Mission

The purpose of the Center for Music Learning is to investigate the processes of human skill development, integrating the results of systematic research from multiple disciplines with best practices in music and music pedagogy. By bringing together expert teachers, performers, composers, psychologists, neuroscientists, and physiologists, the work of the Center encompasses the fundamental aspects of human learning and seeks to inform the design of curricula, the implementation of instruction, and the assessment of learning, all premised on a deep understanding of the development of cognitive, perceptual, and motor skills.

The Center's central goal is not merely to improve the quality of music instruction but to change fundamentally the ways that music is taught at all levels of study—in elementary and secondary education, in the studios of private teachers, and in colleges and conservatories—toward the development of a citizenry that is musically knowledgeable, literate, skillful, and confident, and that takes pleasure in their experiences with music. Accomplishing this requires our developing a more complete understanding of the processes of human learning in all its dimensions.