Fundamentals of Music Theory: Blending for Fluency and Interdisciplinary Learning

Streaming Media

Submission Type

75-minute Hands-on Workshop

Abstract

Music, as one wag put it, is the food of love. While the praises of music theory are sung less sumptuously (if sung at all), before the feast is the cookbook. In this workshop we will showcase a suite of on-line tools for blending an introductory music theory course, a course designed to teach non-musicians the basic ingredients and techniques that underpin musical preparations in the Western-European musical tradition. These tools were developed with the goals of helping students achieve mastery of basic skills more quickly in order to create more time in the course for understanding the historical and cultural contexts in which these tools operate. That is, tasks best learned through autodidactic practice and repetition were transferred outside of class time, making room for topics that lend themselves to critical argumentation and in-person discussion. Participants in this workshop will be treated to a microcosm of the class, divided into several courses: a mini-lesson on some musical skills precedes a live demo of the course’s site, then the session is turned over to practice, experiment, and discussion (participants will find it useful to have a laptop or tablet). For dessert, we present paired quantitative and qualitative approaches to assessing student learning and project success, and preview future developments we are planning based on the experience so far. Play on!

Session

Workshop

Location

Thomas 104

Start Date

5-17-2017 9:00 AM

End Date

5-17-2017 10:20 AM

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May 17th, 9:00 AM May 17th, 10:20 AM

Fundamentals of Music Theory: Blending for Fluency and Interdisciplinary Learning

Thomas 104

Music, as one wag put it, is the food of love. While the praises of music theory are sung less sumptuously (if sung at all), before the feast is the cookbook. In this workshop we will showcase a suite of on-line tools for blending an introductory music theory course, a course designed to teach non-musicians the basic ingredients and techniques that underpin musical preparations in the Western-European musical tradition. These tools were developed with the goals of helping students achieve mastery of basic skills more quickly in order to create more time in the course for understanding the historical and cultural contexts in which these tools operate. That is, tasks best learned through autodidactic practice and repetition were transferred outside of class time, making room for topics that lend themselves to critical argumentation and in-person discussion. Participants in this workshop will be treated to a microcosm of the class, divided into several courses: a mini-lesson on some musical skills precedes a live demo of the course’s site, then the session is turned over to practice, experiment, and discussion (participants will find it useful to have a laptop or tablet). For dessert, we present paired quantitative and qualitative approaches to assessing student learning and project success, and preview future developments we are planning based on the experience so far. Play on!