Post-common practice era music theory pedagogy

Abstract

The purpose of my research is to improve the experience of students who are taking the Twentieth-Century Compositional Techniques course at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and similar courses at other institutions. Through my own experiences in this class, one that I took during my undergraduate work, and discussions with a wide variety of students I determined that there is a disconnect between what is being taught in this type of class and the material that most students find useful. After reading and reviewing five commonly used text books on the subject matter I revised the content of the current course. In doing this I also created a list of repertory that takes advantage of post-common practice era techniques, while also appealing to music students who are interested in large ensemble performance. From that list I created assignments based on four pieces that could be used in the course.