Navigating Music Learning Theory

By Jill Reese

Edwin E. Gordon is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the field of music education, and his groundbreaking Music Learning Theory (MLT) remains one of the most significant and effective approaches to teaching music skills and content to students.Navigating Music Learning Theory, by author and educator Jill Reese, is an accessible and practical guide for general music teachers interested in incorporating the innovative concepts and ideas of Music Learning Theory in their own instruction.The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Reese provides an overview of the core pedagogical principles of Music Learning Theory, including a breakdown of its foundational Skill Learning Sequence. The second and third parts take a detailed look at Learning Sequence Activities (the tonal and rhythm patterns used to teach skills and content) and Classroom Activities (applying skills and content to songs, chants, and recordings).Central to this resource are over one hundred pages of scripted lesson plans designed to guide teachers in presenting tonal patterns, rhythm patterns, songs, and chants with efficient and pedagogically sound language. The scripted materials are intentionally flexible, allowing teachers to use them as written or to modify them for their unique teaching context.In keeping with Edwin Gordon' s ideas, Reese emphasizes the importance of balancing class instruction with individualized instruction and provides a number of tools and opportunities for assessment and tracking toward individual differences between students.Regardless of a teacher' s experience or familiarity with Edwin Gordon' s ideas, Navigating Music Learning Theory is certain to help any teacher design and implement a robust music curriculum with engaging lessons that will maximize the musical potential of each student.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Dec 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781622777310

Book preview

PART 1

SKILL LEARNING SEQUENCE

SKILL LEARNING SEQUENCE

DISCRIMINATION LEARNING AND INFERENCE LEARNING

Gordon (2007) identifies two different types of learning (see Table 1 ):

Discrimination learning

Inference learning

Music Learning Theory teachers toggle between discrimination learning and inference learning to help students develop depth and breadth of skills and content. In the context of discrimination learning levels, the teacher uses rote learning techniques to help students acquire content and develop certain skills. While these skills can be categorized as lower-order thinking skills, they provide the necessary readiness for students to engage meaningfully in higher-order thinking skills encompassed by inference learning (Hanna, 2007).

In the context of inference learning levels, the teacher acts as a guide who creates opportunities for students to use the content and skills acquired in discrimination learning to facilitate their own growth. Similar to Bruner’s (1960) concept of the spiral curriculum, Gordon (2007) suggests teachers use a technique called bridging to weave opportunities for discrimination learning and inference learning within the curriculum. Thus, students gain breadth and depth of knowledge and skills. In this section, I will describe the various skills associated with discrimination and inference learning. In addition, I will describe the process for moving from one level of the skill learning sequence to the next via stepwise and bridging motion.

Table 1. Skill Learning Sequence.

DISCRIMINATION LEARNING

During discrimination learning, teachers help students develop music vocabularies consisting of content (e.g., songs and chants, tonal and rhythm patterns, chord root melodies) while practicing various skills. Teachers model the skills and provide the answers for the students in discrimination learning. Students audiate, recall, recognize, discriminate, and perform (via audiating, singing, chanting, moving, and reading/writing).

The discrimination levels described in the following sections progress sequentially from simple to more complex skills. Beginning with the Aural/Oral level, each level acts as the necessary readiness for success at the following levels. See Table 2 for detailed descriptions of each skill learning level in discrimination learning.

Table 2. Discrimination learning skill level descriptions.

DISCRIMINATION LEARNING – LEVEL 1 – AURAL/ORAL

The first level of discrimination learning provides the basis for all future learning. Like teachers who use Kodály and Orff, Music Learning Theory teachers engage students in imitation of tonal and rhythm patterns. However, unlike Kodály and Orff, Music Learning Theory includes an Aural/Oral level during which students do not immediately apply tonal and rhythm syllables to the patterns. During Aural/Oral, the teacher introduces students to content (patterns) using a neutral syllable (typically bah for rhythm patterns and bum for tonal patterns).

Aural/Oral provides an opportunity for students to focus on the sound of the patterns without simultaneously having to apply tonal or rhythm syllables.

For tonal content at the Aural/Oral skill level:

NOTE: Though other approaches include singing tonal patterns in imitation, singing the resting tone and first pitch is unique to Music Learning Theory. When students audiate and sing the resting tone or recall and sing the first pitch of a pattern, they are compelled to progress beyond imitation and, thus, engage in audiation.

