In the Learning Music Learning Theory Learning Theory, we established a foundation of knowledge - The First Five - that will assist us in our understanding of MLT. As a reminder, the First Five were:
1. Audiation as the foundation of musical understanding
2. The Music/Language Parallel
3. The MLT Three: Skills, Context, Content
4. The Whole Part Whole Learning Model
5. Two Teaching Modalities: Learning Sequence Activities and Classroom Activities
I’ll also remind you of the MLT 3: Skills, Context, and Content.
In a Music Learning Theory classroom, not only do we teach students musical context and content, we teach them musical skills. This answers the question: What should students be able to do with the content?
For example, they can:
As MLT teachers, we arm our students with the tools they need in order to learn those musical skills. We combine those skills with specific tonal or rhythm content in a logical manner in order to create the musicianship curriculum that best fits the musical needs of our students.
Gordon’s Skill Learning Sequence
Gordon has organized musical skills into a very elegant Skill Learning Sequence.
The level of difficulty flows from the top left down through the bottom left, then up to the top right and down the right hand side.
Discrimination and Inference Learning
There are two broad types of learning: discrimination learning and inference learning.
Discrimination Learning
In this type of learning, all information is explicitly taught to students. This is rote learning. “This is what something is. This is something different.”
It is called discrimination learning because we teach students to discriminate one thing from another. For example, we teach students to discriminate between:
There is an old MLT adage: “We learn what something is by what it’s not.”
In discrimination learning, we build a musical vocabulary of tonal patterns and rhythm patterns that we can later use to achieve musical tasks in Inference learning. (For example, we can take musical patterns we have learned, and rearrange them to create new patterns. We can use patterns to write a composition.)
For teaching purposes, we use familiar patterns in familiar or unfamiliar order.
Dr. Edwin E. Gordon
“In discrimination learning, someone teaches us, and we learn. The more information we acquire through discrimination learning, the more able we are now to make judgements and draw conclusions, to make inferences, and to be able to think for ourselves. The more we know, the more we can learn from what we know.”
~Lecture CDs to accompany Learning Sequences in Music, 1997
Inference Learning
In this type of learning, all information is not explicitly taught to students, but rather, students are taught how to teach themselves. In fact, this is perhaps the greatest thing we can do for our students: to teach them how to teach themselves.
Students are guided by setting them up with musical scenarios so that they can practice advanced musical skills under specific criteria. Students infer the unfamiliar on the basis of the familiar.
In discrimination learning, students were taught how to achieve skills. In inference learning, they are practicing those skills with only guidance from the teacher.
For teaching purposes, we use familiar and unfamiliar patterns in (necessarily) unfamiliar order.
The Faculty Library
Everything you need for an
audiation-based music curriculum.
Levels of Learning and Can-Do Objectives
What follows is a short description of each skill level, as well as possible “Can Do Objectives.” A “Can Do Objective” answers the question, “What should students be able to do with the content?”
For example:
Aural/Oral
Skill Level: Aural/Oral
Type of Learning: Discrimination
Readiness: Preparatory Audiation
Readiness For: Verbal Association and Generalization-Aural/Oral
Aural/Oral (abbreviated A/O) is the most fundamental level in the Skill Learning Sequence. At this level, we use a neutral syllable because we want students to hear the pure sound of music first. Gordon insists that the sound itself is fundamental. Movement is considered part of the Aural/Oral skill level, as well. Any time we learn new tonal or rhythm content, we always return to Aural/Oral and learn the sound first without any syllables.
Can-Do Objectives
How to Teach the Language of Music
Get access to this free eBook to discover the beauty of sequential teaching in a Music Learning Theory-inspired classroom.
Aural/Oral in Action
GIML faculty member Jennifer Bailey teaches a rote song at the Aural/Oral level. Check out Jennifer's Teachers Pay Teachers page for lots of great MLT material!
GIML faculty member Heather Shouldice does a classroom activity with bass lines at the Aural/Oral level. Check out Heather's MLT podcast, Everyday Musicality.
Aural/Oral is covered in much more depth in the blog article, Aural/Oral: Laying the Foundation for Musical Understanding.
Verbal Association
Skill Level: Verbal Association
Type of Learning: Discrimination
Readiness: Aural/Oral
Readiness For: Partial/Synthesis and Generalization-Verbal
Verbal Association (abbreviated VA) is the second level in the Skill Learning Sequence. At this level, we use tonal solfege (movable do with a la-based minor) and rhythm solfege (movable “du,” a beat function rhythm syllable system) to label the sounds we have heard at the Aural/Oral level of learning.
