Since the first fully online music courses were offered in the early 2000s, online instruction in music in higher education has continued to grow, with individual course offerings in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs as well as fully online graduate music degree programs. That growth has been documented in recent surveys (...

This chapter describes issues related to teaching music theory online and presents experiences with online music theory instruction in narratives provided by professors teaching music theory online. It provides background on music theory pedagogy and the nature of music theory study. It lists accreditation standards for the study of music theory and explains its signature pedagogy. It reviews the state of the practice, including the status of music theory curricula and online music theory instruction as reported in several surveys. It features four professors who describe their online teaching experiences: development, evolution, and teaching of a fully online music fundamentals course; asynchronous music theory courses; and music theory pedagogy in flipped classrooms. Each professor offers suggestions for prospective online music theory teachers, and the chapter concludes with some lessons drawn from the field.

This chapter summarizes the status of online learning as published in some recent national reports and the status of online learning in music as reported in a national survey of online courses in music. It offers an objective perspective on similarities and differences between face-to-face and online teaching and learning. It cites the “no significant difference” phenomenon while acknowledging the special challenges imposed on infrastructure by online music instruction. It highlights accreditation standards relevant to online music teaching and learning as well as quality standards for online education. It reviews some fundamental principles that apply to learning generally as well as to online learning in any discipline. Finally, it describes a theoretical framework for online learning that has implications for teaching personas and online pedagogy.

This chapter describes issues related to teaching music appreciation online and presents experiences with online music appreciation instruction in narratives provided by professors teaching music appreciation online. It provides background on music appreciation pedagogy, including significant conferences on music in general studies. It describes the nature of music appreciation study as rooted in the disciplines of music theory and musicology, lists accreditation standards for music in general studies, and explains its signature pedagogy. It reviews the state of the practice, including pedagogical innovations as reported in the literature and the status of online music appreciation instruction as reported in a national survey. It features two professors who describe their online teaching experiences: music appreciation online for a diverse audience and music appreciation online for adult learners. Each professor offers suggestions for prospective online music appreciation teachers, and the chapter concludes with some lessons drawn from the field.

This chapter summarizes suggestions from the professors who contributed their online teaching experiences in applied music, music theory, music history/musicology, music appreciation, and music education. Topics include keeping efforts small and simple, allowing sufficient development time, and using the same signature pedagogy used in face-to-face classes but delivering it differently online. It synthesizes the lessons from each field, reprising themes from earlier chapters, including topics related to the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education and the Community of Inquiry theoretical framework. It explores the idea of online teaching as simply teaching but in a different environment and with different tools. Finally, it offers an action plan for easing into online teaching viewed as an expansion of a professor’s current teaching repertoire with the instructor in the central role of director of learning.