Let's Talk: The Undergraduate Theory Curriculum

As a discipline, music theory is navigating ripples created more than three years ago by two sessions at the 2019 Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting (Columbus, OH): "Corralling the Chorale: Moving Away from SATB Writing in the Undergraduate Music Theory Curriculum" (multiple presenters) and Philip Ewell's "Music Theory's White Racial Frame." These presentations challenged scholars to assess content in our courses: the learning outcomes and the repertoire used as models. This session aims to explore attitudes and actions of those in attendance about curricular changes to the undergraduate theory sequence. The format of this session will provide time for small-group discussion, whether attending in person or online. As scholar-instructors, we are called to be both stewards of tradition and proponents for change. How do we, many of whom were trained in the 20th-century using 18th- and 19th-century repertoire, prepare students to be successful 21st-century musicians?