Carolyn Wilson Digital Collections (Lipscomb Univ.)
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Music Theory Pedagogy Curricula in North America: Training the Next Generation
Get PDFInterest in music theory pedagogy is resurgent in North America. Despite two theory pedagogy texts published in the early 1980s (White, 1981/2002; Rogers, 1984/2004) and a dedicated journal, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy (founded 1987), theory pedagogy research remained somewhat marginalized at the end of the twentieth century. Recent years have brought great improvement, however. This paper reports on survey data collected from professors who coordinate theory pedagogy curricula (degrees, minors, and certificates) or teach a theory pedagogy course. It explores the design and objectives of these courses and curricula, which may serve as models for institutions considering adding pedagogy instruction. A significant new trend reported here is the development of certificate programs in music theory pedagogy that allow graduate students in performance and other non-theory majors to study theory and analysis beyond the requirements of their degree, take theory pedagogy training, and engage in supervised theory teaching. This trend bodes well for the comprehensive education of performing musicians, as well as for the next generation of theory students they prepare
The History of Music Theory and the Undergraduate Curriculum
Get PDFSince the 1950s we have made tremendous progress in our knowledge of the history of music theory; yet, apparently very little has filtered down to undergraduate textbooks. The present paper shows that other fields—particularly philosophy and mathematics, whose histories are intertwined with ours—make much more use of their own history in undergraduate education. The paper then provides a view of a historically and theoretically based curriculum that Matthew Brown and R. Wason taught at the Eastman School in 1999-2000. It finishes with a call for a “liberal book” on music theory for undergraduates, as one writer on science education has called books that provide a richer intellectual context for the scientific skills they teach (Michael R. Matthews, Time for Science Education: How Teaching the History and Philosophy of Pendulum Motion Can Contribute to Science Literacy [NY: Kluwer/Plenum, 2000]). That author contrasts this to “professional texts,” which “lack a story line: concepts, definitions, refinements, model problems and end-of-chapter exercises are the staple” (323)—an apt description of many undergraduate music theory textbooks as well
When Words Create Music: The Spontaneous Art Song Workshop and Its Value in Teaching Improvisation
Get PDFImprovisation exemplifies a valuable teaching tool in the music theory classroom. In addition to getting students out of their chairs and moving, improvisation activities allow students the opportunity to apply knowledge by experimenting in a musical context. Some students struggle more that others with improvisation, however, stating they feel they are either “doing it wrong,” or they simply don’t know what to do, and a few suggestions offered in the moment about how to improvise better are insufficient. The Spontaneous Art Song (SAS) workshop is a pilot workshop designed to help this body of students feel more confident with improvisation. As a result of the workshop, students are more confident improvising; consequently, they gain a deeper understanding of theoretical concepts when improvisation is used during instruction. In this article I show how the workshop benefits them, and speculate on its value as a pedagogical tool
Reframing Aural Skills Instruction Based On Research in Working Memory
Get PDFThis article explores the implications of research on working memory for aural skills instruction. The first half of the article shows that the system of working memory unifies Karpinski (2000)’s “component” model of aural skills cognition and demonstrates working memory’s fundamental importance to aural skills learning. The second half of the article adapts tests of working memory into exercises appropriate for the aural skills classroom
Promoting Diversity in the Undergraduate Classroom: Incorporating Asian Contemporary Composers’ Music in a Form and Analysis Course
Get PDFDespite the greater demand for inclusivity, the literature used in the Music Theory classroom is still limited; the materials for examples and analysis are mostly music drawn from the Western classical musical canon. In my effort to expand the range of analytical materials in undergraduate music theory courses, to demonstrate the continuing quest of diversifying our discipline, and to broaden music students’ experiences by exposing them to unfamiliar music, I incorporate contemporary East Asian composers’ music in my Form and Analysis course. In the first part of the essay, I discuss further the motivations and background of my decision to incorporate East Asian composers’ music in the course. In the second part of the essay, I discuss several compositions by Asian composers as implementation of these motivations. By being exposed to this unfamiliar music, I hope students will further explore and seek music that is new to them
Open Educational Resources for Undergraduate Music Theory
Get PDFThis is a collection of assignments, projects, exams, and syllabi meant to cover the entire lower-division written music theory sequence. There are over 100 unique documents available in .pdf format.
