ABSTRACT
Music analysis can be quite a troublesome subject within university-level music teaching. Some students gravitate to it naturally and get a lot out of it from the very beginning; others struggle to engage with it, finding its technical challenges taxing, but also experiencing difficulties in relating it to the rest of their musical activities. Creativity in music is most often associated with the act of composition and the activity of performance. The teaching of creative musical analysis must address issues of tedium and alienation: it needs to be enlightening. The idea that analytical discovery can generate a new perspective on the music in question emerges forcefully here. Encouraging students to think about music theory and analysis in new, more flexible ways thus not only helps help them to see the skills they already have and how they can develop them, it also prepares them for further academic study.
