The Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy is the premiere journal dedicated to the dissemination of scholarship regarding the teaching and learning of music theory. The journal is a project of the Gail Boyd de Stwolinksi Center for Music Theory Pedagogy, published annually by the University of Oklahoma Libraries, with support from the University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. Learn more about the journal.
Teaching Popular Music Analysis with Source Separation
Music source separation is a technology that converts a recorded song into multiple files that contain different components of the original track. Typically, source separation tools split a recording into four discrete components: vocals, percussion, bass, and “other.” Methods for isolating components of a recording have been proposed and experimented with for decades, with varying degrees of success. In the late 2010s, developers began using neural networks, a form of artificial intelligence, to design source separation methods. Since then, the performance and availability of source separation models has rapidly improved. In this article, I aim to demystify and contextualize source separation to explore the ways in which it could impact the study of music analysis while encouraging productive discussions on the relationship between music analysis and artificial intelligence. Access to high-quality isolated instrumental tracks has several useful applications in the study of popular music: consider for instance the way an instructor could use the technology to design specific class activities that focus on only a portion of a track. Source separation, moreover, can play a central role in discussions on notation, musical structure, and the role of technology in music analysis. More importantly, it is an ideal tool for illustrating some of the ethical considerations—transparency, bias, and accessibility—that arise when using AI-based technologies.
Special Symposium: AI and Music Theory Pedagogy
Copyright (c) 2026 Michèle Duguay (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
An Assignment and Lesson Plan for Spectrogram Analysis of Hildegard Westerkamp’s Kits Beach Soundwalk
Copyright (c) 2026 Noah Kahrs (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This is a song to help remember the inversion symbols in Roman numeral notation. As a memory device, the inversion symbols are summarized in the form of a phone number called the Inversion Hotline. This resource is listed in Volume 39 of The Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy.
Copyright (c) 2024 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Conference Review: Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, Jacksonville, Florida, November 7–10, 2024
Engaging Aural Skills Students with Model-Eliciting Activities
This mixed-methods study explores how using Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) in an aural skills classroom can promote student motivation and engagement. MEAs require students to create models to solve progressively complex problems. As students develop and refine their models, they engage in a testing and iteration process that prioritizes learning over final outcomes, which fosters student empowerment. The specific MEA implemented was focused on music transcription skills and used the MUSIC Inventory of Motivation survey to assess student motivation and engagement, complemented by follow-up interviews that explain the results of the survey. Many students scored high on this survey and expressed similar results in qualitative follow-up. Additional findings included students expressing excitement for collaboration and benefits to their perceived transcription skills. Overall, the findings suggest that MEAs foster high levels of student motivation and engagement within the aural skills curriculum.
Harmony, Texture, and Timbre in Popular Culture: Undergraduate Edition
The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to compare the way students describe their favorite music with observable musical parameters such as harmony, texture, and timbre, and 2) to develop a database of current music that can be used in the theory classroom to study harmony, timbre, and texture. We seek to contribute to a growing body of work that debunks stereotypes such as popular music is too simple and therefore not productive to study within the music theory curriculum. However, we believe that musical fluency is strengthened when students study a variety of music styles. Our study identifies the music students enjoy, how they describe it, and analyzes correlations and discrepancies between these observations. In so doing, we articulate areas of study that can bolster listening experiences through analysis. These include developing terminology and listening skills focused on harmonic progressions, texture, and timbre in pop music. Sometimes as educators we assume that a song that’s popular is good for analysis because everyone in the class will know it, but for music students that may not always be the case or a genre they enjoy, so this study seeks to find some trends in the kind of music college musicians are listening to.
Reviews of A New Approach to Sight Singing, 7th Edition by Sol Berkowitz; Gabriel Fontrier; Leo Kraft; Perry Goldstein; and Edward Smaldone and Progressive Sight Singing, 4th Edition by Carol Krueger
Review of Improvising Fugue: A Method for Keyboard Artists by John J. Mortensen
The Dictation Resource is a comprehensive website of dictation and ear training exercises. The exercises in melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, and pitch patterns cover an entire four-semester undergraduate aural skills curriculum in Western diatonic and chromatic harmony. Topics are organized according to a scale degree approach. In addition to being used for homework and practice assignments, the materials from the website and accompanying answer key can be adapted in various ways for use in the music theory classroom. The dictation answer key is available by contacting the journal at theoryped@gmail.com.
