I will be wrestling all summer with the question
"How do you teach music online?"
And no, I don't even mean Applied Music. There are definitely some issues and questions that arise with that one. I am referring to teaching "about" music. Or, more specifically, a Music Appreciation class.
For me, the main objective in a Music Appreciation class is to have the students come away with a new ability to listen to music. You see, most students who are non-musicians (and even some who are) do not actually listen to music. Oh, they hear it all right. It is on all the time. Usually too loudly and in situations where its broadcast is inappropriate. (No, I do not want to listen to your favorite R&B artist's newest "romance" song on your tinny sounding iPod speakers in the gym locker room, thank you.) But to hear the elements of music at all is not a skill that most of my students have even thought to develop.
But how can you teach the requisite skills in an online environment?
The easiest thing in the world is to make Music Appreciation a glorified music history class for non-majors. It satisfies all the i-dotters and t-crossers in the assessment game. It is clear-cut information that the instructor has and the student does not. But when it is limited to that kind of exchange, I think it misses the point. The better and more fun class is where a student learns HOW to listen.
I think the basic element of this process is structure. The bones of any musical piece. That is my next piece to chew on.
