Democracy And Music Education

Counterpoints: Music and Education--Estelle R. Jorgensen, editor

This book examines how music education presents opportunities to shape democratic awareness through political, pedagogical, and humanistic perspectives. Focusing on democracy as a vital dimension in teaching music, the essays in this volume have particular relevance to teaching music as democratic practice in both public schooling and in teacher education. Although music educators have much to learn from others in the educational field, the actual teaching of music involves social and political dimensions unique to the arts. In addition, teaching music as democratic practice demands a pedagogical foundation not often examined in the general teacher education community. Essays include the teaching of the arts as a critical response to democratic participation; exploring democracy in the music classroom with such issues as safe spaces, sexual orientation, music of the Holocaust, improvisation, race and technology; and music teaching/music teacher education as a form of social justice. Engaging with current scholarship, the book not only probes the philosophical nature of music and democracy, but also presents ways of democratizing music curriculum and human interactions within the classroom. This volume offers the collective wisdom of international scholars, teachers, and teacher educators and will be essential reading for those who teach music as a vital force for change and social justice in both local and global contexts.

This is a deliberately provocative book crossing many disciplinary boundaries and locating music and art education within a context of contemporary social and political problems in a time of growing disruption and authoritarianism. Intended firstly for music teacher educators, practicing music teachers, and graduate and undergraduate music education majors, the book also speaks to arts and media studies teachers, parents, or others interested in exploring how composing, performing, improvising, conducting, listening, dancing, teaching, learning, or engaging in music or education criticism are all political acts because fundamentally concerned with social values and thus inseparable from power and politics. Among the book’s central themes are the danger of democratic deconsolidation in the West and how music education can help counter that threat through the fostering of democratic citizens who are aware of music’s ubiquity in their lives and its many roles in shaping public opinion and notions of truth, and for better or for worse! The arts can obviously be used for ill, but as George Orwell demonstrated in his own work, they can also be employed in defense of democracy as modes of political thought and action affording opportunities for the revitalization of society through its re-imagining.

This open access book examines the political structures and processes that frame and produce understandings of diversity in and through music education. Recent surges in nationalist, fundamentalist, protectionist and separatist tendencies highlight the imperative for music education to extend beyond nominal policy agendas or wholly celebratory diversity discourses. Bringing together high-level theorisation of the ways in which music education upholds or unsettles understandings of society and empirical analyses of the complex situations that arise when negotiating diversity in practice, the chapters in this volume explore the politics of inquiry in research; examine music teachers’ navigations of the shifting political landscapes of society and state; extend conceptualisations of diversity in music education beyond familiar boundaries; and critically consider the implications of diversity for music education leadership. Diversity is thus not approached as a label applied to certain individuals or musical repertoires, but as socially organized difference, produced and manifest in various ways as part of everyday relations and interactions. This compelling collection serves as an invitation to ongoing reflexive inquiry; to deliberate the politics of diversity in a fast-changing and pluralist world; and together work towards more informed and ethically sound understandings of how diversity in music education policy, practice, and research is framed and conditioned both locally and globally.

This antiquarian volume contains a comprehensive treatise on democracy and education, being an introduction to the 'philosophy of education'. Written in clear, concise language and full of interesting expositions and thought-provoking assertions, this volume will appeal to those with an interest in the role of education in society, and it would make for a great addition to collections of allied literature. The chapters of this book include: 'Education as a Necessity of Life'; 'Education as a Social Function'; 'Education as Direction'; 'Education as Growth'; 'Preparation, Unfolding, and Formal Discipline'; 'Education as Conservative and Progressive'; 'The Democratic Conception in Education'; 'Aims in Education', etcetera. We are republishing this vintage book now complete with a new prefatory biography of the author.

What’s So Important About Music Education? presents a new philosophy of music education for the United States, rooted in history and current perspectives from ethnomusicology. J. Scott Goble explores the societal effects of the nation's foundations in democracy and capitalism, the constitutional separation of church and state, and the rise of recording, broadcast, and computer technologies. He shows how these and other factors have brought about changes in the ways music teachers and concerned others have conceptualized music and its importance in education. In demonstrating how many of the personal and societal benefits of musical engagement have come to be obscured in the nation’s increasingly diverse public forum, Goble argues for the importance of musical engagement in human life and for the importance of music in education. An ideal text for courses in music education foundations, the book concludes with recommendations for teaching the musical practices of the nation's cultural communities in schools in terms of their respective cultural meanings.

In Teaching Democracy, Walter Parker makes a unique and thoughtful contribution to the hot debate between proponents of multicultural education and those who favor a cultural literacy approach. Parker conclusively demonstrates that educating for democratic citizenship in a multicultural society includes a fundamental respect for diversity. This scholarly yet accessible work: Bridges the widening gap between multicultural education and civic education.Provides powerful teaching strategies that educators can use to draw children creatively and productively into a way of life that protects and nurtures cultural pluralism and racial equity.Explains the unity–diversity confusion that is found in popular media as well as in multicultural– and citizenship–education initiatives.Defines deliberative discussion and explores its promise as the centerpiece of democratic education in schools, both elementary and secondary. “At a moment in time when our connection to the nation seems superficial and jingoistic, Walter Parker offers us a vehicle to reach our ideal of deliberative, committed civic participation for every citizen. This book explores the hard work of citizen-making in a diverse and complex society where individual and group interests often are in conflict. Parker makes us realize that in a democracy ‘public’ is not a dirty word and schooling should not be punishment.” —Gloria Ladson–Billings, University of Wisconsin, Madison “This book deals in an engaging and thought-provoking way with both social realities and democratic possibilities—exactly what I try to do in my classroom.” —Wendy Ewbank, teacher, Seattle Girls’ School

Dewey wrote his celebrated book on Democracy and Education over a hundred years ago. Making Education Fit for Democracy asks why education has nevertheless failed to deliver such crucial support for democracy and how it should change to reflect ethical and social responsibilities. It seeks to shed light on what has gone wrong and how it can be put right. Reforming an antiquated system of education should be a matter for public debate. This book is written not only for those currently involved in delivering education, but also for the general public. Arguing that education needs to be holistic, encouraging open-mindedness and developing a wide range of interests, it: Highlights the role of education in supporting democracy Promotes nurture in civilising values over mere information-giving Puts exams and accountability into perspective Seeks to bridge the gulf between schooling and life Argues for the reform of the whole system of education Seeks to use digital technology to personalise education Touching upon several issues currently under debate, such as the rise of populism, the role of religion and narrow subject curriculum, this book will be of interest to all students studying education as well as those involved in teacher education.