Music Theory: Answering “The Why”
i was at rehearsal the other night when the question came about where should somebody start who wants to know more about music theory.
fair enough, but talk about an unintentionally loaded question. if you picked up a few books from the library they would start out with the fundamentals (notes, clefs, keys, scales, intervals, chords…), but after you learned that information what would you really have learned and what could you do with it?
i think when somebody says they want to learn music theory what they really are wanting to know is really “how does music work”. on that hand i don’t think many books do a great job (although i’d encourage others to happily prove me wrong and i’ll share that info).
along the lines of my previous theory post (making the simple more complex) is that learning ‘theory’ should be synonymous with teaching how music works; the skills needed how to create music i.e. composition (and implicitly imitation) rather than teaching students how to only analyze and dissect music.
thinking about this in practical terms this would mean making some big changes on how I would teach lower level theory fundamentals, asking students to transcribe and analyze a melody and/or chord progression that they liked (pain in the ass to grade). the big point here is to figure out how intervals and chords work in the context of a real piece of music (unlike the traditional way of teaching them divorced from the actual music making experience)
to skip ahead a bit the big point I’m continually trying to make is that:
- the best way to learn music theory is to analyze music that is ‘interesting’ (to us)
- this analysis should focus on answering the question ‘why?’
- learning music fundamentals (and music theory) should be connected to answering ‘the why?’
making the simple more complex?
I’m starting to think we should teach theory by performance practice. pieces by bach, beethoven, and handel can be so different that without context these pieces can be incompressible to most students.
- is it possible to learn it all? (western canon of art music)
- if not what should we study?
- the ‘best’ pieces?
- the most commonly performed? and what do we leave out?
no matter which pieces we decide to study i really think the sooner we can start looking at music from the it’s elements (form, melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre) the more relevant our teaching will be of the skills needed to decode and perform music.
at the end of the day we need to find better ways to make the complex more simple instead of the simple more complex
the trees without the forest
well i made it…
as i’m starting to wade through the piles of paperwork i have to grade i’m slowing down enough to finally start to reflecting and assessing this fall. as semesters go it was one for my record books: 3 schools, 19 units, and 2 new classes.
its not that i haven’t been here before. i had 11 preps (separate classes) that met over a 6 day schedule at during my first two years teaching 5-12 instrumental music at a private school. i almost forgotten what it felt like, but now i clearly now remember that feeling of controlled insanity so that i’m ok with a normal class load for quite some time.
one of the things that i really try and stress with my young teachers is that we should always self-assess and reflect when the memories are still fresh. taking a break and waiting until we are rested or even the week before school starts can dull the our highs and lows. so as i’m grading papers and reading stacks of student reflections i figure its time to give it a go. (especially to remind me that now matter how good the money is 19 units is too much)
music 111 (music theory, level 1)
i think its my 3rd or 4th semester in a row teaching this class of enthusiastic freshman who have always have a wide range of skills coming into college. unfortunately at least a third have any experience with any music fundamentals (i’d say half class has problems reading clefs outside their primary instrument). we call this class music theory, but its really music fundamentals in which the goals are pretty simple: know all your clefs, keys, intervals, and chords. be able to do basic part writing and analize short musical examples.
overall i have been pretty happy with my teaching, but my main problem is that the low students really don’t seem to improve. my main strategy to combat this has been much repetition through worksheets, daily drills and speed tests (where they are required to give answers and explanations), but i’m not really comfortable seeing the slower students in my class (who attend pretty regularly) not improve and seem to be guessing in the final exam. i’m also not really happy with the overall curriculum and textbooks (which i clearly see the results with my music ed students who cannot really analyze a score or discuss its musical elements, but i’ll get to this in another post when i talk about my mused classes).
conceptually i’m know what the problem is. we are teaching music theory like they used to teach phonics in elementary school.
2/3 of the students do fine with this pedagogy and i’m sure they would figure out how to regurgitate anything we ask them to. the main skills we want our students to learn are fine (voice leading, score analysis), but our strategies of teaching them about the trees without the forest (by endless manipulation of exceprts because they fit easily into classroom pedagogy) has resulted in many of our students knowing how to resolve a 7th chord and and write a secondary dominant but have little or no idea about how music ‘works’
all i know is that after four years of trying to build a better moustrap inside the most common theory pedagogy its time for me to head out on that lonely journey (well not so lonely, michael rodgers discusses these problems in great detail in his book; teaching approaches in music theory) of trial and error that he calls “synthesis of comprehenisve musicianship, eartraining and analysis”
next up; music educaiton classses, music in early childhood and my instrumental music practicum class
balance
teach, grade, eat, sleep is about all I do these days.
this summer it looked like I was going to be seriously underemployed so I am very grateful and lucky to even have the option of paying my bills. things are better now and i’m glad the sky didn’t completely fall in.
last spring i knew things were going to be bad when i heard that california was immediately starting a hiring freeze because of lower than expected tax receipts. then came word that the california state university system (my employer) was to immediately cut 10% from the fall 08 budget. in past years these cuts and might have been restored after a budget was passed, but the way things were going we would be lucky if the cuts stopped only at 10%.
to make a long story short, three days before school started i also got a call from a local community college who needed somebody to teach two classes the saturday before school started. since then its been a radical change of pace to be more than fully employed (19 units) and teaching many new classes (early childhood music and music appreciation, but this new schedule has reinforced my ongoing quest for the proper balance between time and money.
it’s great knowing that I can pay the bills for at least 5 more months, but with the way the economy is going I have to really wonder how much freelance teaching work will be available next spring or fall. of course at the end of the day this is all fair (and i guess somewhat expected) in the life of an adjunct faculty member. I have no tenure, but lots of flexibility to perform and compose compared to the my previous jobs as a secondary school band director (5-12). this summer (while waiting too see what my schedule would be in the fall) it really brought home the reality that i have a quite low paying job (a full-time adjunct faculty member makes 1/3 of the pay of a tenured professor) with little job security I quickly realized how this job becomes far more stressful in an economic downturn and is making me seriously reconsider my employment options.
right now i’m kind of living in the moment, day by day and lecture by lecture. i’m really enjoying teaching high school kids again (even if it is music appreciation) and could see and have contemplated going back into the secondary classroom for a much more stable and higher paying job. after getting a taste of the 40+ hour work-week i have been reintroduced to that endless cycle of teaching, grading and sleeping that leaves little room for anything else. tonight i’m grading music music theory and going over my lesson plans and lectures before tomorrow. i like it quite a bit, teaching a good class is almost as invigorating as playing a great show, though right now it would be nice to have time for both.
is this balance possible? well at least probably not teaching as an adjunct professor at a 4 year college. although adjunct faculty are notoriously treated like shit (since i don’t have a terminal degree and i expect it from my “peers”), teaching music fundamentals, music theory and music education classes have been very stimulating, but unless i’m willing to pursue a PHD and frequently relocate around the country to start my “career”, i’m keeping myself in the lowest caste of academia with no chance of financial advancement (or job security)
in august i was seriously considering heading back to be a full time “band director”, its a great job, but already i know that if i have the responsibility of teaching 5 classes a day that i can’t possibly have enough time for writing and performing. although the money is good (a tenured professor and a public school teacher make about the same pay), but running back to the safety of a full time job in secondary education isn’t going to give me any balance.
right now i’m not exactly sure what my solution is, but i guess our little financial crisis is helping motivate me to move on to the next thing. i’m not quite sure what that is yet, but my gut tells me that staying in place hoping things will work out isn’t such a good idea.
please stand by…
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