Music literacy, yes. But also music silliness.
When I’m trying to help students understand something unexpected in the music, I of course explain the theoretical knowledge behind it. Tonicization, hemiola, tritone substitution, and so on.
I also try to help my students see that music is a game we’re playing. The composers and arrangers made those unexpected choices because they were amusing themselves.
They are playing.
I know it’s true for myself, and for many composer friends. You can’t listen to Mozart and not know he was playing musical games to amuse himself. For Bach, Monteverdi, all the way back…it’s play.
Make sure, beyond the literacy, that helping students see the games.