Chapter 7 Where Is the Music in Music Theory Pedagogy?
In: Perspectives on Arts Education Research in Canada, Volume 2Search for other papers by Lori Lynn Penny in
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Abstract
My research, stemming from my observations as both a music theory teacher and a theoretical examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music, confronts a recurring educational quandary: music theory that is frequently disconnected from the music it is intended to explain. This pedagogical detachment, perceived as a split between opposing views of knowledge, privileges positivist science over interpretive art, producing “paper-and-pencil” musicians who have little or no awareness of a written notation’s sound, nor its musical sense (Rogers, 2004). Adopting LaBoskey’s (2004) assertion that one engaged in the practice of a particular profession is well qualified to investigate that practice, my research takes the form of a personal narrative focused on the critical self-scrutiny of my professional teaching experience, along with the transformative opportunity for growth inherent in my researching experience. This narrative, as an aesthetic representation of arts-based research practices (Leavy, 2015), is derived from the blurring of specific cognitive findings and less definable aesthetic knowings (Greenwood, 2012). Informed by Clandinin, Pushor, and Murray Orr’s (2007) study of experience as story, my unfolding narrative interweaves my pedagogical evolution and the scholarly perspectives that have influenced my thinking. This story, with its specific interest in alternative practices that integrate repertoire selections (art) in the teaching of music theory (science), relies on the tools of Eisner’s (1991) educational criticism for its analysis. As an exploration of music theory pedagogy with, about, in, and through music, my research provides a model for artistic “ways-of-knowing” and purposes art for the sake of scholarship.