Category: Session proposals

Many college-level music theory courses are structured by a pre-determined set of learning objectives. Assignments, lesson plans, and assessments are arranged around outcomes set by the instructor or curriculum, and students have little or no say in how they are chosen and acquired. This outcome-driven pedagogy can result in what Paulo Freire has called “massification,” … Continue reading Student-Centered Curriculums: Designing for Emergence in the Music Classroom

I propose a session on the use of improvisation in theory and aural-skills classrooms. How can improvisation make theoretical knowledge more operational and transferable? How can it increase student engagement and interest? How can one work with and around prior views of improvisation—e.g., the idea it is something that only jazz musicians do? What specific … Continue reading 2015 Session Proposal: Improvisation in the aural skills classroom (IP)

What is it about the doorframe of the music theory classroom that causes all the knowledge and skills students acquire within to leak out of their brains once they step into the hall? “Anna” cannot count her alto part in choir, yet she made an “A” on her meter exam last semester; “Dave” struggles to … Continue reading 2015 Session Proposal (IP): Concept and Craft beyond the Classroom

I propose a talk session that explores authentic collaborative projects and their value for music theory instruction.  In his influential book, What the Best College Teachers Do (2004), Ken Bain recognizes that such projects can foster natural critical learning environments where deep-level cognitive processing is activated and meaningful, influential learning of lasting value takes place. … Continue reading 2015 Session Proposal (IP): Learning Theory Through Authentic Collaborative Projects

I propose a session in which we discuss, share, and perhaps create (or agree to create) some communal resources (in-class activities, flashcards, analyses, games, homework assignments, you name it), for use in conjunction with the Open Music Theory (OMT) online textbook. I for one am taking the plunge and making OMT my primary resource for Freshman-level music … Continue reading 2015 Session Proposal: Developing Supplementary Materials for Use with the Online Textbook “Open Music Theory” (OL or IP)

Most flipped classrooms involve a flip of in-class and out-of-class activities and content. But what if we flipped the teacher and student roles in a course? What if students were in charge of course content? What if teachers had to do homework? This session will feature my first experiment with the role flip, from course … Continue reading 2015 Session Proposal (OL or IP): A New Flip, From Teacher to Student

Video games are fun, right? Video games are also excellent learning environments! In this session, we will investigate how video games teach players and how we can apply some of these same techniques in our classrooms. We will begin with a brief introduction to games and a discussion of what music and video games have … Continue reading 2015 Session Proposal (OL): Video Game Pedagogy

I propose a session where we discuss what student-centered learning looks like (should look like?) in graduate classes. Are there special graduate-student-specific considerations that need to be kept in mind? Continue reading Session Proposal: Graduate Student-Centered Teaching (IP or OL)

In this build session we will construct an updated list of technology tools for use in the music classroom. We will use Stephen Gosden’s list from our 2013 meeting as a point of departure. The aim of this session will be to produce a shared, updated online document that can be used as a community resource. Continue reading 2015 Session Proposal (IP and OL): Tech Tools

In this build session we will take Meghan Naxer and David Kulma’s article “Beyond Part Writing: Modernizing the Curriculum” as inspiration for the construction of a sample second-semester freshman music theory schedule that de-emphasizes (or wholly ignores) part writing.  Using the topic list from chapters 9-20 of Laitz’s The Complete Musician, participants will reconstruct and re-contextualize … Continue reading 2015 Proposal (OL): Beyond Part Writing: A Call to Action