Music Pedagogy Commons^™

Applications Of Information Literacy To Teaching Independent Music Analysis, Katrina Roush

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

Undergraduate and graduate music students learn many tools beneficial for music analysis, and they practice applying these tools to music in their music theory classes. However, they often struggle to perform useful analysis on their own without the guidance of an instructor. They can have trouble understanding that analysis should communicate their personal interpretation of a work, and they may not realize that independent analysis usually requires some preparatory work (analytical research),such as discovering if others have analyzed the work and learning new analytical methods. This article shows that there is a strong connection between various steps in the music-analytical …

Report On The 2023 Workshops In Music Theory Pedagogy At The University Of British Columbia, Jason Yin Hei Lee, Kaylee Therieau

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Reviews Of A New Approach To Sight Singing, 7th Edition By Sol Berkowitz; Gabriel Fontrier; Leo Kraft; Perry Goldstein; And Edward Smaldone And Progressive Sight Singing, 4th Edition By Carol Krueger, Karin Buer

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Review Of Improvising Fugue: A Method For Keyboard Artists By John J. Mortensen, Bryan Espinosa

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Volume 38, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

“Duet Me”: Music Theory Pedagogy In The Age Of Social Media, Alyssa Barna

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

In this article, I outline a possible use of social media platforms in the music theory and ear-training classroom using a model assignment on (but not exclusive to) TikTok. I show how students can work collaboratively and musically in a platform they may use in everyday life to promote collaboration and engagement with musics and people outside the walls of the university. From this study, I extrapolate themes that illustrate both the benefits and pitfalls of social media use (pedagogically and otherwise). The first section situates social media platforms among the variety of technologies used in theory classrooms in the …

Ungrading In The Music Theory Classroom: A One-Year Case Study, David E. Orvek

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

In this paper, I present a summary of and critical reflection upon an alternative assessment practice known as “ungrading” that I used during the 2023–24 academic year. My version of the practice involved providing students with feedback without grades and letting students determine their own final grades through a process of guided self-assessment. Many students’ reactions to ungrading were positive. Some reported being able to focus on learning rather than grades, and even skeptical students admitted some benefits. Ungrading benefited me in various ways as a teacher, but there were challenges as well. Some students struggled with the lack of …

Engaging Aural Skills Students With Model-Eliciting Activities, Aaron Galliher

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This mixed-methods study explores how using Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) in an aural skills classroom can promote student motivation and engagement. MEAs require students to create models to solve progressively complex problems. As students develop and refine their models, they engage in a testing and iteration process that prioritizes learning over final outcomes, which fosters student empowerment. The specific MEA implemented was focused on music transcription skills and used the MUSIC Inventory of Motivation survey to assess student motivation and engagement, complemented by follow-up interviews that explain the results of the survey. Many students scored high on this survey and expressed …

Conference Review: Society For Music Theory Annual Meeting, Jacksonville, Florida, November 7–10, 2024, William Marvin, Jeremy Orosz

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Harmony, Texture, And Timbre In Popular Culture: Undergraduate Edition, Alexa Valles, Sophie Andersen, Aidan Ramos, Leonardo Huerta-Lina

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to compare the way students describe their favorite music with observable musical parameters such as harmony, texture, and timbre, and 2) to develop a database of current music that can be used in the theory classroom to study harmony, timbre, and texture. We seek to contribute to a growing body of work that debunks stereotypes such as popular music is too simple and therefore not productive to study within the music theory curriculum. However, we believe that musical fluency is strengthened when students study a variety of music styles. Our study identifies …

The Heyman Project: A Multimedia Anthology For The Undergraduate Classroom, Anna Stephan-Robinson

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

The Heyman Project is a multimedia anthology designed for flexible use throughout the undergraduate core music theory curriculum. It is also appropriate for use in high school music theory classes. Featuring music by American composer Katherine Ruth Heyman (1872-1944), the resource consists of four pdf documents: a student packet and a sample worksheet/lesson, along with instructor’s editions of the same documents. The student packet contains sheet music for 13 songs, each preceded by a brief note giving historical and/or theoretical background. The worksheet, designed for a first-year theory class, features the song “Elysion,” and focuses on diatonic modes, melodic construction, …

One Bite At A Time: Writing In The Theory Classroom, Jennifer Shafer England

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

Prose writing in the music theory classroom is often a daunting task for both instructors and students. For instructors, the very thought of the heavy grading load associated with writing assignments combined with the difficulty that we know students encounter when writing about music (especially if students’ general written communication skills are still developing) can be overwhelming, even if we personally believe that our students would benefit from engaging in written communication about music. For many students, communication in written form is a skill that they are still developing, and writing about music only adds an additional challenge—especially when they …

Rhythmic Theory Pedagogy, Ways Of Knowing, And Experiential Learning, Ben Duinker

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This article proposes an approach to rhythmic theory pedagogy that foregrounds the intersection of performance, creation, and analysis. Daphne Leong’s recent work on this intersection uses the German verbs wissen (knowing that), können (knowing how), and kennen (knowing of) to describe the different kinds of knowledge generated and utilized by theorists and performers. I use Leong’s theory to identify a mismatch, or gap, between what undergraduate students learn about rhythm in the theory classroom and what their practical needs are as music majors—a plurality of whom specialize in performance. As a means of remedying this mismatch, I use David Kolb’s …

Volume 37, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

Volume 37 of the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy.

