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In the 19th century, we can observe a growing gap between what we call now music theoretical books and the development of music. As Robert Wason writes in his overview of “Musica practica: music theory as pedagogy”: “These [19th century harmony] books are symptomatic of the dearth of new ideas, and the irrelevance that pedagogical theory was falling into: (…) neither a theory nor a pedagogy of ‘Nineteenth -Century Harmony’ ever really seemed to get under way.” In this research, I try to unravel possible aspects that have a relation to this problem. One of these aspects has to do with the fact that a lot of what we call music theory origins from a compositional practice. Therefore, at the end of this research, I also made a start to describe music theoretical training that has no origin in this compositional practice. This exposition is still in progress.

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  • contents
    • HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL MUSIC EDUCATION AND THE ROLE OF MUSIC THEORY
    • Index
    • Introduction
    • 1. Music theory textbooks are actually composition textbooks.
    • 2. The increasing complexity of the music and the development into individual compositional styles in the 20th c.
    • 3. The increasing gap between professional and amateur musicians in combination with the decrease of popularity of contemporary music since 1900.
    • 4. Non-compositional music-theoretical training.
    • Coda
    • Bibliography
    • Patrick van Deurzen
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  • abstract
    In the 19th century, we can observe a growing gap between what we call now music theoretical books and the development of music. As Robert Wason writes in his overview of “Musica practica: music theory as pedagogy”: “These [19th century harmony] books are symptomatic of the dearth of new ideas, and the irrelevance that pedagogical theory was falling into: (…) neither a theory nor a pedagogy of ‘Nineteenth -Century Harmony’ ever really seemed to get under way.” In this research, I try to unravel possible aspects that have a relation to this problem. One of these aspects has to do with the fact that a lot of what we call music theory origins from a compositional practice. Therefore, at the end of this research, I also made a start to describe music theoretical training that has no origin in this compositional practice. This exposition is still in progress.
  • Patrick van Deurzen - The role of music theory in professional music education, a historic overview [Snapshot from dev system - 2022-12-06 14:40] - 2020
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The role of music theory in professional music education, a historic overview


Patrick van Deurzen




Index



Preface


Introduction.

1. Music theory textbooks were in fact composition textbooks.

2. The increasing complexity of the music and the development into individual compositional styles in the 20th c.


3. The increasing gap between professional and amateur musicians in combination with the decrease of popularity of contemporary music since 1900.

 

4. Non-compositional music-theoretical training.

 

Coda


Bibliography