The MLT 3: Skills, Context and Content

Skills: What Are Students Doing?

This answers the question, “What do I want students to be able to DO?” 

Possible answers:

Gordon has categorized musical skills in a very elegant way into his Skill Learning Sequence. 

Context: Bringing Meaning to Musical Sounds

One of the hallmarks in Music Learning Theory is that learning music is very similar to learning a language. (See The Music/Language Parallel) Music is not a language in the strictest sense, but there are many parallels that assist in the learning process.

In language, context is everything.

Take the word “read,” for example. In one context (“I read that book.”), it is in the past tense. In another, (“My son just learned how to read music.”), it is in the present tense. Or, if it were only spoken language, “I lost my reed” would have a totally different meaning! 

In MLT, we seek to put all music into a tonal or rhythmic context (major tonality, duple meter, for example) so that the patterns we teach (the upcoming content) have meaning because they are being taught within the organizational framework of a tonality or meter.

Content: Functions and Patterns

Finally, in addition to teaching the context (tonality or meter) of the songs, chants and activities in our classrooms so they have meaning, we teach students content within the context. What is content? Functions and patterns. 

Functions represent working aspects of tonality or meter, and explain what is “going on” musically underneath the proverbial hood. In rhythm, the layers of the beat (macrobeat, microbeat, division) are functions, as are any other way that rhythm functions (elongations, ties, rests, upbeats, etc.). Tonally, the primary functions Gordon has identified are harmonic functions (tonic, dominant, subdominant), but melodic devices are functions, as well. 

Patterns are specific examples of those functions. 

For example, major tonic would be a harmonic function, and “do mi so” would be a pattern within that function. 

Duple macrobeat/microbeat would be a rhythmic function, and “du du du-de du” would be a pattern representing that function.

Putting It All Together

Once you understand each of these three big ideas (skill, context, content), they are combined to create the musicianship portion of your class where you are guiding your students toward audiation. 

For example, you could teach them:

Wrapping Up

MLT can be daunting for the uninitiated. However, if we adapt Gordon’s Music Learning Theory into a Learning Music Learning Theory Learning Theory, then we should acquire small chunks of information which become readiness for the next chunk of information (which become readiness for the next chunk of information), and so on.

Once the MLT 3 (skills, context and content) are ingrained, the rest of MLT (and there is more to learn!) will make a lot more sense.