Revisiting Tonal Hierarchies: An Analytical Review of Shifting Paradigms in Music Theory Pedagogy from the 20th Century to the Present

Abstract

Western music theory has been based on tonal hierarchies for a long time. Frameworks like Schenkerian analysis and functional harmony give us an organised way to understand pitch relationships and musical form. As music changed in the 20th and 21st centuries, though, these models started to show that they weren't able to cover the wide range of global and modern musical practices. The growth of popular music styles and non-Western practices, along with atonality, serialism, and modal systems, made tonal-centric analysis less applicable to all situations. Cognitive study showed that how people hear tones is not fixed for everyone, but depends on their cultural background and how they listen. Including popular music in school studies has made it easier to have flexible ideas about how tones work and how they are put together, showing how tonal centres and harmonic meaning change when music styles change. Modern teaching methods stress learner-centered approaches, comparative analysis, and the use of interactive tools that make theoretical ideas easier to understand and grasp. These changes are part of a larger trend in music education towards diversity, inclusion, and relevance to the real world. Instead of getting rid of tonal hierarchies, teachers are rethinking them as one analytical lens among many. This helps students manage a world of different kinds of music with more ease, critical insight, and creative engagement.