At this level, we name things in our audiation. Specifically, we label:
Can-Do Objectives
Verbal Association in Action
GIML faculty member Jennifer Bailey teaches a Learning Sequence Activity at the Verbal Association level. Check out Jennifer's Teachers Pay Teachers page for lots of great MLT material!
In this video, I teach a bucket drum lesson using rhythm syllables at the Verbal Association level.
Verbal Association is covered in much more detail in the following two articles: Verbal Association Part 1: The Workhorse of the Skill Learning Sequence and Verbal Association Part 2: Building a Musical Vocabulary.
Partial Synthesis
Skill Level: Partial Synthesis
Type of Learning: Discrimination
Readiness: Verbal Association
Readiness For: Symbolic Association and Generalization-Verbal
Partial Synthesis (abbreviated PS) is the next level in the Skill Learning Sequence. At this level, students are able recognize the difference between contexts (tonalities and meters) of a series of familiar patterns. The teacher explains HOW to tell the difference between, for example, major and minor tonalities (by recognizing the resting tone or quality of the tonic chord) or between duple and triple meters (by pairing the patterns with the correct microbeats).
Can-Do Objectives
Partial Synthesis in Action
GIML faculty member Cindy Taggart demonstrates a classroom activity at the Partial Synthesis level.
In this video, GIML faculty member Jennifer Bailey teaches a tonal Partial Synthesis Learning Sequence Activity.
Partial Synthesis is covered in much more detail in the following articles: Partial Synthesis: The Enigma of the Skill Learning Sequence Part 1: Learning Sequence Activities and Part 2: Classroom Activities.
Symbolic Association
Skill Level: Symbolic Association
Sub-levels: Reading, Writing
Type of Learning: Discrimination
Readiness: Partial Synthesis
Readiness For: Composite Synthesis and Generalization-Symbolic
Symbolic Association (abbreviated SA) is the first time that students read musical notation. Students first heard the sound at Aural/Oral, gave it an aural label in Verbal Association, solidified musical context at Partial Synthesis, and now they are ready to read notation, and bring meaning TO it. At this level, students are reading tonal and rhythm patterns that are familiar to them because they learned them at the first two levels (A/O and VA).
There are both reading (SA-r) and writing (SA-w) sub-levels. In Reading, the students move from notation to audiation, whereas in Writing, students move from their audiation to notation.
Can-Do Objectives
Symbolic Association in Action
GIML faculty member Heather Shouldice reading tonal patterns at the Symbolic Association level.
Symbolic Association is covered in much more detail in the following articles: Symbolic Association: Connecting the Eye to the Ear and Writing From Audiation.
Composite Synthesis
Skill Level: Composite Synthesis
Sub-Levels: Reading, Writing
Type of Learning: Discrimination
Readiness: Symbolic Association
Readiness For: Generalization-Symbolic
Composite Synthesis (abbreviated CS) is the highest level in Discrimination learning.
It subsumes all of the previous levels of learning. At this level, students can 1) read a series of patterns and 2) bring contextual meaning (tonality or meter) to the notation. In the same way that Partial Synthesis synthesized Aural/Oral and Verbal Association, Composite Synthesis synthesizes Symbolic Association with Partial Synthesis. Partial synthesis only partially synthesizes because there is no notation. Whereas Symbolic Association is only reading, Composite Synthesis is reading with comprehension.
Composite Synthesis, like Partial Synthesis, always implies a fair amount of inference learning. At any time in Composite Synthesis, we could be attending to either of its two primary sub-skills (reading a series of patterns; identifying context), or to both. This level has varying degrees of difficulty depending on the amount of scaffolding you provide your students, which in the beginning experiences of this level, could be significant.
There are two sub-levels: Composite Synthesis-Reading (CS-r) and Composite Synthesis-Writing (CS-w).
Can-Do Objectives
Composite Synthesis in Action
In this video, I "dip my toe" into Composite Synthesis in some classroom activities.
Dr. Cindy Taggart breaks down Composite Synthesis.
Generalization
Skill Level: Generalization
Sub-Levels: Aural/Oral, Verbal, Symbolic-Reading, Symbolic-Writing
Type of Learning: Inference
Readiness: Discrimination Learning
Readiness For: Creativity/Improvisation
Generalization (abbreviated G) is the first Inference skill in the Skill Learning Sequence. The skill of Generalization is very broad in that there are many sub-levels that can happen at this level (just as there are many types of generalizations one can make in language.) At the Generalization level, we use familiar and unfamiliar patterns in a necessarily unfamiliar order.
