Musical Notation in Secondary Education: Some Aspects of Theory and Practice

Abstract

The teaching of musical notation is now a legal requirement of the National Curriculum for music in England and Wales. Far from settling the debate over the desirability, or otherwise, of teaching notation, this aspect of the legislation seems to make a review of the problem imperative.This article examines theories of music as a language analogous to the spoken or written word, and then considers the practical and sociological arguments for and against the teaching of staff notation.