Reining In Pitch And Pitch-Class Motives: Rules For Improving Analytic Outcomes In The Tonal Theory Classroom, Brent Auerbach

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

Pitch-based motives proliferate in many styles of music and are routinely covered in undergraduate instruction. The treatment motives receive, however, is usually cursory. Tonal theory instructors have many reasons for skimming the motivic analysis unit, among them time pressures, underestimating the topic’s complexity, and the influence of textbook design. This standard rushed approach yields poor outcomes in which students are unable to reliably identify recurrences of a small set of motives over any musical span. They are as likely to apply brackets and labels indiscriminately to too many (trivial) events as they are to under-analyze large stretches of motivically-significant events. …

Chopin Prelude In C, Op. 28 No. 1: Reductive Analysis Worksheet, Gabe Fankhauser

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This two-page assignment on Chopin’s brief but sophisticated Prelude in C, op. 28, no. 1 is designed for use in advanced undergraduate or graduate music theory courses involving reductive techniques or form. The primary question requires students to write a simple SATB- style reduction of the piano score. The first measure is given as example. Completion of the entire assignment would likely take more than one day. Other questions guide students to consider questions of motivic development, narrative, Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Mean, and performance. Suggested readings are provided to guide students interested reading more about prolongation (voice-leading graphs) …

Mode Mixture In John Mayer's Continuum, Gabe Fankhauser

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This one-page assignment is designed for use in undergraduate music theory or graduate music theory review courses. Two questions, one involving part writing and the other analysis, involve popular songs by John Mayer, “Stop This Train” and “Gravity,” both from his 2006 album Continuum. Both questions require some familiarity with mode mixture or borrowed chords, particularly iiø65, as well as basic part writing principles, secondary dominants (V7/V), and figured bass. The product of the student’s part-writing is a reduction of “Stop this Train,” in which seven different chords can be traced to convention tonal harmony and voice leading, yet with …

Volume 36, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Set Class 014 And Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, Gabe Fankhauser

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This one-page assignment on set class 014 and Schoenberg’s “Nacht” is designed for use in undergraduate or graduate courses involving analysis of 20th-century music. The main question requires students to trace 014 trichords in the introductory measures. A chart of pitch classes approximating location in the score simplifies the task. Other questions guide students to consider questions of meaning, specifically connecting abstract trichords to the narrative of the music, which exemplifies Expressionism. A separate PDF provides a key and commentary for instructors.

Introduction To Modes, Daniel Lee

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This lesson will introduce the Lydian, Mixolydian, and Dorian modes, as well as connect the major and minor scales/keys to the terms of Ionian and Aeolian. Students will need to know the WT/HT sequence within major and minor scales before receiving this lesson, and the visuals in this lesson include examples in treble, bass, and alto clefs. Also, musical excerpts and review/assessment examples are given in various keys.

This lesson is appropriate for undergraduate or high school theory students, or for anyone desiring a review of modes. During the lesson an acknowledgement of the system of assigning modes to specific …

Volume 35, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Music Theory Examples In Video Game Music, Brent Ferguson

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This living document is a list of theory concepts in video game music. These examples are meant to be a supplement in the music theory classroom. Each composer is linked to a wiki the first time they are mentioned. Transcribers (trans.) and arrangers (arr.) are credited for each example. The song title link leads to a YouTube video of the cue. The transcriber link leads to the respective lead sheet at VGLeadSheets.com. I believe music theory is highly interpretative; what I hear may not be what someone else hears. If you hear something different or feel something is blatantly wrong, …

Volume 34, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

G. P. Telemann’S Exercises In Singing, Keyboard-Playing, And Thoroughbass (Ed. And Trans. Derek Remeš), Derek Remeš

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

In recent years, scholars and pedagogues alike have increasingly recognized the creative potential of thoroughbass. Yet too often, thoroughbass instruction today still lacks good models. G. P. Telemann’s Exercises in Singing, Keyboard-Playing, and Thoroughbass (1733–34) fills this need. This collection contains forty-eight short, simple arias with thoroughbass realizations by Telemann himself. Telemann also provides brief commentary to each aria. This important collection is presented here for the first time as a modern pedagogical edition with English translation (Vol. 1), worksheets for realization (Vol. 2), and audio recordings (with and without voice part). As Telemann’s title suggests, the didactic possibilities are …

A Compendium Of Voice-Leading Patterns From The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries To Play, Sing, And Transpose At The Keyboard, Derek Remeš

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

An original Compendium of baroque and classical voice-leading patterns offers a wealth of historically informed teaching materials for today's pedagogues. Drawing from recent scholarly trends in the German-language music-theoretical community, the historical approach offered here is at odds with many aspects of current Anglo-American music theory pedagogy. Chief among these is the absence of any reference to Roman numerals, chordal roots, or chordal inversion in the Compendium. Instead, a thoroughbass-centered approach is favored, in which the scale degree of the bassline is the primary analytical annotation. This encourages contrapuntal, rather than harmonic, considerations to come to the fore. The voice-leading …

Volume 33, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Scale-Degrees Six And Seven In Minor, Stephen Gosden

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Teaching With Chopsticks And A Rhythm Clock, Paula Telesco

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

When teaching rhythm, it can be difficult to convey the concept that beats are not just attack points but have a full duration, which can be divided into many parts; it can also be difficult for students to understand how those divisions and subdivisions do or do not coincide. I have created a number of rhythm clocks (attached) that include color-coded Ta ka di mi syllables (red) and 1 ee and uh counting syllables (blue) to show the division and subdivision of the beat into 2, 3, 4, and 6 parts, and to show simple and compound divisions and subdivisions …

Open Educational Resources For Undergraduate Music Theory, Kyle Gullings

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This 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 …

An Ecossaise Exercise: Lesson Plan And Materials For A Class In The Second Week On Tonicization, Jonathan Guez

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This 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 …