The Cloud of Musical Knowledge: Towards a Critical Music Theory Pedagogy

Abstract

This chapter positions the teaching of music theory in the online sphere as a powerful and unlikely site for critical pedagogy. Teaching music theory in the online platform should not ask questions of how best to digitally recast music theory classes, but to consider how teaching online can change the way students approach, explore, and respond to theory content. This happens in what the author labels "the cloud of musical knowledge," which is mutable, accessible, and democratic. Music theory suffers from being largely considered separate from political and cultural discussion, and as a result is a hidden bullet of neoliberalism and conservativism that reminds students from minorities that their opinions do not matter and similarly it does not remind other students to consider their own privileged perspective. By exploring the intersections of critical pedagogy and music theory and detailing the structure of online music theory lessons, the author argues for an open and inviting space in which students do not think of music theory as being other than themselves and their experience.