Critical Perspectives In Canadian Music Education

Music education in Canada is a vast enterprise that encompasses teaching and learning in thousands of public and private schools, community groups, and colleges and universities. It involves participants from infancy to the elderly in formal and informal settings. Nevertheless, as post-secondary faculties of music and programs are growing significantly, academic books and materials grounded in a Canadian perspective are scarce. This book attempts to fill that need by offering a collection of essays that look critically at various global issues in music education from a Canadian perspective. Topics range from a discussion of the roots of music education in Canada and analysis of music education practices across the country to perspectives on popular music, distance education, technology, gender, globalization, Indigenous traditions, and community music in music education. Foreword by composer R. Murray Schafer.

Music education in Canada is a vast enterprise that encompasses teaching and learning in thousands of public and private schools, community groups, and colleges and universities. It involves participants from infancy to the elderly in formal and informal settings. Nevertheless, as post-secondary faculties of music and programs are growing significantly, academic books and materials grounded in a Canadian perspective are scarce. This book attempts to fill that need by offering a collection of essays that look critically at various global issues in music education from a Canadian perspective. Topics range from a discussion of the roots of music education in Canada and analysis of music education practices across the country to perspectives on popular music, distance education, technology, gender, globalization, Indigenous traditions, and community music in music education. Foreword by composer R. Murray Schafer.

What challenges face Canadian music education in the coming decades? The happy convergence of a new millennium, the 40th Anniversary of the Canadian Music Educators' Association/l'Association Canadienne des Educateurs de Musique (in 1999), and ISME 2000 in Edmonton, prompted the CMEA/ACEM to initiate a national dialogue about the future of Canadian music education. Looking Forward, edited by two of Canada's leading scholars in music education, Betty Hanley and Brian A. Roberts, is the result. Addressing a broad range of topics and educational levels, the book provides a provocative and thoughtful look at opportunities and challenges identified by fourteen articulate and well-informed authors who represent diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. The dialogue has begun.

Musical Understanding is an outcome of the Symposium on Musical Understanding held in Victoria, BC on February 22-23, 2001. This collection of essays is not a typical report of proceedings. The book features chapters that examine musical understanding from a number of perspectives while addressing theoretical and practical considerations. The topics discussed by established teachers and teacher educators from Canada and the United States include: constructivism, multicultural music education, impact of cognition and culture, mind/body dualism, movement and music, and listening to music.

Twenty-three contributors turn a critical lens on the dominant music education paradigm to examine how we teach, what we teach, for what we teach, what is expected of teachers and how we teach them, whom we should be teaching, and the very assumptions and structures of which we base our practice.

Seventeen contributors make a compelling case for including creativity as part of the music classroom, from kindergarten to teacher training courses. Practical solutions and time tested practices are provided.

The twenty-seven contributors to this book are professors, teachers, and students representing all parts of Canada, as well as the USA, Brazil, Norway, Finland, and South Africa. They wrestle with the meaning and practice of social justice in and through music education.

This landmark collection explores the origins and foundations of music education in Europe, The Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East, and considers the inclusion of music as part of the compulsory school curriculum in the context of the historical, social and political landscape. Within each chapter, the contributors explore the following key areas: - the aims, objectives and content of the music curriculum - teaching methods - the provision and training of teachers of music - the experiences of pupils This fully revised second edition includes new chapters on Brazil, Israel, Kosovo, Lithuania, and Turkey, along with questions to encourage reflection and discussion. A concluding chapter has been added to encourage readers to consider the evolution of music education globally. The Foreword for this new edition has been written by Sheila Woodward, President of the International Society for Music Education. Contributors have been carefully selected to represent countries that have incorporated music into compulsory schooling for a variety of reasons resulting in a diverse collection which will guide future actions and policy.