The purpose of this self-study of teacher education practices was to examine and improve improvisation and composition teaching practices for three university professors at the same institution. Primary data sets were individual researcher journals and transcripts of seven researcher meetings. Secondary data sets were music major surveys, interviews, observations, and written communications. Findings are discussed in three sections: origins of our insecurities, turning point realizations and conversations, and our changed teaching practices and students’ learning. With the encouragement and support of our coresearchers, each of us experienced greater success in regularly integrating improvisation and composition into our teaching, which yielded notable increases in our students’ confidence and skills when improvising and composing, as well as willingness to incorporate them into their own teaching. We noticed improved student learning in many areas, as well as a more sophisticated transference of knowledge between playing, reading, and writing music.

Ravel’s Concerto in G Major reveals a new priority for timbre, long an integral part of his compositional toolkit, in which timbre functions as a form-bearing accent that marks and transforms themes. Through his unconventional treatment of symphonic instruments and the piano within reinvented concepts of theme, key, and form, I argue that these “novel” sonorities are not just there for surface reasons, but rather there to serve an integral role within the narrative of the concerto form. In the timbrally marked Concerto in G Major, the concerto medium is turned on its side as we attempt to understand the members of the orchestra as ensemble and co-soloists within changing auditory scenes. With the prominent place given to piccolo and harp—and, more profoundly, the “mistuned,” unusual timbres often issuing from the piano—we wonder: Who is the soloist Ravel is highlighting in this concerto?

Ravel’s interwar compositions and transcriptions reveal a sophisticated engagement with timbre and orchestration. Of interest is the way he uses timbre to connect and conceal passages in his music. In this article, I look at the way Ravel manipulates instrumental timbre to create sonic illusions that transform expectations, mark the form, and create meaning. I examine how he uses instrumental groupings to create distinct or blended auditory events, which I relate to musical structure. Using an aurally based analytical approach, I develop these descriptions of timbre and auditory scenes to interpret ways in which different timbre-spaces function. Through techniques such as timbral transformations, magical effects, and timbre and contour fusion, I examine the ways in which Ravel conjures sound objects in his music that are imaginary, transformative, or illusory.

A Music Theory Club is an extra-curricular activity, found primarily in institutions of higher education, that provides mostly undergraduate students with exceptional experiences geared toward deepening their understanding of music. Because the membership of these clubs need not be limited to students majoring or minoring in music, or even to those who are enrolled in a music theory class, they may be considered examples of public music theory. Additionally, the members may choose to engage in community-based public music theory projects. In the following chapter, the author explores what a music theory club is, how it benefits students, faculty, and community alike, how to start one, and the types of activities a music theory club can be involved with.

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