Philosophical and Theoretical Foundations

Many authors have explored the ideas of philosophy and educational theory and how those ideas can serve as a foundation for teaching practices. Philosophy is a broad subject, and it is not the purpose of this book to create a new philosophy of music teaching and learning; however, we can beneficially draw on philosophical and theoretical works of others to form some foundations. By necessity, a theory of technology-based music instruction begins with a theory of music education. To deviate from this would be to neglect the important theoretical work that forms the guiding foundation of teaching in our chosen art form. The critical role of theory in this new method of teaching is to help technology-based music instructors develop dispositions that make this type of teaching less forced, more natural than it might otherwise be. The most successful technology-based music teachers are those who recognize the capacities of their students to engage with technology, to be creative, and who are willing to modify some beliefs—possibly long-held ones—to allow their students the freedom to explore and construct their musical skills and knowledge. These are difficult dispositions to develop. Understanding some important theoretical and philosophical work can help in treading that path by helping teachers acknowledge findings that have come before, and by letting us make critical decisions about the ways we teach and our students learn. The teacher in the following Profile of Practice has developed trust in his students and himself, assurance that he can promote students’ creativity, and confidence in his TBMI abilities. He knows that students come to his classes with unique worldviews, and with experiences, both musical and otherwise, accumulated over each of their lifetimes. While he does not place great emphasis on theoretical models of creativity or on articulating his own music teaching philosophy, his teaching reflects some of the most important philosophical dispositions found in effective TBMI teachers. Mr. E teaches middle school music in a relatively affluent suburb. He is fortunate to have experiences teaching music at many levels and has a wealth of formal training in music technology from both his undergraduate and graduate degree work.