UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Student as Theorist: Embodiment as a Paradigm for Music Theory Pedagogy Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1rs5b1jg Author Gutierrez, James Publication Date 2019 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO Student as Theorist: Embodiment as a Paradigm for Music Theory Pedagogy A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Music by James Gutierrez Committee in charge: Professor David Borgo, Chair Professor Alan Daly Professor Mark Dresser Professor Rafael Núñez Professor Stephanie Richards 2019 1 Copyright James Gutierrez, 2019 All rights reserved. 1 The Dissertation of James Gutierrez is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California San Diego 2019 iii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my family, Who nurtured a sense that the core of our being intersects the highest conceivable good in the state of music. The desire to become a Doctor of Philosophy Was planted by my father, Who embodies a love of Wisdom. My study of music began With my mother, my first teacher, Who –– despite having moved the hearts of countless many through her voice and her guitar –– has alWays denied being a “real musician.” I hope to ever extend their approach to music as a service to the listener, to the learner, to the self, and to the transcendent. iv EPIGRAPH “We all have this theory…let’s do something with it!” ― LaWrence (Butch) Morris v TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature page ............................................................................................................... iii Dedication ..................................................................................................................... iv Epigraph ......................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ................................................................................................................. ix Preface ............................................................................................................................ x Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... xiii Vita ............................................................................................................................... xv Abstract of the Dissertation ......................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 OvervieW ............................................................................................................... 8 Part I. Curricular Horizons ....................................................................................... 33 Chapter 2. A Student Evaluation of Undergraduate Music Theory ......................... 34 The Value of Student Feedback ........................................................................... 36 Reddit as a Recruitment Source .......................................................................... 38 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 42 Results ................................................................................................................. 44 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 61 Recommendations ............................................................................................... 64 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 69 Chapter 3. Breaking the Logjam: Four Cases of Curricular Change in Music Theory .................................................................................................................................. 71 Suzannah Clark, Harvard University ................................................................... 75 Juan Chattah, Frost School of Music ................................................................... 85 Anthony Burr, U.C. San Diego ........................................................................... 97 Timothy Rice, U.C. Los Angeles ...................................................................... 113 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 123 vi Part II. Mutual Transformation: Perspectives of Musical Embodiment ............ 127 Chapter 4. Music, Body, World: Vectors of Agency in Music Theoretical Traditions ................................................................................................................................ 128 The Body in the History of Music Theory and Practice .................................... 131 Body-World Relations: Vectors of Agency in Speculative, Regulative, and Analytic Theory ................................................................................................. 148 Chapter 5. 4E Perspectives: The Embodied Mind and Music Cognition .............. 165 Non-dualism and the Rise of ‘E’ Approaches to Cognition .............................. 166 Musicking as Embodied, Enactive, Ecological ................................................. 190 Part III. Student as Theorist .................................................................................... 199 Chapter 6. Recovering the Speculative: The Embodied Mind in Music Theory Pedagogy ................................................................................................................ 200 Dualist Legacies in TWentieth-Century Music Theory Pedagogy .................... 202 Metaphors within Metaphors: Music Theory and the Embodied Mind ............ 222 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 238 Chapter 7. “Have an Idea!” Butch Morris’ Conduction® in the Music Theory Classroom .............................................................................................................. 241 Responding to the Call for NeW Tools .............................................................. 244 Introducing Conduction ..................................................................................... 246 Additional Benefits ............................................................................................ 265 Sample Activities ............................................................................................... 270 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 281 Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 285 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Respondents by music emphasis……………………………………………..45 Figure 2.2: Sample emphasis compared With faculty emphasis……………………….....45 Figure 2.3: Sentiment toward theory knowledge versus theory class…………………….48 Figure 2.4: Mean agreement With statements following “Music theory class”….……......49 Figure 2.5: Mean agreement With content versus non-content aspects………………......50 Figure 2.6: Mean agreement on categories grouped by “…could improve.” rating ….....51 Figure 2.7: Skills rated as grade-vital versus personally useful………………………….53 Figure 2.8: Positive, negative, and neutral comments……………………………………57 Figure 3.1: Undergraduate skills nurtured at Frost School of Music…………………….89 Figure 3.2: The Frost Method’s™ C.R.E.A.T.E Through Lines…………………………91 Figure 4.1: Body-World relations by Merleau-Ponty, Bourdieu, and Foucault………...150 Figure 4.2: Body-World relations by speculative, regulative, and analytic theory…….158 Figure 5.1: Anthony Chemero’s taxonomy of embodied cognition…………….……...178 Figure 6.1: “It’s not rocket science.”………………………………….………………..228 Figure 7.1: “Sustained tone” directive…………………….…………………………….249 Figure 7.2: “Memory 1” directive……………………………………………………….256 Figure 7.3: “Develop” directive.………………………………………………………..256 Figure 7.4: Heuristic levels in a Conduction®………………………………………….261 Figure 7.5: “Repeat” directive…………………………………………………………..273 Figure 7.6: “Pedestrian” directive………………………………………………………275 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Example negative comments by category………………………………….....59 Table 2.2: Example positive comments by category……………………………………...61 Table 3.1: Fourteen curricular reform imperatives……………………………………...124 ix PREFACE I Will begin by establishing the personal problematic that motivated this dissertation. A theory intends to explain. Thus, all Who orient themselves