scholarly journals The Challenges of Implementing Diverse Political Directives in Contemporary China: Between Creativity and Confucianism

2021 ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Wai-Chung Ho
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Party System ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Communist State ◽  
Global Age ◽  
School Music

AbstractThe People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded as a communist state in 1949 within the framework of the collective leadership model under the Communist Party of China (the single-party system in China). After experiencing sociopolitical and economic changes, the PRC has moved to the free market economy of globalisation in the global age. The evolution of Chinese politics and the economic system has resulted in more diversity and changes in school education, along with struggles to adjust to these changes. Along this line, this chapter will examine the complex relationship between the politics of diversity, Confucianism, and creativity education, particularly in response to the views of Chinese teachers from Beijing via in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews on the implementation of a creativity policy in school music education. Based on current education policies and the interview data collected for this study on the examination of the nature of creativity, this chapter will conclude with a discussion of how school music education may help initiate a dialogue on the politics and nature of creativity and cultural identity in response to the challenges of contemporary political and cultural values between creativity and Confucianism that prevail in the global age of China.

Students' experiences of collaborative creation through songcrafting in primary school: Supporting creative agency in ‘school music’ programmes

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Muhonen
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Classroom Community ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
The Past ◽  
Creative Agency ◽  
School Music ◽  
Musical Activities

The study reported in this article investigates students’ experiences (n=41) of their primary school songcrafting, examining the potential to support creative agency within school music education programmes. Songcrafting refers to a collaborative composing practice in which everyone is considered to be a capable creator of melodies and lyrics, and where negotiation, collaboration, and openness to the situation are essential. Through semi-structured individual interviews with students who had experienced songcrafting in the past, analysed with qualitative methods, it was found that the students' narration of songcrafting included meanings related to general agency, creative agency, musical participation within the classroom community, and documented and shared collaborative musical products, or ‘oeuvres’.The results of this study illustrate the various often unforeseeable meanings produced through participation in collaborative musical activities. Furthermore, they highlight the potential to enrich meaningful teaching practices and pedagogy through the examination of students' experiences, and exploring the potentials in narrating one's musical stories. These findings suggest that music education practices could benefit from the inclusion of a broader range of opportunities for the students to create their own music, and the sensitive facilitation of collaborative music creation processes.

Indian Muslim(s) After Liberalization

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maidul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Economic Changes

Close to the turn of the century and almost 45 years after Independence, India opened its doors to free-market liberalization. Although meant as the promise to a better economic tomorrow, three decades later, many feel betrayed by the economic changes ushered in by this new financial era. Here is a book that probes whether India’s economic reforms have aided the development of Indian Muslims who have historically been denied the fruits of economic development. Maidul Islam points out that in current political discourse, the ‘Muslim question’ in India is not articulated in terms of demands for equity. Instead, the political leadership camouflages real issues of backwardness, prejudice, and social exclusion with the rhetoric of identity and security. Historically informed, empirically grounded, and with robust analytical rigour, the book tries to explore connections between multiple forms of Muslim marginalization, the socio-economic realities facing the community, and the formation of modern Muslim identity in the country. At a time when post-liberalization economic policies have created economic inequality and joblessness for significant sections of the population including Muslims, the book proposes working towards a radical democratic deepening in India.

Alternative Assessment for Music Students with Significant Disabilities

2019 ◽  
pp. 224-241
Author(s):  
Donald DeVito ◽  
Megan M. Sheridan ◽  
Jian-Jun Chen-Edmund ◽  
David Edmund ◽  
Steven Bingham
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Alternative Assessment ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
General Music ◽  
Significant Disabilities ◽  
School Music ◽  
K 12

How is it possible to move beyond assessment for the purposes of evaluating teacher proficiency and student performance outcomes and instead to consider assessment for understanding student musical experiences and preferences for the purpose of promoting lifelong musical engagement? This chapter includes and examines three distinct music education approaches that have been taken at the K–12 Sidney Lanier Center School for students with varying exceptionalities in Gainesville, Florida. Megan Sheridan illustrates inclusion and assessment using the Kodály approach. David Edmund and Jian-Jun Chen-Edmund examine creative lessons developed for exceptional learners in a general music setting. Steven Bingham and Donald DeVito illustrate adaptive jazz inclusion and performance for public school and university students with disabilities. This collaborative development in qualitative music assessment has taken place through (1) developing methods of communicating recognition of student engagement and affective responses during inclusive engagement in public school music education settings, specifically in Kodaly-based music instruction, K–12 general music classes, and secondary jazz ensembles; (2) using students’ interest and engagement as a means of curriculum development and assessment in inclusive public school music settings; and (3) building collaborative relationships with parents and the community for post-school lifelong music learning.

