Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
EdD
College
College of Education and Human Services
Department
Curriculum & Instruction/Literacy Studies
Committee Chair
Samuel Stack
Committee Co-Chair
Allison Swan Dagen
Committee Member
Allison Swan Dagen
Committee Member
Keri Valentine
Committee Member
Gretchen Pohlman
Abstract
Music Learning Theory, conceived, researched, and developed by Dr. Edwin Elias Gordan, has been on the periphery of music education for decades and is the only extant comprehensive theoretical framework that fully addresses the development of music literacy from early childhood through maturity. The concurrent research gap suggests that a Fordist approach may exist throughout music education – one that insists upon behavioral goals, direct instruction, and educational, artistic, and ideological exclusivity. This historical study elucidates Gordan’s work in order to understand the stages and processes that are like spokes of a wheel between his idea of audiation at the core and Music Learning Theory on the outer rim. Conclusions bring Gordon’s concepts within Music Learning Theory to the fore to address this potential gap in practice and exclusion in music education by revealing the theory’s usefulness in explaining how learning occurs while guiding instruction individual student project. The information gleaned is practical and displays Music Learning Theory as a possibility for all forms of music education but particularly for instrumental instruction. It represents possibilities in music instruction beyond those associated with traditional teaching and application of musical concepts and skills.
Recommended Citation
Alfred, David M., "Speaking Music: A Historical Study of Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory" (2021). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 11534.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/11534