Music as language: An analogy to be pursued with caution

1997 ◽  
Vol os-29 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantijn Koopman
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Musical Traditions

The Conference themes all suggest that music may be considered as a language. However, I argue that this is a misleading analogy. I shall point out some crucial differences between language and music by examining the concept of meaning. Two types of meaning will be distinguished and explained: extrinsic and intrinsic meaning. Whereas the former kind of meaning is typical of language, the latter kind is characteristic of the arts in general and of music in particular. Conceiving music as a language may easily lead us to concentrate on the extrinsic aspects of music rather than on its intrinsic meaning. The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic meaning is also relevant to understanding music of other cultures. I argue that properties related to intrinsic meaning can generally be apprehended by outsiders more easily than properties related to extrinsic meaning. Since we cannot initiate children fully into all musical traditions and styles in music education, I recommend that we pay special attention to furthering children's sensitivity to intrinsic aspects of music. Thus we can best assure that they gain a passport to musics of all cultures.

scholarly journals Musicians as “Makers in Society”: A Conceptual Foundation for Contemporary Professional Higher Music Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Gaunt ◽  
Celia Duffy ◽  
Ana Coric ◽  
Isabel R. González Delgado ◽  
Linda Messas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Artistic Vision ◽  
Musical Traditions ◽  
The One

This paper considers the purpose, values and principles underpinning higher music education (HME) as one of the performing arts in a context of turbulent global change. Recognising complex challenges and opportunities in this field, HME is addressed from dual perspectives: educating the next generations of professional musicians, and higher music institutions’ (HMEIs) engagement in society. The paper has a particular focus on the sector within HME that is dedicated to intensive practical craft training for performers, composers, programmers, producers, managers, and teachers. We argue that there is an urgent need for fresh orientating frameworks through which to navigate HME’s development. We examine concepts such as artistic citizenship, social responsibility and civic mission increasingly perceived to be relevant to the sector, and we explore their connexions to concepts of artistic excellence, imagination and creativity, and musical heritage. We identify apparent dichotomies of value within contemporary HME, including between intrinsic and instrumental purpose in the arts, cultural heritage, and new work, artistic imagination and entrepreneurship, and we argue that creative tensions between what have hitherto easily been perceived as opposing concepts or competing priorities need to be embraced. To support our argument we draw on the particular ethnomusicological concept of “musicking,” and we look toward a partnering of artistic and social values in order to enable HME to respond dynamically to societal need, and to continue to engage with the depth and integrity of established musical traditions and their craft. Based on this discussion we propose a conceptual foundation: the “musician as a maker in society,” in which developing vision as a musician in society, underpinned on the one hand by immersion in musical artistry and on the other hand sustained practical experience of connecting and engaging with communities, offers invaluable preparation for and transition into professional life. We propose that this idea, connecting societal and artistic vision and practise, is equally essential for HMEIs as it is for musicians, and sits at the heart of the roles they evolve within their local communities and wider society.

scholarly journals The nature of music itself, and the knowledge versus skills debate in music education

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTIN FAUTLEY ◽  
REGINA MURPHY
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Music And The Arts

Back in 2013, in the BJME editorial for issue 30(2), we considered the place of knowledge in the curriculum (Fautley & Murphy, 2013). Things have not stood still since that date, certainly in England, and other parts of the world too. What we have now is a situation where the idea of knowledge as assuming supremacy over skills is on the increase. For those of us concerned with music education, many aspects of this increasingly fractious debate are to be viewed with concern. Allied to this, we have neoliberal-leaning governments in many parts of the world, Britain included, who seem to find it difficult to understand the important role that music education has – or should have – in the education of our children and young people. Indeed, in the UK, the education secretary is on record as making this observation: Education secretary Nicky Morgan has warned young people that choosing to study arts subjects at school could ‘hold them back for the rest of their lives’ (The Stage, 2014) This attitude, and Britain is certainly not alone in this, is clearly going to be problematic for those of us involved in music and the arts.

Reflection, theory and practice

2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Swanwick
Keyword(s):  
British Journal ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Reflection Theory ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

A brief review of the state of music education in the UK at the time of the creation of the British Journal of Music Education (BJME) leads to a consideration of the range and focus of topics since the initiation of the Journal. In particular, the initial requirement of careful and critical enquiry is amplified, drawing out the inevitability of theorising, an activity which is considered to be essential for reflective practice. The relationship of theory and data is examined, in particular differentiating between the sciences and the arts. A ‘case study’ of theorising is presented and examined in some detail and possible strands of future development are identified.