Copyright (c) 2022 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Review of Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony by L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph N. Straus and The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Piper Clendinning and Elizabeth West Marvin
Copyright (c) 2021 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Review of The Norton Guide to Teaching Music Theory, edited by Rachel Lumsden and Jeffrey Swinkin
Copyright (c) 2018 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Repository of Sentence and Period Examples
This collection of 44 short phrases, ranging from the baroque to romantic periods, is designed to help teachers quickly and easily locate musical examples for the purpose of teaching phrase structure, as well as testing students’ knowledge of the same. The collection includes numerous examples of periods and sentences, as well as compound periods. Many examples are straightforward, but there are also many that modulate, add phrase extensions, have interesting hypermetrical structures, etc. Given the variety of analytical paradigms, these examples have not been pre-analyzed. When first downloading the master PDF, therefore, I suggest analyzing each example with one’s preferred analytical lens in order to gain an understanding of the variety of examples present. In addition to the master PDF containing all 44 examples (ordered alphabetically by composer), the repository also includes high-quality JPEGs of each example, numbered according the the master PDF; this makes dragging and dropping images into homework assignments, handouts, etc., very easy. Each example (except two) has a link to an audio performance on YouTube.
What Did the West Wind See? Teaching Whole-Tone Scales through Debussy's "Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest"
Debussy’s “Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest” (Préludes, Book 1) provides fertile ground for teaching undergraduate students to identify whole-tone scales in a musical context. Included in this article are an analysis of the piece and lesson plans designed to help students find examples of whole-tone collections in melodic and harmonic contexts. Students collaboratively construct a musical timeline, deepen their thinking through exploratory writing, discuss the interactions of diatonic and whole-tone elements throughout the piece, and support their analytical observations with specific musical examples. In a setting that invites both tonal and post-tonal analysis, students learn to discern which analytical tools are appropriate to diverse musical contexts.
Copyright (c) 2016 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Review of The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy Edited by Leigh VanHandel
Open Educational Resources for Undergraduate Music Theory
This is a collection of assignments, projects, exams, and syllabi meant to cover the entire lower-division written music theory sequence. There are over 100 unique documents available in .pdf format. The materials include 73 worksheets on 35 unique topics (most have 2 versions to allow for practice and graded assignments), 16 larger analysis and composition projects, 16 exams on 8 unique topic sets, and 4 syllabi. While inherently modular, these materials are designed to align with the topics found in the free online textbook Open Music Theory. In some cases I have omitted audio links, scores, and lyrics from these materials, due to copyright restrictions. In such cases, instructors are encouraged to seek out and include the specified works, or alternate works of their choosing, for educational use. Unless otherwise stated, all materials in this collection are copyright © 2017 by Kyle Gullings and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. I encourage others to use, share, edit, and build upon these materials, and to contact me to inform me about any such uses. Please include the following attribution anywhere the materials are posted: Created by composer and educator Kyle Gullings, www.kylegullings.com.
Promoting Metacognitive Reflection in Music Theory Instruction
Since 1976 when John Flavell coined the term metacognition, a significant body of literature has emerged in psychology and education research documenting the importance of it to the process of learning and advocating its development through reflection to promote deeper, more thoughtful, and self-regulated learning. In the domain of music, discussions of reflection and/or metacognition appear particularly in literature on teacher training, music teaching at primary and secondary levels, and performance, but these topics are hardly addressed in research on music theory pedagogy. This article begins to redress this situation. It presents a theoretical overview of metacognition and reflection, describes a strategy that incorporates metacognitive reflection into a music theory core course, evaluates its pedagogical value through a content analysis of student reflections on learning, and discusses implications for music theory pedagogy.
Evaluating Student Work Using Models Derived from Those Used in Nationally Administered Examinations
Each year thousands of students take one of two music examinations administered nationally by the Educational Testing Service. Students who hope to attend graduate school in music take the revised Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in Music and high school students who wish to receive undergraduate credit for the first year of music theory take the Advanced Placement (AP) Examination in Music Theory.For a number of years both of these examinations have incorporated tasks typical of those given in college music theory classrooms. As examples, students are asked to realize a figured bass, take melodic and harmonic dictation, or harmonize a melody. Because of the complexity of these tasks the responses must be judged by human experts. These experts must agree upon the way in which an item will be scored and apply those standards with such consistency that, given a particular student response, all experts who have been so trained should arrive at the same score within a very small margin of error.In this article I will describe and illustrate the types of judgements made in these examinations. Then I shall demonstrate how I have applied models derived from the scoring guides of these examinations to meet my own classroom needs. Because the nature of the feedback on the national examinations differs from that found in the classroom, I will also demonstrate the type of feedback I give students, with particular emphasis on peer evaluation and collaborative learning. Because I have had the privilege and pleasure of training readers for each of these examinations I can offer what I hope to be an interesting perspective to the task.
