Music Education As Aesthetic Education example essay topic

An explicit concept since the late 1950's, aesthetic education first developed to provide a strong philosophical foundation for music education and continues to evolve as a solid theoretical orientation for current effective practices. Bennett Reimer has contributed much to the discussion and development of the value of aesthetic education for the teaching and learning of music. Others in music education also support and promote these ideals and focus on developing an improved understanding for music educators. Some scholars oppose the principles of an aesthetic education, recently demonstrated by David Elliott who favors a praxial philosophy of music education centered on musical performance. The work of Reimer shows an influence of these thinkers and illustrates the essential benefits of a professional emphasis on aesthetics, the branch of philosophy especially devoted to studying the value of the arts. With guidance from aesthetics, music educators better understand the value of music and its fundamental role within the school curriculum.

With its introduction, aesthetic education provided an understanding of authentic fundamental characteristics of music not previously discussed and encouraged an articulation of those ideas into relevant objectives for teaching and learning. The appearance of Basic Concepts in Music Education (ed. Nelson B. Henry, 1958) and the college text Foundations and Principles of Music Education (Charles Leonard and Robert W. House, 1959) promoted the acceptance of an aesthetic-based philosophy as a guiding theoretical foundation. These significant resources encouraged individuals to put their previous intuitions into effective practice using a shared, progressive concept of musical experience and learning. Many music educators embraced aesthetic education (and continue to do so) because it reinforced the validity of music study in the school curriculum for reasons intrinsic to the art itself. Reimer emphasizes that we (as music educators) need not establish discipleship to one particular person or point of view of aesthetic education.

The ideal of "Music Education as Aesthetic Education" (MEAE) does not exist as a particular collection of fixed certainties; it supports the attitude that philosophical truths develop and transform as we advance and verify new ideas. Many sources (books, journals, articles, etc.) provide the insight of professional scholars on the fundamental values of music supporting the aesthetic approach. The music educator who commits to MEAE must seek this knowledge to understand the art of music beyond his or her own instincts. Only with that awareness can the teacher adequately portray a genuine representation of the artistic values of music to students. Reimer describes aesthetic education as "the development of a sensitivity to the aesthetic qualities of things".

He consciously avoids using the term "definition" yet provides a much-appreciated explanation that achieves that function. Reimer further illustrates that MEAE should encourage our ability to perceive and respond to conditions of musical relationships (e.g. tension-release, expectation-deviation) in perceptible objects and events. Musical works may possess various qualities (such as functional ones), but the primary significance of music should lie in its aesthetic value. If we abandon this unique characterization of music and emphasize its societal role, we risk degrading ourselves as well as our work. As teachers, we mediate the interactions between our students and aesthetic objects and should seek to improve these relationships with different experiences.

Yet, we must first ensure that students have the ability to perceive expressive conditions as well as the ability to respond to them. Reimer distinguishes that effective MEAE cultivates a person's "ability to yield meanings from (a work of art's) structures of interrelated sounds and to transform words, images, ideas, emotions, and any other socially shared human values by incorporating them as meaningful aspects of musical structure... ". Abraham Schwadron also promotes this perception of feeling in music, pioneered by Susanne Langer. He asserts that formal education should address structural approaches to describing responses to music and not the emotive states that may result. That is, teachers should use elements of music to explain qualities of feeling (suspense, deception, resolution, etc.) and not teach music as the translation of sound into emotion by the composer or the performer (i. e., how does this music make you feel?

). MEAE should consider extra-musical descriptions, however, when those factors influence the understanding of a particular piece of music or musical process. Once we have created the potential for our students to recognize aesthetic qualities, we must encourage their ability to perceive and respond to those experiences. Teachers must present a variety of musical items and events to develop this aural aptitude.

They must also guide the relationship between the student and the aesthetic object as each learner produces, conceptualizes, analyzes and evaluates music. In 1972, this philosophy led Reimer to emphasize the necessity of a unified curriculum in the arts and advocate curriculum development in music education. We observe this influence, years later, in the music section of the National Standards for Arts Education, published in 1994. These (relatively) recent standards, which Reimer helped developed, promote an expansion of the music curriculum and encourage a comprehensive approach to music instruction, which incorporates many characteristics of MEAE. Even with this concept of an inclusive aesthetic education, performance remains the primary curricular activity with which we attempt to realize our goals, especially at the secondary level. This myopic approach neglects other ways that people experience music (e. g., listening, composing) and often emphasizes skill development over musical understanding.

Bennett Reimer declares that, "Our past and present mentality about music, so dominated by the performance model, is now beginning to be out of phase with the realities of our art". He offers that we can learn much from the "Discipline-Based Art Education" movement that recognizes that multi-dimensional curriculum guidelines (which include aspects of history, criticism, and analysis) enhance aesthetic experiencing. Embracing the ideals of MEAE means accepting that all students, not just a small percentage of gifted ones, should have access to the aesthetic qualities of music. By cultivating enjoyment in the majority of students (about 85 percent, Reimer implies) who choose not to perform, we also augment our authentic presence in the school environment.

To achieve our aesthetic intentions, a transformation must occur that creates three aspects of a comprehensive music curriculum: the required general music program, the elective performance program and the elective composition program. These components would more accurately represent the three key functions involved in Western music: listening, performing and composing. A complete program of music, aligned with the fundamentals of MEAE, would use performance and composition to enrich the universal musical activity of listening emphasized by the comprehensive general music program. Reimer provides the elements for an educational structure built solidly on philosophical and scientific foundations.

