"This Class Was Highly Useless": Reformulating an Unpopular Music Theory Course for Non-music Majors

Abstract

This essay first examines how a course of music theory for non-music majors at the University at Buffalo experienced a serious drop in popularity between 2016-2019, suggesting the following as contributing factors: snowballing complexity, overtaxing homework expectations, reliance on non-relatable repertoire, and lack of in-class music-making. Then, it recounts in detail how the adoption of a new syllabus addressed these particular issues and how the students reacted to these new methodologies, hoping to provide the reader with an example of an emerging inclusivity-focused paradigm in music theory pedagogy.