Accountability Concerns

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Dorfman
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Instruction ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Educational Culture ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Music Educators National Conference ◽  
Music Standards ◽  
Teachers And Students

With the advent of technology-based music instruction, we are at an important juncture in terms of standards and accountability. To date, there are no sets of standards that directly address the ways in which TBMI teachers and students work, and therefore there is a lack of clarity as to how we are accountable to the larger educational culture. Several sets of standards exist that come close; they address either the musical or the technological portions of TBMI, but not both. Others address teachers’ roles or students’ roles, but not both. In this chapter, we will examine relevant sets of standards and explore how they imply accountability for TBMI teachers and students. In 1994, the Music Educators National Conference (now the National Association for Music Education) released a document outlining the National Standards for Music Education, in coordination with similar standards in theater, art, and dance. The nine music standards from 1994 were the following: Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. Reading and notating music. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. Evaluating music and music performances. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts. Understanding music in relation to history and culture. The NAfME standards suggest curricula that are distributed among performance, musical creativity, and connections between music and context. These are noble goals for which teachers should strive. The NAfME standards are widely accepted, and many teachers refer to them as benchmarks to assess the completeness of curriculum. In no way do the NAfME standards suggest that musical learning should be achieved through technology, nor do they contain suggestions about how students should meet any of them. In this way, the shapers of the NAfME standards are to be commended because the standards are flexible enough that they can be addressed in ways teachers see fit. Therefore, the standards passively suggest that technology-based music instruction is as valid a means of music learning as are other forms.

Community music-based structures of learning (CoMu-Based SL): Pedagogical framework for the nurturance of future-ready habits of mind

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Costes-Onishi
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Habits Of Mind ◽  
Community Music ◽  
The Arts ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Studio Thinking ◽  
Actual Teaching

The landscape in which music is experienced in the 21st century has dramatically changed and scholarship in music education calls for classrooms in which teaching and learning are responsive to the new challenges. Furthermore, within the broader concerns of the place of the arts in the curriculum, the literature calls for empirical evidences grounded in the actual teaching and learning processes in the arts, in order to support claims that they nurture future-ready habits of mind and enhance academic performance. This study responds to these gaps by: (a) adapting the studio thinking framework of Hetland, Winner, Veneema and Sheridan to extract, through grounded theory methods, community music-based structures of learning and observe their corresponding pedagogies to nurture artistic thinking; (b) providing evidence for specific claims of community music such as inclusiveness through evidence of engagement across learner abilities; (c) demonstrating partnerships between community musicians, teachers and researchers; and (d) showing community music’s potential to develop students’ critical musicality.

scholarly journals Initiating mobilizing networks: Mapping intercultural competences in two music teacher programmes in Israel and Finland

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Miettinen ◽  
Claudia Gluschankof ◽  
Sidsel Karlsen ◽  
Heidi Westerlund
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Instrumental Case Study ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Educational Challenges ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Group Interviews

Societies worldwide are becoming more aware of the educational challenges that come with increased cultural diversity derived from ethnic, linguistic, religious, socioeconomic and educational differences and their intersections. In many countries, teacher education programmes are expected to prepare teachers for this reality and develop their intercultural competences. This instrumental case study is based on a project that aims to initiate mobilizing networks between two music teacher programmes to explore intercultural music teacher education. In this study, we map the intercultural competences that are required of music teacher educators and that are provided in the music education programmes at two higher music education institutions in Israel and Finland. The data consists of 11 focus group interviews with music teacher educators at the Levinsky College of Education in Tel Aviv and the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, conducted by a multinational research team. The data was analysed abductively, using content analysis as a method. While the interviewed teacher educators could articulate many aspects of their own intercultural competences or the lack of them, the findings indicate that in musical diversity and teaching students from different musical backgrounds the teacher educators found it difficult to explain what kinds of intercultural competences their respective programmes provided for the students. Based on the findings, there is a need for a more holistic understanding of intercultural competences in music teacher education as well as how our institutions produce power. There is also a need for the teacher educators in the programmes to collaborate and discuss among each other in order to create “knowledge communities” and to move towards addressing intercultural issues.

