Changing trends in preparing students for college level theory

American Music Teacher, August-Sept, 2003 by Carolyn Livingston, James Ackman

Most Helpful Source of Theory Preparation--2001

The same 1981 location, the School of Music at the University of Florida, was revisited to conduct the 2001 study. A total of fifty students were surveyed, twenty-one freshmen and twenty-nine sophomores. Again, the private teacher of the students' major instrument was shown to have a strong influence on their preparation, with 36 percent of students surveyed rating lessons with the private teacher as the experience giving them the highest degree of theory preparedness.

The students surveyed in 2001, however, reported that high school band gave them the most helpful experience in preparation for college level theory, with a total of 40 percent rating it highest. Other changes were that high school theory class, with 32 percent, increased in value, while the high school choral program, with 8 percent, decreased. The private teacher of the students' secondary instrument, with 16 percent, also had an increased influence. The only experience that remained the same as in the earlier study was the private theory teacher, at 4 percent (Table 3).

Changes

A main point of interest of the replication study was whether or not there were significant differences in the responses to the questionnaire from the original study. An example of this is found in the replication study, where 40 percent of the students stated that high school band gave them the best preparation for collegiate music theory. This contrasts sharply with the original study, in which only 10.3 percent rated high school band as most helpful. Another significant shift from 1981 to 2001 was high school theory class, with 13.7 percent of students in the original study and 32 percent in the replication study indicating this experience as most helpful. Private instruction on the major performing instrument remained relatively unchanged, with 34.4 percent of students in 1981 and 36 percent of students in 2001 indicating this as a key area in preparation for college music theory. The results total more than 100 percent because several students indicated more than one area they felt best prepared them for college level theory.

There may be various reasons for such marked changes in the area of music theory. One possibility is that in the twenty years between the studies, the National Standards for the Arts have been developed and implemented in public school music curricula throughout the country. Course offerings in all areas of music have increased, and their scope and content have improved dramatically as a result. Another possibility may be an increased emphasis with regard to comprehensive musicianship, including theory, in the content of contemporary band method books used in secondary instrumental music programs. This is illustrated in the content standards for music in the National Standards for Arts Education: "listening to, analyzing and describing music" (content standard 6) and "reading and notating music" (content standard 5), (16) and is consistent with the results of the 2001 questionnaire, in which students indicated knowledge of key signatures (92 percent), knowledge of scales (76 percent) and the ability to write intervals (68 percent) as among those areas they felt well prepared to enter college music theory (Table 4).