Reading Music. The Use of Scores in Music Learning and Teaching

Abstract

The chapter discusses the role and use of the musical score as a learning object in music teaching, predominantly in formal contexts. The nature of scores as external systems of representation and their two main functions are analyzed: the pragmatic (score as a means to maintain knowledge over time) and the epistemic (score as a means to understand the knowledge it contains and for the creation of new knowledge). The levels of comprehension of the scores studied so far and how they are acquired in the formal teaching and learning processes are presented.