The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy

Front Cover
Leigh VanHandel
Routledge, Feb 19, 2020 - Music - 514 pages

Today’s music theory instructors face a changing environment, one where the traditional lecture format is in decline. The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy addresses this change head-on, featuring battle-tested lesson plans alongside theoretical discussions of music theory curriculum and course design. With the modern student in mind, scholars are developing creative new approaches to teaching music theory, encouraging active student participation within contemporary contexts such as flipped classrooms, music industry programs, and popular music studies.

This volume takes a unique approach to provide resources for both the conceptual and pragmatic sides of music theory pedagogy. Each section includes thematic "anchor" chapters that address key issues, accompanied by short "topics" chapters offering applied examples that instructors can readily adopt in their own teaching. In eight parts, leading pedagogues from across North America explore how to most effectively teach the core elements of the music theory curriculum:

  • Fundamentals
  • Rhythm and Meter
  • Core Curriculum
  • Aural Skills
  • Post-Tonal Theory
  • Form
  • Popular Music
  • Who, What, and How We Teach

A broad musical repertoire demonstrates formal principles that transcend the Western canon, catering to a diverse student body with diverse musical goals. Reflecting growing interest in the field, and with an emphasis on easy implementation, The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy presents strategies and challenges to illustrate and inspire, in a comprehensive resource for all teachers of music theory.

 

Contents

Putting the Music in Music Fundamentals
3
Contouring as a Powerful Tool for Pitch Awareness
14
Incorporating Melodicas into the Music Theory Classroom
Music Fundamentals Games
Introducing Musical Meter through Perception
Representing Meter Using Simple Programming Tools
Helping Students Feel the Need for Correct Beaming
A Pedagogical Application of Reichs Clapping Music
Integral Serialism Analysis of Gerhard String Quartet No 1 mvt 3
Mapping Symmetry and Form in George Crumbs A Prophecy of Nostradamus
Form
Recomposing Phrase Structure
How to Compose a Sentence
Binary Form through the Music of Underrepresented Composers
Exploring Ternary Form through the Lens of AnalysisPerformance in a Mozart
Transforming a Sonata into a Concerto

NonWestern Explorations of Meter
Diatonic harmony
The Cognitive and Communicative Constraints of PartWriting
VoiceLeading Detectives
Grading the Song
Finding the Implied Polyphony in the Minuet II from Bachs Cello Suite No 1 in
Chromatic harmony
Apply Yourself An Active Learning Lesson Plan for Introducing Secondary
Chromatic Mediants through the Context of Film Music
Introduction to CommonTone DiminishedSeventh Chords
Modulation Solmization and What to Do with a Brain
Speaking Music
Methods for Finding Tonic
An Exercise in Symphonic Hearing
Dallapiccolas Vespro Tutto
Prioritizing Motive Text and Diversity in PostTonal Analysis
Teaching and Learning Early TwentiethCentury Techniques at the Keyboard
A Lesson Plan for WholeTone
Scalar Layering Chromatic Mismatch
TwelveTone Study Using Symbols in Dallapiccolas Fregi from Quaderno
A Tortured Stretching of the TwelveBar Blues
Chromatic Mediants in Popular Music
Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching Music Theory at Community Colleges
Teaching Music TheoryAural Skills to Music
Instructing a Range of Experiences within the Music Theory Classroom
Music Theory Pedagogy and Public Music Theory
Analytical Podcasting
Designing for Access in the Classroom and Beyond
Music Analysis and Accessibility in the Music Theory Classroom
A Case Study
Writing Exams Cooperatively with Students
What Should an Undergraduate Music Theory Curriculum Teach? And Alas
A Case
Rethinking the Theory Curriculum
Questions Relevance and Focus in the Theory Classroom
Using Video Technology in Music Theory Assignments
Notes on Contributors
Credits
Copyright

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About the author (2020)

Leigh VanHandel is Associate Professor of Music Theory at Michigan State University.

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