Rethinking the Undergraduate Music History Sequence in the Information Age

Abstract

This essay presents a case study of the new undergraduate music history curriculum at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. While one course in the sequence is a chronological survey, the other courses adopt a variety of approaches. The result is a flexible curriculum that addresses a multiplicity of learning and teaching styles. Recognizing the ease with which students can access vast oceans of information, it also places greater value on the acquisition of musicological skills than on the absorption of music historical information.