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<FONT FACE="Lucida Grande"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Jane: A profound — and sobering -- reply --- thanks for that. In this context I would like to put in a plug for the “Royal Conservatory” 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.<BR>
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(quote from Wikipedia)<BR>
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<B>The Royal Conservatory of Music</B>, also known as <B>The Royal Conservatory</B> or <B>RCM</B>, 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 Conservatory’s head office is located in Toronto , Ontario . It was founded by Edward Fisher in 1886 as <B>The Toronto Conservatory of Music</B>. 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.[<BR>
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Dave Headlam <BR>
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p.s. Canada is north of Minneapolis.<BR>
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p.p.s.s yes, that is King George VI — the father of the current Queen of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II.<BR>
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On 11/21/10 11:31 AM, "Jane Clendinning" <<a href="jclendinning@fsu.edu">jclendinning@fsu.edu</a>> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>Colleagues,<BR>
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I would like to pick up on elements that Ildar raised. He correctly notes: “For a comparison, nobody outside the clarinet community can teach clarinet at a college level. It is out of question.” 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! <BR>
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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 can’t 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. . . <BR>
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. . . 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.<BR>
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Jane Clendinning<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Lucida Grande"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'> <BR>
</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Jane Piper Clendinning<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Professor of Music Theory<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Florida State University<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>College of Music <BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Tallahassee, FL 32306-1180<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Office phone: 850-644-3424 to leave message<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Email: <a href="jclendinning@fsu.edu">jclendinning@fsu.edu</a><BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Lucida Grande"><FONT SIZE="2"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>-- <BR>
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Dave Headlam<BR>
Professor of Music Theory<BR>
Joint Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering<BR>
Eastman School of Music / The College<BR>
The University of Rochester <BR>
26 Gibbs St.<BR>
Rochester, NY 14604<BR>
<a href="dheadlam@esm.rochester.edu">dheadlam@esm.rochester.edu</a><BR>
<a href="http://theory.esm.rochester.edu/dave_headlam">http://theory.esm.rochester.edu/dave_headlam</a><BR>
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