The thorough and intricate nature of Reimer's ideal suggests that any modification of the current performance model will occur slowly. A revision to an orientation toward general music impacts not only curriculum contents but also the preparation of music educators. For example, most teacher-preparation programs in higher education unite general music education with choral / vocal music studies. They exclude future educators in instrumental music preparing them primarily for service as band or orchestra directors. Therefore, as we move along the continuum from skill-based performance to inclusive musical understanding, "The teacher should not only have a mastery of the subject matter of music but also a broad, sensitive liberal background... and learn to use aesthetic inquiry to eliminate inconsistencies from (his / her ) personal and professional beliefs and teaching practices...

". The current focus on performance encourages a concentration on training rather than on education and promotes a dependence on routine methodologies. Teachers often rely on quick cures that provide a sense of security, but this reliance publicizes the (often accurate) perception to others that music educators are only devoted to music training. Acceptance of MEAE does not provide an immediate solution, and Reimer maintains, "Aesthetic education, as the antithesis to methodology and ideology, has profoundly disoriented our tendency toward literal-mindedness".

However, he also believes that any music educator who contemplates the character and function of music, which I feel describes the majority, aids the concept of aesthetics. Consequently, we can select helpful and relevant solutions validated by scholarship in aesthetics education that serve our own purpose. As Reimer insists, MEAE attempts to fill both the needs of theory and practice and "is founded on the premise that sound scholarship and sound practice depend on each other in mutually supportive, necessary ways, and I think that is a major reason aesthetic education has had such an important impact in the history of music education". By teaching students to identify and evaluate values inherent to music, educators apply a philosophy of music education that remains relevant as educational trends change.

The fundamental principles of MEAE remain constant as the discussion of theoretical and practical implications advances music education in a positive direction. As a foundation, MEAE provides rational coherence to our daily practice while we strengthen and improve our thinking. To accept all philosophies as valid, we negate the effectiveness of any of them and encounter the quandary that if all is true, then nothing is false. Reimer continues to contribute to the dialogue on MEAE because this philosophy provides guidelines for a process rather than promotes a personal invention. Bennett Reimer believes that his colleague David Elliott supports a personal, rather than a cooperative, approach in his presentation of a pr axial philosophy of music education. In a review of Elliott's book Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education, Reimer says, "Elliott seems to be driven by the notion that to do philosophy is to engage in a species of competitive sport...

' New' is not a substantive term; it is more of a stratagem than a philosophical construct". Elliott seeks to discredit the prevailing acceptance of MEAE, places it firmly in opposition to his own pr axial orientation and believes that music education's aesthetic view of emotion and meaning in music contains no logic. Elliott also offers that aesthetic educators do not understand or acknowledge the complexity of the human mind and of musical works themselves. He asserts, "In other words, there are many (many) layers of personal and social meaning to 'locate', apprehend, construct, and feel emotions about in musical works". Yet, I believe that aesthetic educators would agree that many musical works contain levels of personal and social significance. Reimer (more so than Schwadron) admits that "Moral, political, religious, and any other cultural values can indeed be implicated... and often must be, or a particular piece of music or musical process could not be understood appropriately".

However, advocates of MEAE propose that structure, form and elements address the qualities of feeling that embody any particular musical meaning, including personal and social. Reimer does appreciate Elliott's addition of another viewpoint that includes an assortment of thinkers and various topics involving both music and education. However, Elliott's pr axial philosophy excludes the majority of people who engage in music only by listening. In response to a Elliott's focus on performance, I argue that one's listening abilities and experiences as a performer differ significantly from those of a non-engaged consumer of sound and especially from those of a teacher-conductor. Also significant, Reimer addresses the inflection of Elliott's contribution and says", (Elliott's) writing often descends to ridicule, especially when he is driven to discredit what he regards to be an opponent... there is a certain mean-spirited tone to his work". The advancement of music education depends on the mutual efforts of all scholarship; an adversarial, arrogant attitude yields few benefits.

Many educators embrace the concept of MEAE as a means to show that our schools need the study of music, often without understanding the implications described in this essay. However, MEAE does offer a solid philosophical foundation for effective advocacy based on an explicit system of principles. Reimer emphasizes the symbiotic nature of philosophy and advocacy stressing that music education needs both. Too often, we communicate utilitarian views to decision-makers to defend our existence. With a focus on the unique qualities an aesthetic education provides, we present arguments firmly grounded in the distinct value of music.

Bibliography

Elliott, David. "Music and Affect: The Praxial View", Philosophy of Music Education Review, 8: 2 (Fall 2000): 79-88.
Goble, J. Scott and Marie McCarthy. "Music Education Philosophy: Changing Times", Music Educators Journal, 89: 1 (September 2002): 19-26.
Reimer, Bennett. "Putting Aesthetic Education to Work", Music Educators Journal, 59 (September 1972): 29-33.
Reimer, Bennett. "Music Education as Aesthetic Education: Past and Present", Music Educators Journal, 75 (February 1989): 22-8.
Reimer, Bennett. "Music Education as Aesthetic Education: Toward the Future", Music Educators Journal, 75 (March 1989): 26-32.
Reimer, Bennett. "Essential and Nonessential Characteristics of Aesthetic Education", Journal of Aesthetic Education, 25: 3 (Fall 1991): 193-214.
Reimer, Bennett. "David Elliott's "New" Philosophy of Music Education: Music for Performers Only", Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 128 (Spring 1996): 59-89.
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