Narrative inquiry as a way of knowing in music education

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie McCarthy
2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasim Niknafs

Even though scholars have pointedly embraced ethical matters in music education within the global context, there has been relatively little attention paid to the concept of cosmopolitanism. While keeping in mind that the concept of cosmopolitanism is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that can be read and implemented in many ways, the aim of the current narrative inquiry is to highlight the significance of the human connection—a notable feature of moral cosmopolitanism, and by extension, cosmopolitanism from below—inherent in, and possibly the most prominent aspect of music education practices, regardless of their position in the formal–informal spectrum of such practices. In this context, music education becomes a lifestyle—whose participants cultivate their ethical sensitivities toward human connection—that has the capacity to alleviate the human sufferings occurring globally. By telling the life stories of Behzad Khiavchi, the lead musician of a trans-Iranian band, this article aims to highlight the cosmopolitan collective imperative, a fundamental characteristic of music education, as the harbinger of a more caring world.


1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Murphy

This article suggests that traditional conceptions of musical ability, as advanced in the psychometric tradition of psychology, tell us very little about the nature of musical behaviour and how it is developed. The psychometric tradition, with its view that musical ability is innate rather than learned, has exerted a powerful and potentially damaging influence on the practice of music education over the past fifty or so years. It is only relatively recently, mainly in the field of Developmental Psychology, that these ideas have been challenged. In contrasting theories advanced by different psychological schools the article gives a broader perspective to the psychological debate on human intelligence / musical ability and shows the context in which musical behaviour might be viewed as a distinct or even autonomous form of intelligence – a ‘way of knowing’. It suggests that musical thinking should be considered as an ‘intellectual’ as well as aesthetic mode of thought and that musical ability, in the traditional sense, has little educational utility or relevance to music as a curriculum subject in schools.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document