source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 5 Jun 1996 13:37:20 -0700 Subject: Re: Post from McLaren From: alves@osiris.ac.hmc.edu (Bill Alves) Brian's and Neil's advocacy of a new direction in music theory instruction is certainly welcome. I have taught the harmonic series in music theory, computer music, world music and other classes whenever I have been able to. And, despite Brian's characterization of university professors as a monolithic bastion against such ideas, I know of other professors who also think that a revision of standard music theory curricula is long overdue. But there are problems: 1) Large-scale revisions of multi-semester sequences taught by different people are very difficult to implement (especially by young, untenured instructors). If the semester 3 instructor is expecting the students to know what a Neapolitan sixth is, then that's something the semester 2 instructor is obliged to include. Enough of these obligations and there's little time left for the harmonic series. There may also be connections and expectations outside of the sequence, with music history classes for example. The difficulty of forging a very new consensus is certainly part of what gives academic institutions their reputation for conservative inertia. 2) Let's not forget the students. In my (admittedly limited) experience, they come in three basic flavors: a) The students who are basically non-music majors who are mainly interested in learning to read music, understand chords, and know harmonic progressions well enough to write their own pop songs. A few of the more technically-minded find the information on the harmonic series interesting, but ultimately useless for their purposes. b) The students who are mostly music majors who are mainly interested in spending time in the practice room and understand that they have to go through the drudgery of recreating Bach chorales before they can graduate. Some are interested in understanding the way the music they play was composed, but many don't really care to know the compositional significance of a particular unusual chord in the Brahms piano piece they're playing, let alone the harmonic series. c) The really insightful ones who want to know the fundamental basis of their art and have the creativity of thought to try to apply this knowledge in beautiful and innovative ways. In my experience this type of student is a happy, but all too uncommon, find. I'm not really trying to bash students. Like all of us, they have certain goals in their lives that drive their decisions. Very often they don't see how things like the harmonic series serve those goals (and in many cases they are right). I don't think that university educators should necessarily pander to them, but I think it's unrealistic to expect a music school to completely flaunt the students' educational goals and instead force another curriculum on them. I agree that the time and attention devoted to the minutiae of harmonic practices of European art music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in most music programs is seriously disproportionate. In my opinion, much of that time would be better spent on tuning systems, acoustics, and music of other cultures and traditions. I don't want to give the impression that the situation is hopeless either. These concepts can be given limited exposure in standard classes, much more exposure in classes outside the regular curriculum, and even more through personal contact with enthusiastic, intelligent students. Bill ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^ ^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^ ^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^ ^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)621-8360 (fax) ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 5 Jun 1996 22:54 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id NAA11983; Wed, 5 Jun 1996 13:53:59 -0700 Date: Wed, 5 Jun 1996 13:53:59 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu