Gordon Music Learning Theory: A Comprehensive Overview

Music Learning Theory (MLT), primarily associated with the work of Edwin E. Gordon, offers a detailed framework for understanding how individuals learn music. It’s not a rigid teaching method but rather a foundational theory that informs various teaching approaches. MLT emphasizes audiation-the ability to hear and comprehend music in the mind-as central to musical understanding and development. This article explores the core principles of Gordon's Music Learning Theory, its practical applications, and its impact on music education.

Core Principles of Music Learning Theory

MLT is grounded in the belief that music learning is a developmental process, much like language acquisition. Just as children learn to speak before they read and write, MLT suggests that students should develop aural and performing skills before being introduced to music notation and theory.

Audiation: The Foundation of Musical Understanding

Audiation is the cornerstone of Gordon's Music Learning Theory. It is defined as the ability to hear and comprehend music in the mind, even in the absence of external sound. This internal hearing allows individuals to give meaning to musical sounds and is essential for listening, performing, improvising, and composing.

Sequence: A Systematic Approach to Skill Development

Sequence in Music Learning Theory mirrors the natural progression of language learning. It systematically accounts for the readiness needed to learn new musical skills.

Skill Learning Sequence

The skill learning sequence comprises eight hierarchical levels:

Aural/Oral: Students hear tonal and rhythm patterns and imitate them by singing, moving, and chanting. This is the most basic level.
Verbal Association: Students learn tonal and rhythm solfege to label and identify patterns.
Partial Synthesis: Students recognize patterns within a familiar song or piece.
Symbolic Association: Students associate written notation with known tonal and rhythm patterns. Reading becomes a process of recognition rather than decoding.
Improvisation/Creativity: Students improvise and create their own patterns, building on their audiation skills.
Theoretical Understanding: Students gain a deeper understanding of music theory concepts in aural/oral, verbal, and symbolic contexts.

The Whole/Part/Whole Curriculum

MLT employs a Whole/Part/Whole approach to curriculum design, also known as Synthesis/Analysis/Synthesis. This model organizes students’ experience with content in a cyclical manner.

First Whole (Synthesis): An introduction to the topic establishes basic familiarity.
Part (Analysis): Detailed study of the components. Tonal and rhythm patterns are taught during learning sequence activities.
Second Whole (Synthesis): Students develop a sophisticated understanding of how the parts integrate to form a unified whole.

In practical terms, songs and music literature represent the "whole" part of the curriculum, taught during classroom activities, while tonal and rhythm patterns are the "part" taught during learning sequence activities.

Focus on Patterns

Tonal and rhythm patterns, not individual notes, are the fundamental units of meaning in music, analogous to words in language. Learning sequence activities help students assign musical meaning to individual pitches and durations that form these patterns.

Contrast

Understanding musical elements involves comparing them to what they are not. Experiencing diverse tonal patterns, rhythm patterns, tonalities, meters, tonal functions, and rhythm functions is crucial for learning. This discrimination learning cultivates a foundational tonal and rhythm vocabulary necessary for generalization, improvisation, and creation.

Context

Context is critical to the audiation of musical elements. Establishing tonal and rhythm context during both classroom activities and learning sequence activities is essential. For example, during tonal pattern instruction, teachers establish tonality by playing tonic-dominant-tonic progressions, guiding students to audiate tonal patterns in reference to a tonality, resting tone, and tonal function.

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Rhythmic Movement

Rhythm is best understood through physical movement. Gordon's Music Learning Theory acknowledges the importance of incorporating rhythmic movement to internalize musical concepts.

Applications of Music Learning Theory

Music Learning Theory can be applied to various aspects of music education, from early childhood to instrumental and vocal instruction.

Early Childhood Music Education

Early experiences with music and movement have a profound impact on a child’s future musical development. MLT emphasizes the importance of providing young children with rich aural experiences and opportunities for rhythmic movement to foster audiation skills.

Instrumental Music Instruction

"Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series," co-written by Richard F. Grunow and Christopher D Azzara, applies Gordon's Music Learning Theory to instrumental music instruction. This approach emphasizes developing audiation skills before introducing notation, allowing students to recognize patterns rather than simply decoding notes.

General Music Education

MLT provides a framework for developing sequential curricular goals in general music education. By focusing on audiation, teachers can help students draw greater meaning from the music they listen to, perform, improvise, and compose.

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Private Piano Lessons

Thomas Hoops, MME, has implemented MLT in his private piano lessons, emphasizing discrimination learning and inference to enhance students' understanding of rhythm and other musical concepts.

Assessment and Evaluation

Edwin Gordon developed several tests to determine music aptitude for various age groups. The "Musical Aptitude Profile," created in 1965, is designed for children in 4th to 12th grade. These tests help teachers understand students' potential and tailor instruction to individual needs.

Criticisms and Considerations

While Music Learning Theory has been influential, it has also faced criticism. Some argue that its skills-based programs may be too narrow and limited in scope to provide students access to the diversity of musical belief systems, practices, and groups that exist. It is important for educators to consider these criticisms and adapt MLT to fit their specific teaching context and student population.

Integrating MLT into Existing Teaching Methods

One of the strengths of Music Learning Theory is its adaptability. Teachers can integrate MLT principles into their current teaching methods without completely overhauling their approach. By focusing on audiation, sequence, and the Whole/Part/Whole curriculum, teachers can enhance their students' musical understanding and skills.

Practical Steps for Integration

Emphasize Aural Learning: Begin by having students listen to and imitate tonal and rhythm patterns before introducing notation.
Incorporate Rhythmic Movement: Use movement activities to help students internalize rhythm and meter.
Establish Context: Always provide a tonal and rhythm context for musical patterns and exercises.
Use Contrast: Help students discriminate between different tonal and rhythm patterns, tonalities, and meters.
Apply the Whole/Part/Whole Approach: Introduce pieces of music in their entirety before breaking them down into smaller parts for detailed study.

The Importance of Discrimination and Inference

Discrimination learning, the ability to determine whether two elements are the same or different, is a foundational skill in MLT. Inference, or the ability to identify unfamiliar patterns based on familiar ones, builds upon discrimination learning. By developing these skills, students become active participants in their own education.

Resources for Further Learning

For those interested in learning more about Music Learning Theory, several resources are available:

"Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns" by Edwin E. Gordon
The Gordon Institute for Music Learning (GIML) offers workshops and certifications for educators.
"Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series" by Richard F. Grunow and Christopher D Azzara

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