The field of
music education
Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origin ...
contains a number of
learning theories
Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or ...
that specify how students learn music based on behavioral and
cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning.
Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which ...
.
[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 279]
/ref>
Classical learning theory
While formal music education has roots going at least as far back as the Hebrews in Egypt[Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, ''A History of American Music Education, Third Edition'' (2007: New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education), 5.] or the ancient Greeks,[Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, ''A History of American Music Education, Third Edition'' (2007: New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education), 9.] challenges arose as music became more specialized and technically complex after the 5th century BCE in Ancient Greece and as the development of notation shifted music education from training in singing to training in music reading.[Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, ''A History of American Music Education, Third Edition'' (2007: New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education), 24–25.] Educators and theorists such as Odo of Cluny
Odo of Cluny (French: ''Odon'') ( 878 – 18 November 942) was the second abbot of Cluny. He enacted various reforms in the Cluniac system of France and Italy. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. His feast d ...
and Guido d'Arezzo
Guido of Arezzo ( it, Guido d'Arezzo; – after 1033) was an Italian music theorist and pedagogue of High medieval music. A Benedictine monk, he is regarded as the inventor—or by some, developer—of the modern staff notation that had a m ...
in the 10th and 11th centuries explored methods to teach these new developing notational practices.Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
as universities abandoned music as a part of their curriculum in the mid 16th century,[Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, ''A History of American Music Education, Third Edition'' (2007: New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education), 29–30.] while the Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
later brought some changes to music education, Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Luther ...
among other individuals suggesting that music, poetry, and history be added to standard education curriculum.[Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, ''A History of American Music Education, Third Edition'' (2007: New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education), 32.] In the 17th century, John Amos Comenius
John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is consider ...
recommended music education for religious purposes and designed a methodology to do so, as Richard Mulcaster
Richard Mulcaster (ca. 1531, Carlisle, Cumberland – 15 April 1611, Essex) is known best for his headmasterships of Merchant Taylors' School and St Paul's School, both then in London, and for his pedagogic writings. He is often regarded as ...
encouraged universal education including singing and playing as standard curriculum.[Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, ''A History of American Music Education, Third Edition'' (2007: New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education), 34–36.] By the 19th century the conservatory model became more common outside of Italy alongside a number of choir schools which provided education as well as practical music experience.[Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, ''A History of American Music Education, Third Edition'' (2007: New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education), 38.]
20th century
Mainstream pedagogy and examination of how students learn theory rose to prominence in the 20th century by theorists and educators beginning with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (6 July 1865 – 1 July 1950) was a Swiss composer, musician, and music educator who developed Dalcroze eurhythmics, an approach to learning and experiencing music through movement. Dalcroze eurhythmics influenced Carl Or ...
, Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...
, and Carl Orff
Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata '' Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education.
Life
Early life
Ca ...
, and followed by Shinichi Suzuki
was a Japanese musician, philosopher, and educator and the founder of the international Suzuki method of music education and developed a philosophy for educating people of all ages and abilities. An influential pedagogue in music education of ...
, Edwin Gordon, and Valeri Brainin
__NOTOC__
Valeri Brainin (aka ''Willi Brainin'' and ''Brainin-Passek'', russian: Валерий Борисович Брайнин ''(Valeri Borissovich Brainin)'' ), Russian/German musicologist, music manager, composer, and poet.
Born January ...
among others. Later research into educational learning theories in the 1960s places emphasis on behavioral
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as we ...
, cognitive
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought ...
, and constructivist thinking.[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 280]
/ref> The Tanglewood Symposium
The Tanglewood Symposium was a conference that took place from July 23 to August 2, 1967, in Tanglewood, Massachusetts. It was sponsored by the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) in cooperation with the Berkshire Music Center, the Theodore ...
of 1967 and the Music Educators National Conference Goals and Objective Project in 1969 were other early examples of the growing movement of applying modern developments in sequencing curriculum.[Mark, M. Contemporary music education (2nd ed.) (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986)]
Behavioral learning theories and music education
Behaviorism examines relationships between the environment and the individual with roots in early 20th century work in the German experimental school.[Lynn Dierking, "Learning Theory and Learning Styles: An Overview," ''The Journal of Museum Education'' Vol. 16, No. 1 (1991): 4–6.] Theories by researchers such as Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov ( rus, Ива́н Петро́вич Па́влов, , p=ɪˈvan pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈpavləf, a=Ru-Ivan_Petrovich_Pavlov.ogg; 27 February 1936), was a Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist, psychologist and physiol ...
(who introduced classical conditioning
Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. food) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. a triangle). It also refers to the lear ...
), and B.F. Skinner
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.
C ...
