5. Music Teachers’ Perspectives on Cultural and National Values in School Music Education in Greater China

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-232
Author(s):  
Wai-Chung Ho ◽  
Wing-Wah Law

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine music teachers' perceptions of teaching cultural and national values (also defined as national cultural values) to explore the tensions facing school music education in the choice of music types to be delivered in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Design/methodology/approachWith specific regard to music teachers' perceptions of “values,” “music cultures” and “nationalism,” data were drawn from a survey questionnaire given to 343 music teachers (155 preservice and 188 in-service music teachers) and semistructured interviews with 36 of these respondents.FindingsThe findings of the study showed that though many respondents in Hong Kong and Taiwan felt comfortable teaching traditional Chinese music, they did not want to teach contemporary Mainland Chinese music and other political or patriotic forms in the school music curriculum. The data also demonstrated some shortcomings in introducing a balance of music types into the curriculum, as well as limitations in promoting national education in response to the respective sociopolitical situations in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was subject to limitations regarding the potential generalizability of the findings on school music teachers' perceptions in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Practical implicationsThe implications for teachers and student teachers regarding the development of cultural and national values related to the political processes in Hong Kong and Taiwan are complicated, because of not only their relationship with Mainland China and its education based on nationalism but also the extent of teachers' professional training to help create an enabling environment for national and cultural development.Originality/valueThe findings of this study revealed that there are fundamental gaps in the overt and operational curricula in Hong Kong and Taiwan concerning the sociopolitical function of values in school music education in response to their respective sociopolitical situations.


Author(s):  
Hui Hong ◽  
Weisheng Luo

Wang Guowei, a famous scholar and thinker in our country, thinks that “aesthetic education harmonizes people's feelings in the process of emotional music education, so as to achieve the perfect domain”, “aesthetic education is also emotional education”. Therefore, in the process of music education, emotional education plays an important role in middle school music teaching, and it is also the highest and most beautiful realm in the process of music education in music teaching. Music teachers should be good at using appropriate teaching methods and means. In the process of music education, they should lead students into the emotional world, knock on their hearts with the beauty of music, and touch their heartstrings. Only when students' hearts are close to music in the process of music education, can they truly experience the charm of music and realize the true meaning of music in the process of music education. Only in this way can music classes be effectively implemented The purpose of classroom emotion teaching.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-459
Author(s):  
Andrew Thomas Sutherland

Thanks to the efforts of music teachers in arranging concerts, young musicians develop a multitude of skills when performing with others. Music teachers are notoriously time-poor with the pressures of various curricular and co-curricular demands. To find time to provide performance opportunities for students that involve other schools adds layers of administrative complexities to an already comprehensive workload. Although there is literature to suggest the benefits of collaboration, the necessities of getting the mechanics of a music department running smoothly often places the idea of musical collaboration in the category of “luxury” to be considered “when there is time”. The experiences of several music teachers from different schools who have collaborated on a series of concerts performed biannually evolved over six years and significantly impacted their music departments. An important component of these concerts was the impact of the visiting conductors who acted as “Artists in Residence” in the lead up to the performance. The findings suggest collaboration as being vital to the building process of a developing Music Department and the article makes recommendations for the use of guest conductors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Clauhs

Digital audio workstations and online file-sharing technology may be combined to create opportunities for collaborations among many groups, including performing ensembles, music technology classes, professional songwriters and preservice music teachers. This article presents a model for a digitally mediated online collaboration that focuses on popular music songwriting activities in school and higher education settings. Using an example from a high school music production class that collaborated with an undergraduate music education course through Google Docs and a file-sharing platform, the author outlines steps towards facilitating partnerships that focus on creating music in an online community. Such collaborations may help remove barriers between our classrooms and our communities as music teachers leverage technology to develop relationships with creators and performers of popular music everywhere.


2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 328-342
Author(s):  
Sondra Wieland Howe

Elsie Shawe (1866–1962), supervisor of music in St. Paul, Minnesota, for thirty-five years, is an example of a music supervisor in the United States who was active in the formative years of the Music Supervisors National Conference (MSNC). Although she is cited only briefly in national accounts, there is a substantial amount of material on her career in local archives. In the St. Paul Public Schools, Shawe supervised classroom teachers, organized the school music curriculum, and conducted performances in the community. She served as a church organist and choir director in St. Paul and was president of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association. At the national level, Shawe was an officer of the NEA Department of Music Education and a member of the board of directors of the MSNC. Through her committee work, Shawe promoted the standardization of patriotic national songs.May 5, 2004November 10, 2004.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-90
Author(s):  
Wayne D. Bowman

This essay questions the efficacy of conventional disciplinary boundaries in post-secondary music studies, boundaries that reductively define music education as a training ground for public school music teachers. Our expectations of music education and its sphere of influence have been far too modest. To the extent we segregate music education from the goals and objectives of music studies more broadly, we neglect our collective responsibility for the musical life of our country. We have focused inwardly, engrossed in our specialties, leaving the design of school music curricula and the fragile environments in which they must compete for survival to the whims of non-musician bureaucrats and politicians. We have been less than successful in our collective obligation to enhance the musical well-being of the country. Changing these circumstances is among our greatest challenges in the decades ahead.


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