For rhythm content at the Aural/Oral skill level:

DISCRIMINATION LEARNING – LEVEL 2 – VERBAL ASSOCIATION

In the second level of discrimination learning, students apply syllables and labels to the content the teacher introduced at the Aural/Oral skill level. Because the main goal of Music Learning Theory is to facilitate audiation, the syllable system for tonal patterns is DO-based major and LA-based minor. The syllable system for rhythm patterns is function based. These systems were specifically chosen by Gordon because they support audiation development (Gordon, 2012).¹

For tonal content at the Verbal Association skill level:

For rhythm content at the Verbal Association skill level:

DISCRIMINATION LEARNING – LEVEL 3 – PARTIAL SYNTHESIS

In the third level of discrimination learning, students use the previous skills and content from Aural/Oral and Verbal Association skill levels to deepen their understanding of context (e.g., tonality or meter).

For tonal content at the Partial Synthesis skill level:

NOTE: A set of tonal patterns is a group of two or more patterns.

When performing sets of tonal patterns, pause briefly and breathe between each pattern in the set. Without the brief pause and breath, students will audiate the set of patterns inaccurately as one pattern.

For rhythm content at the Partial Synthesis skill level:

NOTE: A set of rhythm patterns extends beyond four macrobeats.

Unlike sets of tonal patterns, do not pause between each pattern in a set of rhythm patterns.

DISCRIMINATION LEARNING – LEVEL 4 – SYMBOLIC ASSOCIATION

In the fourth level of discrimination learning, students apply the skills and content from the previous levels of learning to the symbolic representation of the musical sounds. This level is separated into two complementary skills: (1) reading and (2) writing. However, reading supports and provides a necessary readiness for writing.

For tonal content at the Symbolic Association-Reading skill level:

For rhythm content at the Symbolic Association-Reading skill level:

For tonal content at the Symbolic Association-Writing skill level:

For rhythm content at the Symbolic Association-Writing skill level:

DISCRIMINATION LEARNING – LEVEL 5 – COMPOSITE SYNTHESIS

In the final level of discrimination learning, students synthesize skills and content from Partial Synthesis and Symbolic Association, and apply those skills to reading and writing with understanding of context (e.g., meter or tonality). As with Symbolic Association, this level is separated into two complementary skills: (1) reading and (2) writing.

For tonal content at the Composite Synthesis-Reading skill level:

For rhythm content at the Composite Synthesis-Reading skill level:

For tonal content at the Composite Synthesis-Writing skill level:

For rhythm content at the Composite Synthesis-Writing skill level:

INFERENCE LEARNING

During inference learning, teachers guide students to use familiar content and unfamiliar content to make inferential leaps in their audiation. Because inference learning is no longer rote learning, teachers do not provide the answers. Rather, teachers guide the students and provide opportunities to apply previous content and skills as the students make inferences. When compared to discrimination learning, the cognitive load is increased during inference learning. Therefore, it is not uncommon for students to demonstrate a reduced level of success. However, by grappling with more challenging demands, the students’ growth is exponential. Students compare and generalize, create and improvise, and perform unfamiliar content with understanding (via singing, chanting, moving, and reading/writing).

Each inference level described in the next section prepares students for success at the following levels. For example, Generalization prepares students for Creativity/Improvisation. Unlike the discrimination levels, these inference levels each have multiple subskill levels. For example, Generalization has an Aural/Oral level, a Verbal level, and a Symbolic level. In addition, each subskill level corresponds to and supports the discrimination level that shares its name and should not be attempted until students have experience at the corresponding discrimination level. For example, you should not attempt Generalization-Aural/Oral until your students have experience at the Aural/Oral discrimination level. Each description that follows includes information about each inference level and the corresponding subskill levels. See Table 3 for detailed descriptions of each skill learning level in inference learning.

INFERENCE LEARNING – GENERALIZATION

For the Generalization levels, students use previous knowledge and content to perform unfamiliar content (patterns) and to compare and analyze familiar and unfamiliar content. The first subskill level, Generalization-Aural/Oral, supports and deepens skills and content students acquire at the discrimination level of Aural/Oral and should not be attempted until students have experience at the Aural/Oral discrimination level.

For content at the Generalization-Aural/Oral skill level:

For an additional challenge at the Generalization-Aural/Oral level, you could perform sets of patterns rather than individual patterns.

The next subskill level, Generalization-Verbal, supports and deepens skills and content students acquire at the discrimination level of Verbal Association and should not be attempted until students have experience at the Verbal Association and Partial Synthesis discrimination levels and the Generalization-Aural/Oral inference level. For tonal content at the Generalization-Verbal level:

For tonal content at the Generalization-Verbal skill level:

For rhythm content at the Generalization-Verbal skill level:

NOTE: Readiness for associating syllables to patterns performed using a neutral syllable is Verbal Association. Readiness for identifying context and function of patterns performed using a neutral syllalble is Partial Synthesis. For an additional challenge at the Generalization-Verbal level, you could perform sets of patterns rather than individual patterns.