Copyright (c) 1998 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Review of Ear Training for Twentieth-Century Music by Michael Friedmann
Copyright (c) 1993 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Teaching Set Theory in the Undergraduate Core Curriculum
Copyright (c) 1991 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Tonal Markers, Melodic Patterns, and Musicianship Training, Part II- Contour Reduction
Part I of this two-part series on "Tonal Markers and Musicianship Training" (Volume 11, 1997), I presented a reduction technique based on rhythmic/metric procedures used to identify tonal markers. Tonal markers are pitches that are selected by a specific reduction procedure and form patterns commonly found in tonal music on levels above the surface. Common tonal patterns - scales and scale segments, neighbor notes, triads, sequences, pedal points, and pitch segments (psegs) - are found on the surface as well, where they connect tonal markers. Fundamental to this reduction procedure is an understanding that tonal melody is hierarchical. Because the focus of these studies is on the identification of these tonal markers and the relevance of common tonal patterns to musicianship training, the levels we are studying are the most foreground ones, namely the surface and levels close to it. The reduction techniques are frequently applied to melodies of one to four phrases in length and do not attempt to show any large-scale background unity. The musicianship skills addressed in relation to these techniques are memory, ear training, sight singing, improvisation, and dictation.This article, Part II, focuses on a second type of reduction, one based on melodic contour. While contour reduction is a fairly straightforward procedure, there are several aspects to it which need to be explained. I begin with a short explanation of some ideas about contour reduction in relationship to atonal melody as presented by Robert Morris. Contour analysis traditionally has been applied to a study of the surface level features of folk, atonal, and non-tonal melodies. The "new direction" Morris presents is an approach to contour analysis in which he admits to "taking a cue from tonal music." This involves two important innovations. The first is the hierarchical approach, whereby the traditional identification of pitches found at melodic turning points on the surface level is expanded so that some of those contour pitches are selected, through a designated process, to represent higher levels. Each new level, which he labels a depth, consists of a group of contour pitches that form a unit including the first, last, and all pitches found at turning points either within separate phrases or a complete piece.
G. P. Telemann’s Exercises in Singing, Keyboard-Playing, and Thoroughbass (ed. and trans. Derek Remeš)
In recent years, scholars and pedagogues alike have increasingly recognized the creative potential of thoroughbass. Yet too often, thoroughbass instruction today still lacks good models. G. P. Telemann’s Exercises in Singing, Keyboard-Playing, and Thoroughbass (1733–34) fills this need. This collection contains forty-eight short, simple arias with thoroughbass realizations by Telemann himself. Telemann also provides brief commentary to each aria. This important collection is presented here for the first time as a modern pedagogical edition with English translation (Vol. 1), worksheets for realization (Vol. 2), and audio recordings (with and without voice part). As Telemann’s title suggests, the didactic possibilities are wider than mere thoroughbass and might include: Aural and Vocal Training: First learn to sing the voice part with the audio recordings that include the voice part, and later sing the melody with the audio recordings that include only the accompaniment. Variation: Have another student accompany the singer during class. Variation: Sing on fixed or moveable solmization syllables. Keyboard-Playing: Play Telemann’s realizations in secondary piano lessons. Variation: Sing and play at the same time (self-accompaniment). Harmonic Analysis: Add Roman numerals and label non-chord tones. Thoroughbass: Play through a few of Telemann’s versions as an introduction. Then realize the figured basslines using the worksheets in the editorial appendix (Vol. 2), which omits Telemann’s realizations. Afterwards check one’s solution against Telemann’s original (Vol. 1).
Copyright (c) 2020 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Post-Tonal Postcards: Communicating Analysis and Reflection through Prose Writing
Postcard assignments provide a concise alternative to the traditional analysis paper. In this article, I outline a series of four postcard assignments developed for an undergraduate post-tonal theory course, discuss connections to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (particularly to Self-Determination Theory), and examine student responses and pedagogical benefits. Synthesizing analysis and reflection, each postcard includes a 300- to 500-word essay as its message and a single page of annotated musical examples as its picture. Students analyze complete compositions through the lenses of specific themes; for example, students discuss pentatonic collections and pitch centricity in Debussy’s “La fille aux cheveux de lin” (Préludes, Book 1, No. 8). By addressing each postcard to a different recipient (peer, novice, expert, and future self), students learn to communicate effectively in diverse rhetorical contexts. Additional pedagogical benefits include greater independence in music analysis and increased confidence in writing about music.
Review of Expanding the Canon: Black Composers in the Music Theory Classroom edited by Melissa Hoag
Copyright (c) 2023 The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Ungrading in the Music Theory Classroom: A One-Year Case Study
In this paper, I present a summary of and critical reflection upon an alternative assessment practice known as “ungrading” that I used during the 2023–24 academic year. My version of the practice involved providing students with feedback without grades and letting students determine their own final grades through a process of guided self-assessment. Many students’ reactions to ungrading were positive. Some reported being able to focus on learning rather than grades, and even skeptical students admitted some benefits. Ungrading benefited me in various ways as a teacher, but there were challenges as well. Some students struggled with the lack of external accountability that grades provide. I also had issues with attendance and students not submitting work. I do believe that aspects of ungrading can improve students’ attitudes toward school, their learning, and their relationships with their instructors, but there are challenges with the implementation of this idea within education as it is currently practiced in the United States.
