The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy

Description

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. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Supplemental Materials Part I: Fundamentals 1 Music Theory and Working Memory 2 Putting the Music in “Music Fundamentals” 3 A Cornucopia of Accidentals 4 Contouring as a Powerful Tool for Pitch Awareness 5 Incorporating Melodicas into the Music Theory Classroom 6 Music Fundamentals Games Part II: Rhythm and Meter 7 Introducing Musical Meter through Perception 8 Starting from Scratch: Representing Meter Using Simple Programming Tools 9 “Computer Programmed With Just One Finger”: Transcribing Rap Beats with the Roland TR-808 10 Rebeaming Rhythms: Helping Students “Feel” the Need for Correct Beaming 11 Clapping for Credit: A Pedagogical Application of Reich’s Clapping Music 12 Hindustani Tāl: Non-Western Explorations of Meter Part III: Core Curriculum 13 Small-Scale Improvisation in the Music Theory Classroom 14 The Cognitive and Communicative Constraints of Part-Writing 15 Voice-Leading Detectives 16 Harmonic Sequences Simplified: The First Week of Instruction 17 Grading the Song 18 Finding the Implied Polyphony in the Minuet II from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major 19 Using Tendency Tones to Teach the Morphology and Syntax of Chromatic Harmony 20 Apply Yourself! An Active Learning Lesson Plan for Introducing Secondary Dominants 21 Plot Twists: Narrative Pivots and the Enharmonic Augmented-Sixth Chord 22 Chromatic Mediants through the Context of Film Music 23 How to Analyze Chromatic Lament-Bass Harmonizations (Without Tears) 24 Introduction to Common-Tone Diminished-Seventh Chords 25 “It’s an N, bro”: Teaching Enharmonic Reinterpretations of Fully Diminished Seventh Chords by Ear Part IV: Aural Skills 26 Defending the Straw Man: Modulation, Solmization, and What to Do with a Brain 27 Speaking Music 28 Finding Your Way Home: Methods for Finding Tonic 29 Error Detection in Aural Skills Classes 30 In Search of Hidden Treasures: An Exercise in Symphonic Hearing 31 An Aural Skills Introduction to Twelve-Tone Music: Dallapiccola’s “Vespro, Tutto Riporti” Part V: Post-Tonal Theory 32 Setting Sets Aside: Prioritizing Motive, Text, and Diversity in Post-Tonal Analysis Courses 33 Teaching and Learning Early Twentieth-Century Techniques at the Keyboard 34 Starting the Twentieth Century with a Bang!: A Lesson Plan for Whole-Tone Scales in Tosca 35 Twentieth-Century Polymodality: Scalar Layering, Chromatic Mismatch, and Symmetry 36 Twelve-Tone Study Using Symbols in Dallapiccola’s “Fregi,” from Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera 37 Integral Serialism – Analysis of Gerhard, String Quartet No. 1, mvt. 3 38 Mapping Symmetry and Form in George Crumb’s “A Prophecy of Nostradamus” Part VI: Form 39 Principles of Form 40 Recomposing Phrase Structure 41 Teaching Musical Structure through Disney Songs 42 From Theory to Practice: How to Compose a Sentence 43 Incorporating Latin-American Popular Music in the Study of Musical Form 44 Binary Form through the Music of Underrepresented Composers 45 A Form-Functional Approach to Binary Form Analysis 46 Exploring Ternary Form through the Lens of Analysis-Performance in a Mozart Aria 47 Sonata-Allegro Form: Understanding the Drama 48 Concerto Form: Transforming a Sonata into a Concerto Part VII: Popular Music 49 Popular Music in the Theory Classroom 50 The Beatles’ “Day Tripper”: A Tortured Stretching of the Twelve-Bar Blues 51 Making Borrowed Chords ‘Pop’: Teaching Modal Mixture through Popular Music 52 Chromatic Mediants in Popular Music Part VIII: Who, What, and How We Teach 53 Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching Music Theory at Community Colleges (and Elsewhere) 54 More Than Just Four Chords: Teaching Music Theory/Aural Skills to Music Industry Majors 55 Instructing a Range of Experiences within the Music Theory Classroom 56 Music Theory Pedagogy and Public Music Theory 57 Analytical Podcasting 58 Designing for Access in the Classroom and Beyond 59 Music Analysis and Accessibility in the Music Theory Classroom 60 Accommodating Dyslexia in Aural Skills: A Case Study 61 Writing Exams Cooperatively with Students 62 What Should an Undergraduate Music Theory Curriculum Teach? (And, Alas, What Most of the Time We Don’t) 63 Strategies for Revising Music Curricula for the Twenty-First Century: A Case Study 64 Putting It Together: Rethinking the Theory Curriculum 65 Adapting the Aural Skills Curriculum: A Move Away From “The” Right Answer 66 Cultivating Curiosity: Questions, Relevance, and Focus in the Theory Classroom 67 Using Video Technology in Music Theory Assignments 68 Incorporating Improvisation in a Theory Class on Contemporary Music Notes on Contributors Credits Index