PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC EDUCATION
KZN MUS ED HOME PAGEYour philosophy of music education is a setting out of what you regard the purposes and benefits of music education to be. Necessarily, it reflects (i) your philosophy of education in general, as well as (ii) your beliefs about the nature and value of music. It forms the basis upon which you (i) justify the inclusion of music in formal education and (ii) establish the aims and objectives that guide your teaching activities.
Your philosophy of music education is something that you develop and that continues to evolve over time. A philosophy that presents a convincing case for music education requires clear, well informed ideas that become the tenets of your philosophy, i.e. its guiding principles or ideals.
The links below will take you to, or help you locate, readings that present different philosophical perspectives. These will help you to develop your own personal philosophy of music education.
FOUR PERSPECTIVES ON THE QUESTION OF MUSIC’S NATURE AND VALUES
Music as autonomous aesthetic object (the Formalist perspective)
Music as social microcosm (the Sociological and/or Marxist perspective)
Music as social mediator (the Ethnomusicological perspective)
Music as spiritual medium (the Cosmological perspective
Your lecturer's philosophy of music education
CRITICAL THEORY AND PRAXIS: Implications for Professionalizing Music Education
A six-part article by Thomas Regelski
Music Matters Website
David Elliott's Music Matters is regarded as the most important contribution to the Philosophy of Music Education in recent years. In this book he proposes a praxial philosophy of ME which posits that "music making (of all kinds)... should be at the center of the music curriculum." The website provides a good introduction to and overview of the book (copy on reserve in the Eleanor Bonnar Music Library).
10 arguments for justifying the inclusion of music in formal education
REVIEW OF CHRISTOPHER SMALL’S Music, Society, Education