Statistical Learning in the Music Theory Classroom
This article argues that statistical learning can and should be harnessed as a core pedagogical strategy in the music theory classroom. Statistical learning describes the largely implicit process by which learners extract patterns and regularities from repeated exposure to structured stimuli. This mechanism is widely acknowledged as central to how listeners acquire musical style outside the classroom, but it has rarely been treated as a deliberate pedagogical resource within formal music theory instruction. By explicitly centering statistical learning, instructors can design pedagogies that are more effective and grounded in lived musical experience. The article begins by distilling pedagogically salient findings from the statistical learning literature. I show that a pedagogy centered on statistical learning involves not only immersive exposure, but also the use of naturalistic, cue-rich materials calibrated to balance novelty and familiarity, as well as assessments that emphasize prediction and judgment over knowledge reproduction. I then demonstrate the efficacy of these principles through two example lessons: one in which students sketch a two-part exposition in response to brief symphonic excerpts, and another in which students develop fluency with the Do-Re-Mi schema through a sequence of listening, composition, and comparative judgement tasks. Through these examples, I show how statistical learning supports the development of intuitive musical understanding while also furnishing a robust substrate for explicit analysis, evaluation, and creative practice.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nathaniel D. Mitchell (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Peer-Led Melodic Dictation in the Aural Skills Curriculum
Social constructivism learning theories propose that knowledge develops through social activities, in which students work collaboratively to relate new learning to pre-existing knowledge to construct new understanding. The benefits of cooperative and collaborative learning have been discussed in the context of written music theory classes, peer tutoring, and sight singing; however, little has been said about the benefits of peer learning on melodic dictation skills. In this paper, I outline a peer-led melodic dictation activity and a full peer-teaching unit that I have implemented in my aural skills classes, including the assignment sheet given to students, the benefits of allowing students to lead dictation, and the challenges. Ultimately, I propose that allowing students to bring in their own repertoire examples and work together on melodic dictation, the aural skills classroom becomes more inclusive and diverse while students are placed at the center of their learning and leverage the knowledge and abilities of their peers to improve their skills.
Copyright (c) 2026 Alexandrea Jonker (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Applying Conversational Solfege to Collegiate Aural Skills Instruction
Conversational Solfege (“CS”) is a sound-before-sight elementary music methodology developed by John Feierabend in 1995 that teaches music literacy through a twelve-step program modeled largely as a hybrid between the Kodály method and Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory. Despite CS’s intended audience of music educators working with children, it applies remarkably well to the typical goals of collegiate aural skills instruction, corroborating many contemporary best practices while also offering new insights. In this article, I provide a conceptual and historical overview of the Conversational Solfege methodology and discuss its modified application to collegiate aural skills instruction, situating the methodology alongside contemporary collegiate pedagogical literature and providing applications of CS to typical collegiate aural skills topics via activities appropriate for each of the twelve steps. An appendix detailing a more thorough list of compatible activities categorized by step is included for reference.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ryan Galik (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Rethinking Aural Skills Through Backward Design
In this article, we invite you to engage in reimagining aural skills courses and curricula using the backward design process developed by Wiggins and McTighe (2005). This lens will help us move beyond activity- and coverage-focused teaching to instead develop course outcomes that best provide real-world applicability to our students. We adapt the backward design approach to the unique needs of the aural skills classroom and draw in broader pedagogy research to augment our discussion. Throughout this process, we will invite the reader to: consider and prioritize goals, imagine appropriate assessments, and only then plan what to do in the classroom. In some cases, this may lead one back to oft-used activities like dictation or sight singing, but in others, it may lead to new visions of what aural skills classes might be.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jenine Brown, Timothy Chanette, Stacey Davis, Philip Duker, Daniel Stevens, Leigh Vanhandel (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Critical Thinking and Artificial Intelligence
This article outlines the details of a critical thinking and Artificial Intelligence (AI) curriculum unit to give instructors one suggestion for how they might productively include the use of AI in their music theory classrooms. I share the different lessons and the assignment that I provided for my students, followed by a report of student responses and my assessment strategies. I conclude this article by encouraging music theory instructors to bring discussions of AI into the classroom in order to promote more meaningful learning outcomes—ones that extend beyond simply teaching students that ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) are inappropriate to use. This AI unit encourages undergraduate music theory students to more thoroughly understand and experience the impacts of LLMs on critical-thinking skills.
Copyright (c) 2026 Hannah Benoit (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Copyright (c) 2026 Elizabeth West Marvin (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0