Skip to main content
White "KOLLOQUIUM" lettering on a dark blue background

Colloquium Music Theory

The content on this page was translated automatically.

The Role of Score-Based Music Literacy in Scottish Secondary and Higher Music Education
Rebekah Donn
Monday, 02/09/2026 18:00 HfMT, Raum 13

Lecture in English


This paper aims to outline the ways in which score-based music literacy is taught and learned on music certification courses in Scottish secondary schools, and how the way it is taught at secondary level can be demonstrated to affect Scottish music-educational provision at degree level. In order to do this, it will draw on the findings of my PhD thesis which comprises an interview-based study exploring the experiences of Scottish secondary music pupils, secondary music teachers and lecturers teaching on undergraduate music programs at Scottish universities.
The paper will first summarize how the development of score-based music literacy skills are addressed specifically within the 'Listening/Understanding Music' and 'Composition' components of Scottish secondary music certification courses. In so doing, it will refer to the modes of assessment associated with these course components and their role in shaping pupils' understanding of score-based music literacy. Thereafter, it will outline the observations made by lecturers working on Scottish undergraduate music programs in relation to the nature of many students' prior education in this area. Here, it will explore some of the recent adjustments which have been made to the entry requirements and academic curriculum of many Scottish undergraduate music degrees, before outlining lecturers' perceptions of what the consequences of these changes might be for the Scottish music sector as a whole.


Rebekah Donn is currently reading for a PhD in Music Education at Edinburgh Napier University under the supervision of Prof. Zack Moir and Bryden Stillie. Outside her studies, Rebekah works as a private piano and woodwind tutor and is also an associate lecturer on the BA (Hons) music program at her university. Rebekah is currently a student representative for the Society for Music Analysis and regularly conducts research for the Society.


In the lecture series "Kolloquium Musiktheorie", members of the HfMT Hamburg and external guests present their current music theory research. The events are explicitly aimed not only at music theorists, but at all interested parties. There will be an opportunity for discussion after the lectures.

Eintritt frei