Decoding the Discipline of Music History for Our Students

J. Peter Burkholder Indiana University

Keywords: disciplinary thinking, style, genre, identification

Abstract

Each discipline has a different set of paradigms and expectations, and it can be difficult for students to understand a new discipline and grasp what we are after in our courses. David Pace and Joan Middendorf have developed the model of “Decoding the Disciplines”: making explicit the modes of thought we use, and giving students practice in using them, so that they learn how to participate in a discipline by doing it. This paper applies the model to teaching music history. A practical application of the model presents the teacher with a series of steps: identifying a task that is difficult for students to perform but important for their success in the course and in the discipline; describing the operations an expert follows in performing the task; modeling those operations explicitly for the students; giving the students practice in following those steps to perform the task and feedback on their achievements; motivating the students to stay with the process; and assessing their mastery of the task. The paper illustrates the approach using as examples two related tasks that face students in music history courses: figuring out what are the significant features of a musical style or genre that distinguishes it from others, and developing a strategy for identifying unknown works by genre, composer, date, or style.

Author Biography

J. Peter Burkholder, Indiana University

J. Peter Burkholder (PhD 1983 University of Chicago) is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Musicology Department at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. In addition to the most recent editions of A History of Western Music and Norton Anthology of Western Music, he is the author or editor of four books on Charles Ives, author of articles on musical borrowing, modern music, and musical meaning, and former president of the American Musicological Society.

Published

2011-02-01

Issue

Vol 1 No 2: (Spring 2011) The Textbook Issue

Section

Articles

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