There are several sub-levels of Generalization. At Generalization-Aural/Oral (G-a/o), students identify if two patterns are the same or different. At Generalization-Verbal (G-v), students can provide solfege for patterns with neutral syllables, they can identify the functions of familiar or unfamiliar patterns, or they can identify the tonality or meter of familiar or unfamiliar patterns or songs. At the Generalization-Symbolic level (G-s), they can read (G-s-r) or write (G-s-w) familiar and unfamiliar patterns. This is what some teachers may call “sight-reading.”
It should also be noted that, like several other levels, Generalization is on a continuum depending on the complexity of the skill and the amount of scaffolding a teacher provides.
Can-Do Objectives
Generalization in Action
GIML faculty member Heather Shouldice demonstrates a classroom activity at the Generalization-Verbal level.
In this video, GIML faculty member Jennifer Bailey teaches a classroom activity at the Generalization-Verbal level.
Creativity/Improvisation
Skill Level: Creativity/Improvisation
Sub-Levels: Aural/Oral, Symbolic-Reading, Symbolic-Writing
Type of Learning: Inference
Readiness: Discrimination Learning/Generalization
Readiness For: Theoretical Understanding
Creativity/Improvisation (abbreviated C/I) is the next level in the Skill Learning Sequence. This level is where students get the opportunity to apply what they have learned and make musical decisions of their own. Teachers set students up with opportunities for creativity and improvisation, and can only guide students. Like other levels, Creativity/ Improvisation is on a continuum, depending upon the complexity of the task, how specific you ask the students to be, and the nature of the task itself.
In Exploration, there are no restrictions. Students could simply play on Orff instruments where “everything sounds great!” In Creativity, we begin to put restrictions on students, but they are more limited. For example, we could limit them by tonality or meter. In Improvisation, there are further restrictions. For example, we could limit students by function. Composition is Improvisation, but is more permanent, and can be repeated (and notated). (Shouldice)
There are several sub-levels. Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral (C/I-a/o) is where students are not beholden to syllables. However, at this level, a teacher can choose to use syllables as a technique. Because they are not “creating” the syllables, this level is technically called Creativity/Improvisation-Aural/Oral with syllables. At the Creativity/Improvisation-Symbolic levels, students are reading and improvising over chord changes (C/I-s-r) or composing their own music (C/I-s-w).
Can-Do Objectives
Creativity/Improvisation in Action
GIML faculty member Heather Shouldice demonstrates a classroom activity at the Creativity/Improvisation level.
I took the "unfinished song" idea from Jennifer Bailey, and added it into my The Literate Musician course.
Theoretical Understanding
Skill Level: Theoretical Understanding
Type of Learning: Inference
Readiness: Audiation
Readiness For: Your High School Band Teacher
Theoretical Understanding (abbreviated TU) is the highest level in the Skill Learning Sequence. Theoretical Understanding, like grammar in language, deals with all of the “whys” in music. Furthermore, proper music vocabulary, like the names of the lines and spaces, time value names, cadence types and the like all fall under the purview of Theoretical Understanding.
“The difference between music theory and theoretical understanding is that theoretical understanding assumes audiation.”
- Dr. Cynthia Taggart -
There are no Learning Sequence Activities for this level, and, as it is not addressed in any specific manner in the practical applications of Music Learning Theory, it will not be addressed in any more detail in this blog post.
MLT Any Music Teacher Can Du...De
Confused about Music Learning Theory? This book explains MLT in a practical, brass-tasks, boots on the ground manner. No PhD required!
References
Bailey, J. & Reese, J. (2018). GIML Certification Course in Elementary General Level 2. Baldwin Wallace University. Berea, OH.
Gordon, E. E. (2012). Learning Sequences in Music: A Contemporary Music Learning Theory. Chicago: GIA.
Gordon, E. E. (1997). Lecture CDs to accompany Learning Sequences in Music: A Contemporary Music Learning Theory. Chicago: GIA.
Reynolds, A. & Burton, S.L. (2016). GIML Certification Course in Elementary General Level 1. Temple University. Philadelphia, PA.
Shouldice, H. & Taggart, C. (2019). GIML Certification Course in Elementary General Level 2. Michigan State University. Lansing, MI.
Resources
- Jennifer Bailey's Teacher Pay Teachers page has many, many activities for the MLT-inspired classroom!
- Heather Shouldice's website and podcast, Everyday Musicality, are both amazing resources for both the beginning and seasoned MLT teacher alike!
Wow! Your summery is very clear and easy to understand the theory!
Thank you for your time and energy!
From South Korea
Glad it was useful to you! Thanks for the feedback.