Music Education As Craft

This book is a collection of leading international authors in the field of music education taking the concept of 'craft' as a starting point to deconstruct and reconstruct their understanding of the practices and theories of music education. Their insights draw from deep wells of resources located in historical, philosophical, epistemological, musicological and educational traditions that lead to rich and complex insights on the evolving field of music education. In so doing, they generate a constellation of new understandings and illustrations of what crafts can mean in this field. Historically, the idea of craft was typically associated with a skill or experience in knowing how to do or make something, or an activity of some kind that requires specific professional skills. In Old Norse, the concept for craft was kraptr, meaning strength and virtue, while Old English and continental use was associated with power and physical strength, as well as skill. When these definitions of ‘crafts’ are infused into contemporary understandings of the field of music education as a professional field, a whole new set of possible interpretations are unearthed. Such insights are not exhaustive, but rather, point the way in which this professional, diverse, inclusive and ambiguous field might continue to evolve in the 21st century.

Based on topics that frame the debate about the future of professional music education, this book explores the issues that music teachers must confront in a rapidly shifting educational landscape. The book aims to challenge thought and change minds. It presents a star cast of internationally prominent thinkers in and beyond music education. These thinkers deliberately challenge many time-worn traditions in music education with regard to musicianship, culture and society, leadership, institutions, interdisciplinarity, research and theory, and curriculum. This is the first book to confront these issues in this way. This unique book has emerged from fifteen years of international dialog by The MayDay Group, an organization of more than 250 music educators from over 20 countries who meet yearly to confront issues in music teaching and learning.

This book addresses the need to rethink the concept and enactment of professionalism in music, and how such concepts underpin professional higher music education. There is an urgent imperative to enable the potential of professional musicians in our contemporary societies to be more fully realised, recognising both intense challenges that are currently threatening some traditional music practices, and significant scope for new practices to be imagined in response to deep veins of societal need. Professionalism encompasses the conduct, aims, values, responsibilities and ongoing development of a practising professional in the field. Professional higher music education engages both with providing future professionals with relevant education in particular craft skills, and with nurturing their visions for their work as artists in future societies. The major focus of the book is on performance traditions that have dominated professional higher education, notably western classical music.

World Music Pedagogy, Volume IV: Instrumental Music Education provides the perspectives and resources to help music educators craft world-inclusive instrumental music programs in their teaching practices. Given that school instrumental music programs—concert bands, symphony orchestras, and related ensembles—have borne musical traditions that broadly reflect Western art music and military bands, instructors are often educated within the European conservatory framework. Yet a culturally diverse and inclusive music pedagogy can enrich, expand, and transform these instrumental music programs to great effect. Drawing from years of experience as practicing music educators and band and orchestra leaders, the authors present a vision characterized by both real-world applicability and a great depth of perspective. Lesson plans, rehearsal strategies, and vignettes from practicing teachers constitute valuable resources. With carefully tuned ears to intellectual currents throughout the broader music education community, World Music Pedagogy, Volume IV provides readers with practical approaches and strategies for creating world-inclusive instrumental music programs.

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.

In a delightfully self-conscious philosophical "mash-up," Randall Everett Allsup provides alternatives for the traditional master-apprentice teaching model that has characterized music education. By providing examples across the arts and humanities, Allsup promotes a vision of education that is open, changing, and adventurous at heart. He contends that the imperative of growth at the core of all teaching and learning relationships is made richer, though less certain, when it is fused with a student's self-initiated quest. In this way, the formal study of music turns from an education in teacher-directed craft and moves into much larger and more complicated fields of exploration. Through vivid stories and evocative prose, Randall Everett Allsup advocates for an open, quest-driven teaching model that has repercussions for music education and the humanities more generally.

Higher Music Performance Education, as taught and learned in universities and conservatoires in Europe, is undergoing transformation. Since the nineteenth century, the master-apprentice pedagogical model has dominated, creating a learning environment that emphasises the development of technical skills rather than critical and creative faculties. This book contributes to the renewal of this field by being the first to address the potential of artistic research in developing student-centred approaches and greater student autonomy. This potential is demonstrated in chapters illustrating artistic research projects that are embedded within higher music education courses across Europe, with examples ranging from instrumental tuition and ensemble work to the development of professional employability skills and inclusive practices. Bringing together diverse and experienced voices working within Higher Music Education but often also as professional performers, this edited collection pairs critical reflection with artistic insight to present new approaches to curricula for teaching interpretation and performance. It calls for greater collaboration between Higher Education and professional music institutions to create closer bonds with music industries and, thereby, improve students’ career opportunities. Teaching Music Performance in Higher Education will appeal to scholars, performers, teachers, but also students whose interests centre on innovative practices in conservatoires and music departments.

Estelle R. Jorgensen's latest work is an exploratory look into the ways we practice and represent music education through the metaphors and models that appear in everyday life. These metaphors and models serve as entry points into a deeper understanding of music education that moves beyond literal ways of thinking and doing and allows for a more creative embodiment of musical thought. Seeing the reader as a partner in the creation of meaning, Jorgensen intends for this book to be experienced by, rather than dictated to, the reader. Jorgensen's hope is that the intersections of art and philosophy, and metaphor and model can provide a richer and more imaginative view of music education.