Teaching music theory fundamentals creatively

Abstract

Traditional textbooks on music fundamentals and theory, including those that prepare for tertiary study, typically follow a normative sequence of topics and methods that assume a uniformity of student perception of signs and graphic material. For the most part they present the topics without taking into account active learning, cognitive load, or the creative pathways through which the Western world has inherited the body of knowledge. Traditional music theory textbooks can at times mystify the student through normative assumptions of how music symbols are perceived, inviting perceptual error and confusion in a subject, which too often seemingly defies logic. In this chapter I argue for recognition of latent creative potential in music notation and theory instructional methods, through recognition of creativity across three parameters: the creativity of the inventors of notational systems, creativity in the methods of presentation of material, and utilization of the creativity which the learner brings to the learning task.