This session addresses the integration of timbre into required undergraduate music theory curricula, focusing on a move from theory to active practice. Intended for faculty and graduate instructors teaching undergraduate theory and aural skills sequences—as well as those involved in curricular revision—this session equips participants with (1) a transferable framework for integrating timbre into the core curriculum, (2) options for non-notational representations and listening-based evidence, (3) assessment-oriented strategies that build instructor confidence, and (4) a personalized action plan for integrating timbre into the undergraduate theory core curriculum.

Although timbre—a perceptual attribute and contributor to sound quality and source identity (Siedenburg & McAdams 2017)—has proliferated throughout recent scholarship (e.g., Dolan & Rehding 2021), it remains segregated in the undergraduate music theory curriculum. Curricula remain tacitly timbre-neutral, a stance reinforced when textbooks and core competencies foreground parameters most readily captured by staff notation and keyboard-based exemplars (Palfy & Gilson 2018; Rush & Acevedo 2025). While there have been recent developments in analytical vocabularies and methods for timbre-based analysis (Lochhead 2016; Lavengood 2020; McAdams, Goodchild, & Soden 2022), a curriculum-level account of how timbre becomes “core” (rather than additive or elective) requires further consideration. There exist no standardized unitary methodologies or pedagogical texts for teaching timbral analysis, underscoring the gap between scholarly theorizing of timbre and future pedagogical practices. Many instructors face limited time to redesign required sequences, a lack of classroom-ready materials (activities, representations, assessment models), and uneven confidence teaching unfamiliar repertoires and descriptive frameworks.

This session begins the conversation by combining panelist discussions and curricular examples with guided workshop activities aimed at immediately adaptable curricular integration. Content includes semi-scripted discussions among panelists, presentation of a case study and curricular examples, and audience engagement, aiming to spark lasting discussions that lead to concrete actions within instructors’ own institutional contexts. Session topics accordingly flow from timbre’s contributions to music theory’s contemporary goals, through lesson plans and course materials developed by panelists, to specific actions for integrating timbre into the music theory core.