Date
9-2020
Department
School of Music
Degree
Master of Arts in Music Education (MA)
Chair
Betty Melinda Damon
Keywords
Diatonic Modes, Praxial
Disciplines
Music
Recommended Citation
Eddy, Margaret Cherise, "Composition in the Diatonic Modes: Past and Present Function and a Praxial Curriculum Suggestion" (2020). Masters Theses. 672.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/672
Abstract
The purpose of this curriculum project is to design an online curriculum that presents diatonic musical modes in a way that is memorable, applicable, and beneficial to music education. Although the diatonic modes were discussed theoretically by the ancient Greeks, and the modes were actively used in worship, theory, and composition throughout the Middle Ages and into the early Renaissance era, these modes are only briefly taught as a theoretical principal in advanced theory courses or included in current textbook appendices. The diatonic modes are not usually represented as currently practical in composition and performance, and therefore, this study demonstrates the need for an online curriculum that presents the modes in a way that is memorable, applicable, and beneficial to the rest of music education. The qualitative emergent design of this study includes a historical overview of the diatonic modes and current curriculum quantity and presentation of the diatonic modes. The study is underpinned by the principle that teaching the modes through composition has the potential to broaden student creativity in composition and theoretical understanding and is complimentary to the praxial music education.
