I'm curious, what is music theory pedagogy moving to?
Although as a PhD you obviously know the subject much better than I do, I'll venture a tentative dissent, mostly because I'm curious what your rebuttal will be.
As an undergrad I took a two-course sequence in music theory, I loved most of it. I still remember nearly everything I learned, and twenty years later I was able to more or less reproduce one of my compositions from memory.
Our professor promised us that at the end of the semester we would compose four-part chorales and sound like Bach. I flat-out didn't believe him, but indeed I was able to compose something I was happy with. Overall, at the end I felt like I to a large extent I understood music -- much more so than I initially believed to be even theoretically possible.
By the end of the second semester, as we got into the twentieth century, the "rules" got broader and broader, and the course seemed to get vaguer and vaguer. Although I love twentieth century music, I stopped enjoying the class: different compositions had less and less in common, and there didn't seem to be any large-scale "theory" to be explained. Every piece had its own theory, and I didn't feel like I "understood" anything at all. Rather than attend class, I'd rather just go to a concert hall.
I certainly agree that there are a tremendous variety of musical traditions, many of which arose in places other than Western Europe. Calling it "music theory" is a disservice, when what's being explained is the theory of a single one of these traditions. Nevertheless, I'd rather study one of them in depth than take a broad survey.
Although as a PhD you obviously know the subject much better than I do, I'll venture a tentative dissent, mostly because I'm curious what your rebuttal will be.
As an undergrad I took a two-course sequence in music theory, I loved most of it. I still remember nearly everything I learned, and twenty years later I was able to more or less reproduce one of my compositions from memory.
Our professor promised us that at the end of the semester we would compose four-part chorales and sound like Bach. I flat-out didn't believe him, but indeed I was able to compose something I was happy with. Overall, at the end I felt like I to a large extent I understood music -- much more so than I initially believed to be even theoretically possible.
By the end of the second semester, as we got into the twentieth century, the "rules" got broader and broader, and the course seemed to get vaguer and vaguer. Although I love twentieth century music, I stopped enjoying the class: different compositions had less and less in common, and there didn't seem to be any large-scale "theory" to be explained. Every piece had its own theory, and I didn't feel like I "understood" anything at all. Rather than attend class, I'd rather just go to a concert hall.
I certainly agree that there are a tremendous variety of musical traditions, many of which arose in places other than Western Europe. Calling it "music theory" is a disservice, when what's being explained is the theory of a single one of these traditions. Nevertheless, I'd rather study one of them in depth than take a broad survey.