"This Class Was Highly Useless": Reformulating an Unpopular Music Theory Course for Non-music Majors | Zendy

Igor Coelho A. S. Marques | Zendy

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"This Class Was Highly Useless": Reformulating an Unpopular Music Theory Course for Non-music Majors

Author(s) -

Igor Coelho A. S. Marques

Publication year - 2022

Publication title -

engaging students essays in music pedagogy

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

ISSN - 2689-2871

DOI - 10.18061/es.v8i0.7694

Subject(s) - syllabus , popularity , repertoire , class (philosophy) , music education , mathematics education , sociology , psychology , pedagogy , computer science , art , literature , social psychology , artificial intelligence

This essay first examines how a course of music theory for non-music majors at the University at Buffalo experienced a serious drop in popularity between 2016-2019, suggesting the following as contributing factors: snowballing complexity, overtaxing homework expectations, reliance on non-relatable repertoire, and lack of in-class music-making. Then, it recounts in detail how the adoption of a new syllabus addressed these particular issues and how the students reacted to these new methodologies, hoping to provide the reader with an example of an emerging inclusivity-focused paradigm in music theory pedagogy.

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