Music Learning Theory

Have you ever read something, or heard a speech that really upended all your preconceived ideas about a topic?

This happened to me last year and the speech is still having ramifications for my teaching today.

In fact, it has had such a profound impact on my pedagogical thinking, that I want to commit July to sharing it with you.

It’s called Music Learning Theory (MLT) and I guarantee that it will make you rethink every long-held belief you’ve ever had about the way you teach your students.

Do you believe me?!

Step One

Before you go any further, I want you to set aside 10-20 minutes clear reading time right now for an article I need you to read.

The article is the exact speech that had such a profound impact on me.

It is the keynote that the founder of MLT, Dr Edwin Gordon, prepared for last year’s NCKP conference but was unfortunately unable to deliver due to illness.

It’s called Beyond the Keyboard, and I want you to click the title and read it now.

Seriously.

If there’s nothing else you read this holidays, read this article.

Don’t worry – I’ll wait for you 😉

What’s holding your students back?

OK so you’ve read the article, right?

What did you think?

Did some bells go off in your head? Did things click into place? Did it make you think?

I am lead to believe piano is taught to many persons by teachers who typically teach the way they were taught rather than according to an objective learning theory and current research. – Dr Edwin Gordon

Perhaps you already teach with a MLT approach, without even knowing that it had a name.

Or perhaps you’ve just had your mind blown about what music teaching should look like and want to get started right away!

However, what I want you to do now is stop and write down the Top 5 things that you find students struggle with the most when it comes to reading music.

Is it their ability to find the right place on the keyboard? Or to recognise patterns? Or feel a groove? Or to play without stopping? Or get the right rhythm? Or to remember FACE/EGBDF (or whatever system you use)?

What do your students still struggle with, even after a year or two of lessons, every time they start learning a new piece?

What’s holding them back the most?

My guess is that near the top of your list will be feeling a groove, recognising and playing patterns and understanding rhythms without having to painstakingly write out the counting, clap/tap/etc.

That’s how it is for my students.

If this is the case, then MLT could just be the missing piece you need.

This month, we’re going to explore what MLT is about, see and hear about it in action, explore resources and work out for ourselves whether it’s something that we should try in our lessons.

Wherever you are in your views having read Dr Gordon’s keynote, remember one thing: my goal on this blog is to get you thinking, give you ideas, challenge your assumptions and help improve your approach to teaching.

MLT could just be the thing that has a massive impact on your students’ abilities to learn to read, play and enjoy music in the most holistic, relevant and connected way possible.

So, are you ready to explore some new ideas?

What is Music Learning Theory?

Put simply, Music Learning Theory is

…an explanation of how we learn when we learn music. Based on an extensive body of research and practical field testing by Edwin E. Gordon and others, Music Learning Theory is a comprehensive method for teaching audiation, Gordon’s term for the ability to think music in the mind with understanding. The primary objective is development of students’ tonal and rhythm audiation – The Gordon Institute of Music Learning

This month could be the most important month on the blog so far.

When I first heard about Music Learning Theory and the work of Dr Edwin Gordon, a whole lot of puzzle pieces I had about music reading suddenly fitted into place.

In case you haven’t read it yet, let me provide you with part of his speech to get you thinking (my emphasis):

There are five…music skill vocabularies. In sequential order of development, they are 1) listening, 2) singing and chanting, 3) audiating and improvising, 4) reading, and 5) writing.

As with language, listening is basic in piano instruction as well as all music instruction.

Unfortunately, in typical instruction, listening is disregarded. A most egregious consequence is that piano instruction typically is begun with the fourth vocabulary. Students are generally presented with a book of notation. The first three readiness vocabularies are bypassed.

It is not surprising a high proportion of students are frustrated with good reason. It is assumed they are able to silently perceive sounds notation represents. That ability is rarely achieved…Learning letter names of detached notes to audiate music makes little more sense than teaching the alphabet, not words, to understand language.

We think with words and we audiate with patterns. Tonal patterns and rhythm patterns are the words of music.

I guarantee that the more you look at MLT, the more you will think differently about your approach to teaching.

If you’ve ever wondered why your students find sight reading so hard, or why they struggle to grasp simple rhythms, or why they can’t understand why the same rhythm can be written different ways depending on the meter, then the MLT approach will have solutions for you.

What do the teachers say?

I asked a couple of teachers using the MLT approach in their lessons to tell me about their experience.

Here’s Emma Barson from Adelaide, Australia:

I teach piano and early childhood music in Adelaide.

Music Learning Theory informs all of my teaching. It has given me the key to raising the ceiling on my own and my students’ ability to audiate (to think music with understanding) which directly affects our musical achievement and enjoyment.

I now have a method of sequencing learning activities that makes sense and takes into account the aptitude and developmental stage of every student. For music teaching to be a truly rewarding profession, one that we can be proud of, I encourage all teachers to take the plunge into understanding and implementing MLT in their own musical life and that of their students.

MLT is backed up by years of research, and is used by the most inspiring and reflective teachers I have ever met. Without such a framework, we teachers run the risk of simply teaching as we were taught, without questioning why we do it this way, and whether it is truly serving the needs of every student, regardless of their experience and aptitude.

MLT gives us a way of answering the question, “Why can’t my student play this right (yet…)?” Instead of just saying to them, “Not like that, more like this”, we know HOW to get them there.

I teach music now through singing, purposeful movement, ensemble playing, improvisation and rote-learning, transposition into 8 modes and 12 keys. I wish my own piano lessons had been like this. I would be a very different musician now.

How we teach our students, especially in the years from birth to age 9 will directly affect their ability to learn, understand and enjoy music for the rest of their lives. I love teaching because I am working with a philosophy and a framework that I believe in. Thank you Edwin Gordon.

And here’s Todd Hayen:

I have used MLT both with individual, small groups (pairs or trios), and medium sized group keyboard instruction (middle school general music class). The sequential nature of MLT and the development of audiation skills is really amazing for piano.

Especially since so many approaches are focused on individual notes and the technical demands of reading notation at the instrument – this technical emphasis can sometimes inhibit musicality, listening, and audiating.

An MLT-based approach delays traditional reading initially for the sake of musicality and musicianship – it is very engaging and exciting for students to learn this way.

Action steps

In order to get the most out of this month on the blog and podcasts, make sure you read the keynote. It won’t take long, and it will give you a great grounding in this month’s pedagogical discussion.

I also want you to seriously consider the order and approach you use to teaching reading right now.

Actually make a mental (or physical) note of what you would call your beginner teaching approach.

What does it look like? How would you describe it to somebody else?

For example, how soon does a new beginner in your studio open a method book and start learning to read?

If it’s before they’ve learnt how to sing, feel and move to lots of melodic and rhythmic patterns in duple and triple meter; if it’s before they’ve learnt to feel pulse and steady beat; if it’s before they’ve sung lots of melodies and chants; if it’s before they’ve learnt a musical vocabulary… then chances are, it’s too early.

What do you do in the meantime? How do you teach these patterns and grooves? What is audiation anyway?

Stay tuned – that’s exactly what we’re going to be talking about this month.

Make sure you keep your notes about Dr Gordon’s speech and your own ‘beginner approach’ handy as we dive in.

Resources: Articles and Podcasts

See below for related articles on this topic.