(operant conditioning
Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning process where behaviors are modified through the association of stimuli with reinforcement or punishment. In it, operants—behaviors that affect one's environment—are c ...
) looked at how environmental stimulation could impact learning, theorists building on these concepts to make applications to music learning. The research of Clifford Madsen, Robert Duke, Harry Price
Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent spiritualist mediums. He is best known for ...
, and Cornelia Yarbrough build on the operant conditioning model focusing on guiding "good" or "successful" teaching by analyzing the role of appropriate reinforcement such as praise and feedback on musical discrimination, attitude, and performance.[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 281]
/ref> Later studies also examined music itself as a mechanism of reinforcement, such as research by Greer (1981) and Madsen (1981).
Cognitive learning theories and music education
Cognitivism (psychology), Cognitive theories of learning, often viewed as the antithesis of behavioral theories,[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 282]
/ref> attempt to map how individual learning processes relate to already-familiar knowledge.Gestalt psychology
Gestalt-psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward ...
serves as the foundation for many applications to music learning theory.
Fred Lerdahl
Alfred Whitford (Fred) Lerdahl (born March 10, 1943, in Madison, Wisconsin) is the Fritz Reiner Professor Emeritus of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on musical grammar and c ...
and Ray Jackendoff
Ray Jackendoff (born January 23, 1945) is an American linguist. He is professor of philosophy, Seth Merrin Chair in the Humanities and, with Daniel Dennett, co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He has always stra ...
(1983) theorized on musical grammar based on Chomsky's linguistic theories, arguing that "acoustic information triggers mental operations that impose order onto input. If there is sufficient exposure to music, musical understanding will occur through enculturation rather than formal training."[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 283]
/ref>
Other cognitive learning theories are also based on research in early childhood education
Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is up to the equival ...
, motor learning
Motor learning refers broadly to changes in an organism's movements that reflect changes in the structure and function of the nervous system. Motor learning occurs over varying timescales and degrees of complexity: humans learn to walk or talk over ...
, hemispheric dominance, and information theory
Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification, storage, and communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley, in the 1920s, and Claude Shannon in the 1940s. ...
.[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 284]
/ref>
Constructivist learning theories and music education
Constructivism (philosophy of education), Constructivist theories of learning, largely developed by Jean Piaget
Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology ...
,[Ernst von Glasersfeld, "An Exposition of Constructivism: Why Some Like It Radical". ''Journal for Research In Mathematics Education,'' Monograph 4, (1990): 19–29 & 195–210. ISSN 0883-9530]
/ref> accept the relation between the individual and the environment as crucial for understanding the process of learning in a more holistic perspective than cognitive and behavioral models.Kurt Lewin
Kurt Lewin ( ; 9 September 1890 – 12 February 1947) was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the United States. During his professional career Lewin applied h ...
, also considered the 'father' of social psychology, used Gestalt theory to develop his field theory
of learning, a model that emphasizes "context familiarity as an important descriptor of how individuals learn and process information."[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 284–285]
/ref>
Modern constructivist applications to music education include research by Roger A. Rideout, Stephen P. Paul, Geraint Wiggins and others.[Laurie Taetle and Robert Cutietta, ''Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research'', 285]
/ref>
Sound before sight
Contemporary music pedagogies emphasize ''sound before sight'', or the idea that in order to develop an understanding of music and music notation, individuals must first become comfortable with listening to, singing, and performing tonal and rhythm patterns before reading and writing music.[Peggy Dettwiler, "Developing Aural Skills Through Vocal Warm-Ups: Historical Approach of Pedagogical Approaches and Applications for Choral Directors," ''The Choral Journal,'' Vol. 30, No. 3 (1989): 13–15, 17–20]
/ref>[Alice M. Hammel, "Review Work: The Development and Practical Application of Music Learning Theory by Maria Runfola, Cynthia Crump Taggart," ''Music Educators Journal,'' Vol. 92, No. 5 (2006): 22–23]
/ref>[Ann Marie Musco, "Playing by Ear: Is Expert Opinion Supported by Research?" ''Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education,'' No. 184 (2010): 49–64]
/ref> Modern studies by Luce (1965), McPherson (1993, 1995, 2005), and Bernhard (2004) all suggest a significant positive correlation with playing by ear and the ability to sight read,[Ann Marie Musco, "Playing by Ear: Is Expert Opinion Supported by Research?" ''Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education,'' No. 184 (2010): 54–54]
/ref> and experimental research by Haston (2004) and Musco (2006) also suggest that spending classroom time playing by ear does not negatively impact students' abilities to develop music reading skills.[Ann Marie Musco, "Playing by Ear: Is Expert Opinion Supported by Research?" ''Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education,'' No. 184 (2010): 57–58]
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Education
Music education, *
Music theory