KS23 students can examine the value of popular music as an historical source and investigate how far the music of a particular period reflected the society which created it - eg Glenn Miller and Swing in the 1940s, or folk music in 19th-century England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. At GCSE and ASA2, use the origins of popular music as a way of examining American society. Ask students to investigate whether the segregation of black music reflected a wider segregation. They could also analyse the impact of popular music as a form of protest - against segregation, the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons and a range of other political, social and environmental issues.