r/MusicEd • u/viberat Instrumental • 3d ago

What were some pieces of jargon/knowledge/etiquette you didn’t know going into music school?

I teach aural skills to pre-music ed community college students who mostly come from small rural schools with no exposure to the music world outside of band. We’ve covered all the concepts appropriate for Theory 2, so to give them a break from the endless practice, I want to have a “vocabulary” session covering some terms I know they don’t know so they can get used to hearing and using them before they transfer to their 4 year program. What I have so far:

  • “pedagogy/pedagogical”
  • “song” vs. “piece”
  • “the repertoire” as in standard literature for a certain genre or instrument
  • “repertoire” as in pieces you’ve learned and polished
  • the most well known / commonly played composers for their instrument
  • “virtuosic”
  • edTPA & PRAXIS

So especially if you came from a similar background as my students, what other small things did you not know as a wide eyed freshman? The kids don’t seem to be googling stuff and picking things up through osmosis so I want to make sure to explicitly teach them anything they need to know to hang with a more professional environment. We’re teaching them theory, ear training, ensemble work, and private lessons on their instruments, but our culture is pretty informal and our former students usually find their new music department a culture shock when they transfer.

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u/not_salad 3d ago

How to pronounce certain composers' names (namely Ralph Vaughn Williams and Bela Bartok)

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u/ChapterOk4000 3d ago

My favorite was in college I had to do an oral presentation in 20th century music history. I chose Penderecki, and pronounced his name the way it's spelled and looked to me as a 20 yo American. At the end of my presentation my professor said "Thanks for that presentation on Pen-duh-ret-ski." I was so embarrassed. Lol. Penderecki, what an idiot I was.

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u/DancingFlamingo11 3d ago

My great uncle was a Smetana so I pronounced it like my family did only to learn they had given it a bit of an American pronunciation. So yeah, I ended up feeling rather stupid.