Cooperative learning and music education: application in a middle school band music theory curriculum

Cooperative learning and music education have always been linked due to many commonalities between the two, but the role cooperative learning can play in music is often misunderstood or underused. The goal of this capstone is to apply cooperative learning and music education together in a purposeful way. Working together in a music performance is a necessity, but when students are studying music theory, they fill out worksheets by themselves without relying on one another to learn the material that is essential to their playing. By rewriting the existing music theory curriculum to rely on Cooperative Learning and Understanding by Design, I now have my students work together in order to master the material and apply it to their playing more successfully