texas
Annie Ray	Annandale High School	Annandale	Virginia
Bethany Robinson	Noblesville High School	Noblesville	Indiana
Danni Schmitt	Roland Park Elementary/Middle School	Baltimore	Maryland
Kevin Schoenbach	Oswego High School	Oswego	Illinois
Matthew Shephard	Meridian Early College High School	Sanford	Michigan
Alice Tsui	New Bridges Elementary	Brooklyn	New York
Tammy Yi	Chapman University	Orange	California

Learn more about the Music Educator Award and apply to the 2025 Music Educator Award program now.

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It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown. The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton, who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic, psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis, Silk Sonic, and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat, respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels, while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic. There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism. Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and "Norma" is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers, from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea

Moniquea's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat.

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo, is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether.

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