Another subskill level, Generalization-Symbolic, supports and deepens skills and content students acquire at the discrimination level of Symbolic Association and should not be attempted until students have experience at the Symbolic Association and Composite Synthesis discrimination levels and the Generalization-Verbal inference level. As with Symbolic Association discrimination levels, this level is separated into two complementary skills: (1) reading and (2) writing.

For tonal and rhythm content at the Generalization-Symbolic-Reading skill level:

For an additional challenge, students can read sets of patterns rather than individual patterns.

For tonal and rhythm content at the Generalization-Symbolic-Writing skill level:

For an additional challenge, students can write sets of patterns rather than individual patterns.

INFERENCE LEARNING – CREATIVITY/IMPROVISATION

At the Creativity/Improvisation levels, students use previous knowledge and content to create. Just as discrimination learning prepares students for inference learning, Generalization prepares students for Creativity/Improvisation. Creativity/Improvisation at any of the subskill levels should not be attempted until students have experience at the corresponding Generalization subskill level. For example, you should not attempt Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without verbal association) until your students have experience at the Generalization-Aural/Oral level. Music Learning Theory practitioners define creativity and improvisation as different but related skills. When engaged in creativity, students use divergent thinking skills to create something different within minimal to no explicit parameters. When engaged in improvisation, students use a combination of divergent and convergent thinking skills to create something different within explicit parameters set by the teacher.

The first subskill level, Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without verbal association),² supports and deepens skills and content students acquire at the discrimination level of Aural/Oral and the Generalization-Aural/Oral level and should not be attempted until students have those previous experiences.

For tonal content at the Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without verbal association) skill level:

For rhythm content at the Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without verbal association) skill level:

The next subskill level, Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (with verbal association), supports and deepens skills and content students acquire at the discrimination level of Verbal Association and the Generalization-Verbal level and should not be attempted until students have those previous experiences.³

For tonal content at the Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (with verbal association) skill level:

For rhythm content at the Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (with verbal association) skill level:

The final subskill level, Creativity/Improvisation-Symbolic, supports and deepens skills and content students acquire at the Symbolic Association, Composite Synthesis, and Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without and with verbal association) levels and should not be attempted until students have those previous experiences. As with Symbolic Association discrimination levels, this level is separated into two complementary skills: (1) reading and (2) writing.

For tonal content at the Creativity/Improvisation-Symbolic-Reading skill level:

There is no Creativity/Improvisation-Symbolic-Reading level for rhythmic content.

For tonal content at the Creativity/Improvisation-Symbolic-Writing skill level:

For rhythm content at the Creativity/Improvisation-Symbolic-Writing skill level:

NAVIGATING THE SKILL LEARNING SEQUENCE: STEPWISE AND BRIDGING MOVEMENT

Gordon developed the Skill Learning Sequence—a sequence of skill levels based on a theory of how we learn music—to guide your decisions as you foster audiation ability in your students. The Skill Learning Sequence can be thought of as a map that you follow to direct learning in your classroom. Imagine that you are the admiral of an armada of ships and your students are captains of their unique music development ships. Use the map provided by the Skill Learning Sequence to navigate a path between the different skill development levels. As illustrated in the picture below, navigate a path between the continent (discrimination learning) and various islands (inference learning). As your students progress in their musical growth, they travel between ports on the continent and ports on the islands to acquire and negotiate trade of cargo (skills and content).

Table 3. Inference Learning Skill level descriptions.

FORWARD STEPWISE MOTION (STICKING TO THE MAINLAND)

Gordon (2007) describes two types of movement teachers can use to progress through the Skill Learning Sequence. The first type of movement is stepwise motion. An example of stepwise motion is moving from the Aural/Oral discrimination level of learning to the Verbal Association discrimination level of learning. You could use stepwise motion to progress through every step of discrimination learning—from Aural/Oral to Verbal Association to Partial Synthesis to Symbolic Association to Composite Synthesis (as shown in the left column of Table 1)—and then progress sequentially through each step of inference learning—from Generalization and its sublevels to Creativity/Improvisation and its sublevels to Theoretical Understanding (as shown in the right column of Table 1).

You and your students could travel the length of the discrimination mainland before crossing to the inference islands, but learning would be limited and slow to progress. Instead, Music Learning Theory teachers skillfully combine stepwise motion (among discrimination levels in the left column of Table 1) with bridging motion (temporary leaps from discrimination levels in the left column to inference levels in the right column). These short trips between discrimination and inference learning provide depth and challenge that supports exponential growth in student musicianship. When students venture off of the mainland and visit new and unfamiliar territory, they return to the mainland with a new appreciation for their original perspective and with a new perception that is flavored by the risks they took abroad.

