The efficacy and analysis of four contemporary methodologies vis-à-vis traditional methods of teaching music

Learning music is not just learning a series of physical skills as is emphasized in the traditional methods. It is also about learning to express the music with emotion and being able to understand the ways in which the mind and body relate to the student’s musical abilities, as advocated by the contemporary methods. Four educators and their contemporary methods are researched and critiqued using numerous resources from relevant books, journal articles, websites and personal experience. Shinichi Suzuki developed new and innovative ways of teaching classical music for string instruments of the orchestra. Carl Orff used rhythm instruments, and body movement with verbal rhymes to teach music to children. Howard Roberts emphasized the importance of the mind to visualize the music before attempting to play it from the written page. Lastly, Julie Lyonn Lieberman focused on various components of memory and visualization techniques to learn music more quickly and efficiently.