To utilize Hyperscore’s full potential, Dr. Kevin Jennings of Dublin, Ireland, urges music educators to “invert the pedagogy” when it comes to introducing children to composition. Watch:
Inverting the pedagogy means allowing student composers to create purposefully first, then discussing the musical rudiments present in their creative work afterwards. Dr. Jennings, part of the original Hyperscore team at the MIT Media Lab, encourages teachers to start by asking a student to place that first note in the Melody Window. Ask the student to process: Do I like the pitch? Do I like the length? Do I like the instrument choice? If I change it, do I like it better? Why or why not? With experimentation and reacting as the key, students would learn to build a composition. Moving forward purposefully with each successive note allows the student to become a creative composer!
Hyperscore as an alternative to traditional notation
Most interestingly, Dr. Jennings believes that the visual representation of music in Hyperscore bypasses the need for understanding standard notation first in order to be able to compose. In Hyperscore, student composers can visually see the difference between a quarter note and a half note. They can see, and hear, that a note is higher or lower than another, composing intuitively as they manipulate their musical choices. Should instruction move on to include the music staff, the visual mode lends itself to greater understanding of the complexity of standard notation. As students react to, and discuss what they are hearing in their compositions, the teacher can introduce musical concepts and terminology (“that’s called a major third”).
Sage on the stage or guide on the side? Inverting the pedagogy helps to connect with students
In this inverted pedagogy, Dr. Jennings states that the teacher becomes a “guide, mentor, partner, co-creator/co-conspirator” in the student’s process. As a teacher myself, I find that there is no greater joy than to hear students talking to each other about their composition process or sitting at a computer with a student and pointing out rising sequences that they instinctively placed into their piece because they liked the pattern and wanted to hear it again, but in a different way.
Do you want to gift your students with the opportunity to create music purposefully? Dr. Jennings encourages you to follow the advice of Canadian Professor of Music Theory Charles Morrison and “be a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage”–Hyperscore empowers you, the teacher, to be that guide.
6 replies on “Inverting the Pedagogy: the Hyperscore Difference”
[…] intend to focus on “inverted pedagogy” in our September presentation. Our October meeting will feature an informal study done with […]
[…] presenting composition as a way to learn music content and theory. Another methodology is to “invert the pedagogy” which allows their creativity to guide your presentation of […]
[…] An accelerated learning approach for music education is precisely what we are championing through the use of HyperscoreTM and our “inverted pedagogy.” […]
[…] As part of Hyperscore’s development, Dr. Kevin Jennings, an MIT doctoral student at the time, created the blue line that runs across the center of the sketch window. The Harmony Line, as he called it, creates areas of tension (green), release (blue) and drama (yellow) using principles of music theory embedded in the programming. During a 2022 Zoom meeting showing Dr. Jennings the updated web-based version, he shared a philosophical methodology with us that we have completely embraced called Inverted Pedagogy. […]
[…] many years of experience teaching with Hyperscore as well as pedagogical input from such figures as Dr. Kevin Jennings, these curriculums present different methodological options for music education with Hyperscore. […]
[…] Dr. Kevin Jennings received his doctorate at MIT with his work on creating the harmony line during his studies. Using the General or Classical mode you can bend and shape the harmony line using the arrow tool. The effect is to create areas of tension (green) and release (blue). Pulling the harmony line upward or downward with a sharp spike will modulate the piece into another key. To turn off modal changes, touch a line, dot or highlight a section. Press button number 5 as shown in the previous section. The line can be straightened again by holding the shift key and dragging the arrow from left to right. […]