FORWARD BRIDGING TO INFERENCE (TRAVELING TO AND FROM THE ISLANDS)

Bridging is the temporary skipping of one or more sequential skill, tonal, and rhythm levels of learning (Gordon, 2007, p. 400). Bridging is an important tool that is built into the Learning Sequence Activity books and that you can build into your classroom activities. A brief excursion from discrimination learning across the bridge to inference learning provides the opportunity for your students to use all they have learned in discrimination learning to make connections in inference learning. With bridging, students will discover their abilities to integrate new content and skills, and their audiation development will increase exponentially.

Gordon (2012) established important guidelines to follow when bridging:

Students should have previous experience with the discrimination level that corresponds to the inference subskill level before they bridge. For example, to bridge to Generalization-Verbal, the students must have had experience with the Verbal Association level.

Students should have experience with all previous inference sublevels before bridging to a higher inference sublevel. For example, before bridging to Generalization-Verbal from Verbal Association, students should have experience with the Generalization-Aural/Oral level.

Each discrimination level provides readiness for the corresponding inference level (e.g., Verbal Association provides readiness for Generalization-Verbal and Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (with verbal association), and each sublevel within each inference level provides readiness for the following sublevel within each inference level (e.g., Generalization-Aural/Oral provides readiness for Generalization-Verbal, which provides readiness for Generalization-Symbolic).

Though Gordon (2012) suggested these guidelines for bridging, he bent the rules a bit in the pathway provided in the Tonal and Rhythm Learning Sequence Activities (see Tables 4 and 5 for the stepwise and bridging motion used in the Learning Sequence Activities). For example, Tonal Unit 3 is forward bridging to Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (with verbal association), but students have not yet experienced Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without verbal association), nor have they experienced Generalization-Aural/Oral or Generalization-Verbal. Gordon may have chosen to leap to Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (with verbal association) because of his belief that bridging to Creativity/Improvisation makes [subsequent] discrimination learning much easier (Gordon, 2012, p. 231). This might explain why he chose to bridge to Creativity/Improvisation. But why did he skip the Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without verbal association) level and go straight to Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (with verbal association)? Gordon (2012) suggests that, paradoxically, teaching creativity/improvisation is easier with verbal association than without it (p. 138).

The use of verbal association (syllables) provides you with a tool to establish parameters for improvisation. Restrictions and limitations are also very important to the creative process. Inexperienced musicians may simply be overwhelmed when asked to [create] without guidelines or rules. The musical options are infinite…For the novice musicians, so many options can prove stifling—so stifling, in fact, that they suppress the divergent aspect of the creative process (Kaschub, 1997, p. 26). At the Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (without verbal association) level, the use of neutral syllables makes it more challenging to establish clear restrictions and limitations within which students can make choices. While tonal or rhythm syllables may seem more challenging than neutral syllables during discrimination learning levels, syllables may actually act as tools of support when engaging at the Creativity/Improvisation levels. Gordon (2012) suggests creativity/improvisation with verbal association provides readiness for creativity/improvisation-aural/oral without verbal association (p. 138). Once the students have created and improvised using syllables, they can remove that tool and use neutral syllables.

However, I found that my students were not always ready for the forward bridging motion written into Tonal Unit 3 of the Learning Sequence Activities. Therefore, I supplemented their learning by creating Classroom Activities during which I introduced and they practiced the skills they were missing. Supported by the guidelines above, I created Classroom Activities at the Generalization-Aural/Oral level, then Classroom Activities at the Creativity/Improvisation (without verbal association) level, and then Classroom Activities at the Generalization-Verbal level. Magically, my students developed the readiness for Tonal Unit 3.

NOTE: Gordon suggests that all new skills and content (patterns) should be introduced in Learning Sequence Activities and that new contexts (tonalities and meters) should be introduced in Classroom Activities. Essentially, by introducing new skills (Generalization-Aural/Oral and Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral) in Classroom Activities, I was bending the aforementioned rule. Keep in mind that Music Learning Theory is just that—a theory, not a law. That is the beauty of Music Learning Theory. With knowledge of Music Learning Theory and these guidelines, teachers know exactly what to do when students are struggling, and they know exactly what to do to provide an appropriate new challenge when students are successful. When you combine Music Learning Theory with your knowledge of your students and with your teaching expertise, you are able to bend rules here and there to make sure your students have what they need to succeed. Because I knew the guidelines for bridging and