Music theory and analysis knowledge as a didactic instrument for integration:

three examples.

Gianluca Dai Prà

Licei "Renier", Belluno, Italy

Abstract/Sažetak

The increasingly common presence of students with mental and cognitive disfunctions in Italian high
schools brings teachers to explore new didactic strategies in order to teach music theories.

With some colleagues, I tried some of these strategies which may be also adopted for students without
disfunctions. During our experiments we used certain music theories (e.g. Neo-Riemannian and
Shenkerian) which also became didactic facilitators and enhancers [Dai Prà-Ghedini 2022]. It is not
necessary to have an in-depth knowledge of these theories.

We taught triadic analysis (for consonant triads) to a student with a notable intellectual disability
adopting Lewin’s triadic structure: a “T” (tonic) pitch which has an “m” (mediant) interval and a “d”
(dominant) interval [Lewin 1982, 23-25]. We taught him to find these intervals in the triads, to write the
right letter on the notes (“T”, “m” or “d”) and finally he could find the root position of chords if he read
“T” in the lower voice, the first inversion if he read “m” and the second inversion if he read “d”. Before
this, we taught him thirds and fifth intervals and he learned to find the correct functions of every pitch:
with the disposition by thirds he could find the root position of a chord and the pitches “T”, “d” and “m”;
after that he was able to write the right letter on the notes.

The student learned to make a simple voice-leading in four voices with two common tones; the only
possibility to make a harmony like this is to rise or climb down by a third in the bass. For this operation
the Neo-Riemannian transformations R and L were used, because the student told us: <<a pitch of the
first triad is “transformed” into another in the second one!>>. This procedure helped the teacher to
write an easy bass line, and the student to put his attention on the only note which was “transformed”.
Furthermore, Neo-Riemannian transformations principles corresponded with the student’s reasoning.

Another student, with a mild cognitive disorder, had to analyse an easy composition. He was able to
make a harmonic analysis, but he had to learn the formal one. For this student we adopted Shenkerian
analysis principles: the advantage of this analysis is that it has the same procedures for searching
prolongations in micro-formal context (e.g.: the analysis of a theme) and in macro-formal context; so,
for example, in sonata-form the exposition probably has I and IV prolongations, the development has V
prolongation, and recapitulation has I prolongation. This suggested the macro-formal structure which
may be found by an “inner working” of reduction of more degrees in prolongations of a single scale-
step. Finally, after the student had heard the composition one more time, he was able to find the right
formal structure which was suggested by the analysis.

Certainly these results may be obtained by other procedures, but these are some examples which
underline the importance of the knowledge of certain musical theories and analyses which can help
teachers to follow students’ reasoning.
Bibliography:

- COHN R. (2012), Audacious Euphony, Chromaticism and the Triad’s Second Nature, Oxford Studies in
Music Theory, Oxford.

- DAI PRA' G. – GHEDINI R. (2022), Didattica inclusiva della teoria e analisi: alcune esperienze di
“sportello” rivolto a soggetti con bisogni educativi speciali, «Analitica. Rivista online di Studi Musicali»,
13/20: http://lnx.gatm.it/analiticaojs/index.php/analitica/article/view/158/daipraghedini2020didattica

- DRABKIN W. – PASTICCI S. – POZZI E. (1995), Analisi schenkeriana. Per un’interpretazione organica della
struttura musicale, LIM, Lucca.

- GRANDE A. (2020), Una rete di ascolti: viaggio nell’universo musicale neo-riemanniano, Aracne, Roma.

- LEWIN D. (1982), A Formal Theory of Generalized Tonal Functions, «Journal of Music Theory», 26/1,
Yale University Press, pp. 23-60.

Keywords / Ključne riječi

Facilitators, Enhancers, Students’ reasoning, Cognitive disfunction, Mental disorders.

Biography/Životopis

Gianluca Dai Prà earns a bachelor’s degree in Violin, post-graduate degrees in Music Didactics and in
Baroque-Classic Violin and the master’s degree in Music Analysis and Theory.
He performed concerts until 2016, also in the Historically Informed Performances.
He has been teaching violin since 2002; since 2017 he has been teaching at the statal music high school.
He participated in some international conferences such as: EUROMAC 10 (Moscow 2020), International
Conference of Music Analysis and Theory (Rimini 2020, 2021), and published some papers on harmonic
dualism and temperaments (Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale - RATM 2020/1) and inclusive didactics
of Music Analysis and Theory (Analitica 2020/13).
He co-edited and contributed to the didactic publication “Da Mozart a Beethoven. Diario di un Liceo
Musicale” (Armelin; 2019), and has been an editor of RATM since 2021.