Habits of Mind as a Framework for Assessment in Music Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 201-224
Author(s):  
Jillian Hogan ◽  
Ellen Winner
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Arts Education ◽  
Habits Of Mind ◽  
Public High School ◽  
Student Agency ◽  
Thinking Dispositions ◽  
Music Classroom ◽  
Music Ensembles ◽  
School Music ◽  
High School Music

Music making requires many kinds of habits of mind—broad thinking dispositions potentially useful outside of the music room. Teaching for habits of mind is prevalent in both general and other areas of arts education. This chapter reports a preliminary analysis of the habits of mind that were systematically observed and thematically coded in twenty-four rehearsals of six public high school music ensembles: band, choir, and orchestra. Preliminary results reveal evidence of eight habits of mind being taught: engage and persist, evaluate, express, imagine, listen, notice, participate in community, and set goals and be prepared. However, two habits of mind that the researchers expected to find taught were not observed: appreciate ambiguity and use creativity. These two nonobserved habits are ones that arts advocates and theorists assume are central to arts education. The chapter discusses how authentic assessment of habits of mind in the music classroom may require novel methods, including the development of classroom environments that foster additional levels of student agency.

Could There Be Deleuzian Assessment in Music Education?

2019 ◽  
pp. 121-136
Author(s):  
Lauren Kapalka Richerme
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Continuous Assessment ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
Contemporary Education

Authors of contemporary education and arts education policies tend to emphasize the adoption of formal, summative assessment practices. Poststructuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s emphasis on ongoing differing and imaginative possibilities may at first glance appear incompatible with these overarching, codified assessments. While Deleuze criticizes the increasing use of ongoing assessments as a form of control, he posits a more nuanced explanation of measurement. This philosophical inquiry examines four measurement-related themes from Deleuze’s writings and explores how they might inform concepts and practices of assessment in various music teaching and learning contexts. The first theme suggests that each group of connective relations, what Deleuze terms a “plane of immanence,” demands its own forms of measurement. Second, Deleuze emphasizes varieties of measurement. Third, those with power, what Deleuze terms the “majority,” always set the standard for measurement. Fourth, Deleuze derides continuous assessment. His writings suggest that music educators might consider that assessments created for one musical practice or style should not transcend their own “plane of immanence,” that a variety of nonstandardized assessments is desirable, that the effect of measurement on “minoritarian” musical practices must be examined carefully, and that it is essential to ponder the potentials of unmeasured music making.

scholarly journals Music education in China: In search of social harmony and Chinese nationalism

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing-Wah Law ◽  
Wai-Chung Ho
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Social Harmony ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
Chinese Nationalism ◽  
Chinese Music ◽  
School Music ◽  
Education In China

This article critically examines how interactions between social changes, social harmony, and historical memory shape school music education in China. As a historical review and documentary analysis, it traces the historical development of music education and examines the Chinese government's role in such interactions over time. The article argues that the Chinese government uses music and music education as an influential nation-building system to enrich the politics of memory. In particular, it adapts the nation's past for political ends, and passes on state-prescribed values to its citizens with a view to legitimising its power. The dynamics and dilemmas that challenge school education result from two divergent aims: (1) to combine the functional education of Confucianism and nationalism so as to encourage social harmony and maintain national myths; and (2) to encourage popular and other world music with traditional Chinese music by using multicultural teaching strategies in music lessons. The question remains how to balance ideas of social harmony, musical cultures and nationalism in school music education in the contexts of current Chinese education policies, teacher education and the globally oriented economics of China today.

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