The Curricular Standards of NASM and Their Impact on Local Decision Making

  • Don Gibson Florida State University

Abstract

This essay seeks to clarify the extent to which the standards articulated in the NASM Handbook shape local decisions concerning specific content in and time allocations dedicated to the undergraduate curricular area of music history.  A review of the sections of the Handbook dedicated to this content provides ample evidence that the standards do not constrain curricular decision making. Rather, they are more properly viewed as a vehicle to ensure the ongoing presence of music history in undergraduate curricula.

Author Biography

Don Gibson, Florida State University
Don Gibson (PhD 1983 Florida State University) is Professor of Music Theory and Dean Emeritus at Florida State University’s College of Music. He recently completed a term as the President of the National Association of Schools of Music, having previously served as the Chair of that organization’s Commission on Accreditation. His research utilizes computers to examine the correlation between theoretical relatedness and the aural perception of contemporary pitch structures, and has been published in such journals as Journal of Research in Music Education, Psychomusicology, and Music Theory: Explorations and Applications.
Published
2015-03-18
Issue
Vol 5 No 2 (2015)
Section
Roundtable

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