The teaching and learning of music literacy: A descriptive review

Blackstone, Daphne (2025) The teaching and learning of music literacy: A descriptive review. Master thesis, Educational Sciences.

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Abstract

Music literacy skills are increasingly important in the world of classical music in gaining opportunities to share musical ideas and perform with others. Learning to read music, however, is a complex process that many people struggle with. Translating symbols into sounds not only requires visual and aural decoding, but also sufficient motoric coordination to sing or play the musical notation. Furthermore, in contrast to learning to read words in a mother language, where words that are learned are already understood, there is a lack of familiarity with musical elements that may slow down the learning process. This descriptive review aims to collect and compare current insights in the methods and effectiveness of learning and teaching music literacy to inform future decision-making processes regarding music teaching programs. Criteria for the inclusion of articles include that human participants are typically developing, the interventions concern classical western music notation, and the outcomes concentrate on teaching and learning rather than comparing experienced and naïve participants. Out of the 860 articles screened, 21 were analysed for the final synthesis. Across music education contexts (general music lessons, experiments and interventions, student tutoring, individual instrumental lessons, rehearsal, and technology-assisted teaching) multimodal approaches to teaching were applied. Common teaching activities included listening, singing, discussing, moving and reading. Learning outcomes of these activities were mainly positive, though in some instances t less learning took place. Initial conclusions based on the review, based on articles of limited transparency, are that students’ active contribution to their learning, feedback and building on prior knowledge are important aspects of teaching and learning literacy. Learning through embodied cognition had positive results as well but could not explain all learning. The multimodal aspect of embodied cognition may be an equally likely explanation of positive learning outcomes in music literacy education. Key words: music literacy, music education, learning, teaching

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Bosch, K.A. van den
Degree programme:	Educational Sciences
Differentiation route:	Other [Master Educational Sciences]
Date Deposited:	14 Jul 2025 07:24
Last Modified:	14 Jul 2025 07:24
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5501

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