The materials include 73 worksheets on 35 unique topics (most have 2 versions to allow for practice and graded assignments), 16 larger analysis and composition projects, 16 exams on 8 unique topic sets, and 4 syllabi.
While inherently modular, these materials are designed to align with the topics found in the free online textbook Open Music Theory.
In some cases I have omitted audio links, scores, and lyrics from these materials, due to copyright restrictions. In such cases, instructors are encouraged to seek out and include the specified works, or alternate works of their choosing, for educational use.
Unless otherwise stated, all materials in this collection are copyright © 2017 by Kyle Gullings and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. I encourage others to use, share, edit, and build upon these materials, and to contact me to inform me about any such uses. Please include the following attribution anywhere the materials are posted:
Created by composer and educator Kyle Gullings, www.kylegullings.com
An Ecossaise Exercise: Lesson Plan and Materials for a Class in the Second Week on Tonicization
Get PDFThis lesson plan and accompanying slide show (PowerPoint and PDF) present secondary functions as energetic, goal-directed chords that contain a leading tone and therefore mimic the voice leading of dominant-to-tonic progressions. It is designed for use in the second week on tonicization, after students have been introduced to secondary functions. In presenting secondary dominants as chords that contain local leading tones that demand upward resolution (onto their local “tonics”), it embodies a pedagogical approach that stresses the importance of identifying a local leading tone and its upwards resolution as a prerequisite for understanding secondary function. Here, secondary leading tones are presented as necessary components of secondary functions that can help students quickly identify the targeted “tonic.”
The primary activity of the class session designed here is what I call an “Ecossaise Exercise.” I present a melody from Schubert’s Ecossaise, D. 299, No. 3, stripped of accompaniment. The melody features much potential for applied chords. Sometimes local leading tones are in the melody itself; other times, they will have to be heard. The primary lesson to be drawn from the example is that the leading-tone energy of applied chords can give away their applied function, even in the absence of harmony.
The Ecossaise Exercise is framed on the front end by some introductory material, and on the back end by further exercises. Scores, excerpts for sight singing, dictation templates, and two potential homework assignments are included in my lesson plan
Repository of Sentence and Period Examples
Get PDFThis collection of 44 short phrases, ranging from the baroque to romantic periods, is designed to help teachers quickly and easily locate musical examples for the purpose of teaching phrase structure, as well as testing students’ knowledge of the same. The collection includes numerous examples of periods and sentences, as well as compound periods. Many examples are straightforward, but there are also many that modulate, add phrase extensions, have interesting hypermetrical structures, etc. Given the variety of analytical paradigms, these examples have not been pre-analyzed. When first downloading the master PDF, therefore, I suggest analyzing each example with one’s preferred analytical lens in order to gain an understanding of the variety of examples present. In addition to the master PDF containing all 44 examples (ordered alphabetically by composer), the repository also includes high-quality JPEGs of each example, numbered according the the master PDF; this makes dragging and dropping images into homework assignments, handouts, etc., very easy. Each example (except two) has a link to an audio performance on YouTube
The Evolution of a Christian Business School\u27s Mission--Bringing Business as Mission to a Business School\u27s Mission
Get PDFColleges of business typically seek accreditation to achieve legitimacy and raise their reputations. Major business school accreditors (AACSB, ACBSP, and IACBE) all base their accreditation standards on college-created mission statements. This paper describes how one Christian business school developed a unique mission statement in response to both accreditation standards and as a spiritual transformation catalyst. This statement calls for the college to “develop business leaders who embrace the values and virtues of Jesus,” and it is now being inculcated through curricular and co-curricular activities. This paper details how three programs in particular: Business as Mission, Servant Leadership, and Service Learning—manifest and lend credence to the mission