Speaking Music: A Historical Study of Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory

Abstract

Music Learning Theory, conceived, researched, and developed by Dr. Edwin Elias Gordan, has been on the periphery of music education for decades and is the only extant comprehensive theoretical framework that fully addresses the development of music literacy from early childhood through maturity. The concurrent research gap suggests that a Fordist approach may exist throughout music education – one that insists upon behavioral goals, direct instruction, and educational, artistic, and ideological exclusivity. This historical study elucidates Gordan’s work in order to understand the stages and processes that are like spokes of a wheel between his idea of audiation at the core and Music Learning Theory on the outer rim. Conclusions bring Gordon’s concepts within Music Learning Theory to the fore to address this potential gap in practice and exclusion in music education by revealing the theory’s usefulness in explaining how learning occurs while guiding instruction individual student project. The information gleaned is practical and displays Music Learning Theory as a possibility for all forms of music education but particularly for instrumental instruction. It represents possibilities in music instruction beyond those associated with traditional teaching and application of musical concepts and skills.