[Smt-talk] Princeton and Theory

[Dave Headlam]

Jane:  A profound ‹ and sobering -- reply --- thanks for that.  In this
context I would like to put in a plug for the ³Royal Conservatory² system
that I was fortunate to grow up within (musically) in Canada.  With this
system of graded instruction, each level has music theory and skills
built-in, and you have to perform prepared pieces, do sight-reading,
on-the-spot dictation, and pass a written rudiments/theory exam at each
level.  For those of you writing textbooks, I highly recommend you look at
the RC books / system.  A blurb is below if you are interested.

(quote from Wikipedia)

The Royal Conservatory of Music, also known as The Royal Conservatory or
RCM, provides music and arts   education, evaluative standards, publishing
and performance to people of all ages and stages across Canada and around
the world in pursuit of its mission to develop human potential. The Royal
Conservatory¹s head office is located in Toronto , Ontario . It was founded
by Edward Fisher  in 1886 as The Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1947
George VI  incorporated the Conservatory  through royal charter. Notable
alumni include Glenn Gould , Oscar Peterson , Diana Krall, and
world-renowned sopranos Measha Brueggergosman  and Isabel Bayrakdarian.
Michael Foulkes is the current Chair of the Board  and Dr Peter Simon is the
President.[


Dave Headlam 

p.s.  Canada is north of Minneapolis.

p.p.s.s  yes, that is King George VI  ‹ the father of the current Queen of
the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II.


On 11/21/10 11:31 AM, "Jane Clendinning" <jclendinning at fsu.edu> wrote:

> Colleagues,
>  
> I would like to pick up on elements that Ildar raised.  He correctly notes:
> ³For a comparison, nobody outside the clarinet community can teach clarinet at
> a college level. It is out of question.² Yet most beginning clarinetists begin
> their study (in the US at least) taught by someone who is likely not a
> proficient performer on clarinet‹they are taught by band directors, whose main
> instrument likely is a brass instrument or percussion, or perhaps, if a
> woodwind instrument, it would be saxophone.  Students coming into our
> universities who audition in on clarinet likely already play better on their
> instrument than the person who first taught them does!
>  
> The oddity about university teaching of music theory and history is that, for
> most students, we have to start with the most elementary elements . . . and
> cannot assume any sort of specific preparation on the part of our incoming
> students.  Compared to the performance areas where students must pass an
> audition to show at least some training and skill, students often come into
> the university with NO prior training in either music theory or music
> history‹a problem lamented often among those teaching music theory at the
> university level (indeed, there was a recent stream of conversation on
> smt-talk about this issue).  As far as what they know about music theory, many
> students can¹t read music notation, and have very little idea about
> nomenclature for even basic elements of western music, such as meter and
> pitch--basic skills normally taught in a music fundamentals or rudiments
> class.  There are quite a few members of SMT who have been working on
> improving the teaching of music theory in high schools (and their feeder
> schools at the elementary and middle school level) through the AP Music Theory
> programs, where high school students are taught basic music theory; the
> quality of these courses depends on the training of teachers, and some of us
> are working to improve that also.  This type of program is helpful for
> students who have access to it, because they should have command of the basics
> and an introduction to content in first year university theory curricula, and
> be ready to review this material and move on to more advanced content, while
> others (who may be very talented performers) will have little or no background
> in the basics and little or no aural training.  Those very basic elements
> potentially could be taught well by anyone who knows how to read notation,
> even as beginning clarinet techniques are taught by music educators who know
> the basics but are not expert performers, and in many university settings, the
> basics of notation reading are taught by music theory graduate students, or by
> faculty who are not trained as music theorists.  Teaching anything of
> substance beyond the basics is another matter. . .
>  
>  . . . and all the more reason for universities to hire persons (no matter
> what their degree name) who have intensive training in and deep understanding
> of music theory and who are active in music theory circles (which means they
> have a way to continue learning) to teach music theory content beyond the most
> basic.  Our incoming undergraduates often have much content to catch up on, to
> develop the foundational theory and analytical skills they should have prior
> to graduation with a degree in music, and need teachers who can help them make
> up for lost time on these content areas.
>  
> Jane Clendinning
>  
> Jane Piper Clendinning
> 
> Professor of Music Theory
> 
> Florida State University
> 
> College of Music 
> 
> Tallahassee, FL 32306-1180
> 
> Office phone: 850-644-3424 to leave message
> 
> Email:  jclendinning at fsu.edu
> 
> 
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> rg

-- 

Dave Headlam
Professor of Music Theory
Joint Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Eastman School of Music / The College
The University of Rochester
26 Gibbs St.
Rochester, NY 14604
dheadlam at esm.rochester.edu
http://theory.esm.rochester.edu/dave_headlam

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