Author: Cohen, Veronika and Laor, Lia

Publication Year:

Media Type: Periodical (article)

Summary:

Abstract:

In this article, we examine various tensions that exist in present-day music education. Some of these tensions arise between conflicting philosophies that guide alternative positions concerning the various roles of music education. Making these philosophies explicit is a step toward easing the tension between them. Some of the problems that will be discussed are unique to music education; others are problems of education in general, which in turn reflect the problems confronting society as a whole.

We address the challenge of evolving a policy that meets the needs of individual learners as both unique beings and members of particular cultures. Concerning the transmission of culture to children, the most daunting question we consider is how to decide what constitutes a child's musical culture.

In determining how to balance the various roles of music, decision makers ought to consider that education may be a vehicle of (a) acculturation, (b) socialization, and (c) individuation. These roles of education may explicitly guide the process of education, but often they remain implied assumptions.

Decision makers face the following questions when trying to shape the form of music education:

1. Should the primary function of music education be the transmission of musical culture? If so, should the child's particular musical culture or Western musical culture be transmitted? Or, should the child be exposed to a mix between the particular and the universal?
   
   
2. Should music education play a role in the process of socialization? Should it help the child define a social role, develop a sense of national identity, or increase his or her tolerance toward various cultures?
   
   
3. Should the primary goal of music education be the enrichment of the individual's life? If so, should it concern itself (a) with aesthetic education (enabling each student to acquire the necessary cognitive, affective, and critical abilities in order to be an involved listener, or (b) with the discovery of the exceptionally talented, focusing primarily on professional training for the talented?

CONTENTS
The Israeli experience.
Some policy suggestions.
Notes.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education