The Application of a Critical Sociology to Music Education

1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Vulliamy ◽  
John Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Teaching ◽  
Critical Sociology ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Sociology Of Music ◽  
Musical Notation ◽  
Musical Traditions

The aim of this article is to explore some important issues which music educators have raised concerning our work on the use of popular music in teaching and concerning the sociology of music thesis that underpins this work. Following a brief résumé of our perspective, we shall address four criticisms that have been made fairly generally by a number of reviewers of Whose Music? (Shepherd et al. 1977), and of the Cambridge University Press books (Vulliamy & Lee, 1976, 1982a) and the Routledge Popular Music Series (Vulliamy & Lee, 1982b). These criticisms are, first, that we hold an over-socially determined view of music; secondly that we have overstressed the qualitative differences between various musical traditions, especially in their differing relationships to analytic musical notation; third, that the culturally relative view of music which we espouse is both suspect theoretically and potentially anti-educational in practice; and, finally, that many of our suggestions for a reform of music teaching are impractical. Our hope is that we can dispel some ambiguities in our earlier work concerning these important but complex issues and thus leave music educators in a better position to appraise the relevance of our thesis.

The National High School Orchestra 1926—1938

2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-72
Author(s):  
Phillip M. Hash
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Instrumental Music ◽  
National Conference ◽  
Instrumental Music Education ◽  
The Arts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
School Orchestra ◽  
High School Musicians

The purpose of this study was to document the history of the National High School Orchestra (NHSO), a select ensemble organized by Joseph E. Maddy under the auspices of the Music Supervisors' National Conference during the 1920s and 1930s. Research questions examined the orchestra's (1) origin, performances, and operation; (2) instrumentation and repertoire; (3) influence on music education; and (4) implications for modern practice. The first NHSO was assembled for the 1926 meeting of the Music Supervisors' National Conference in Detroit, Michigan. Initially led by Maddy, this ensemble was reorganized in 1927, 1928, 1930, 1932, and 1938. The NHSO helped promote instrumental music education through conference performances, radio broadcasts, and concerts presented throughout the country. This organization also demonstrated the potential of high school musicians and served as a basis for the NHSO Camp—the institution known today as the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

scholarly journals Music Education and Sustainability in Lombok, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
David Harnish
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Traditional Music ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Male Youth ◽  
Government Interventions ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Government ◽  
New Generation

This article discusses the challenges of teaching and sustaining music and other performing arts on the island of Lombok in Indonesia. It follows my field research trajectory on the island over a period of 34 years and analyzes the efforts of government interventions, non-government actors, and teachers and educational institutions in the transmission and sustainability of the arts. Interpretations indicate that a combination of globalization, urbanization, social media, everyday mediatization, and Islamization over recent decades negatively impacted traditional musics in specific ways, by problematizing sustainability. However, several agents–individuals inside and outside the government who understood the situation and had the foresight to take appropriate action–developed programs and organizations to maintain or aestheticize the performing arts, sustain musician livelihoods, and engage a new generation of male youth in music and dance. These efforts, supplemented by the formation of groups of leaders dedicated to the study of early culture on Lombok and fresh initiatives in music education, have ushered in new opportunities and visibility for traditional music and performing arts and performing artists.

scholarly journals Music education for the 21st century: Epistemology and ontology as bases for student aesthetic education.

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Aróstegui ◽  
Robert Stake ◽  
Helen Simons
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Music Curriculum ◽  
Aesthetic Experiences ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Interpretive Understanding ◽  
Globalized World

We seek to understand why persons develop their musical preferences by identifying with a particular cultural group and social background. This identification is greatly shaped by experience in their environment. Resources employed for this identification are mostly different from those employed in schools to foster academic knowledge. We argue that there needs to be renewed attention to the epistemological and ontological bases of education to examine how we can most effectively educate for the 21st Century in a relativistic and globalized world. Our focus is on music education but with the entire curriculum near at hand, together seeking to bring about a better intellectual, sociological, and aesthetic process of education. Our interest in music stems from a perceived necessity that persons trained in the arts will have special answers to the challenges of this so-called postmodern world. We offer: (1) elements of epistemology, discussing how education and music education have traditionally been focused on propositional rather than interpretive knowledge; (2) a particular perspective on ontology, making evident the ways that individuals construct meanings, interacting with their cultural environment in the shaping of social identity; and (3) the need, today more than ever, for a music curriculum fostering aesthetic experiences that develop interpretive understanding of reality and personal self. Characteristics of postmodernism in cultural studies will be employed throughout the paper.

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