Music Education and Utopia

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-161
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
Education Theory ◽  
Socially Responsive ◽  
Utopian Theory ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Two Sides

This chapter applies the ideas developed in the previous chapters to music education theory and practice. It presents utopia as method in music education, emphasizing its meaning as a hermeneutic, visionary, and exploratory tool. This leads to reconceptualizing music education as utopian theory and practice regarding two different approaches of music education: politically or socially responsive music education and esthetic music education. They represent two sides of music and music education, which need each other regarding political engagement and musical autonomy, being based on music as social fact or as existing for its own sake. This reconceptualization helps to overcome a long-standing dichotomy in international music education.

Rethinking Music Education and Social Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Arts ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Education And Social Change ◽  
Socially Responsive ◽  
Utopian Theory

The arts and particularly music are well-known agents for social change. They can empower, transform, or question. They can be a mirror of society’s current state and a means of transformation. They are often the last refuge when all attempts at social change have failed. But are the arts able to live up to these expectations? Can music education cause social change? This book offers timely answers to these questions. It presents an imaginative, yet critical approach. It is optimistic and realistic. It rethinks music education’s relation to social change and offers a new vision in terms of music education as utopian theory and practice. This allows one to unearth the utopian energy of the music education profession and to openly imagine how the world could be otherwise—while at the same time critically scrutinizing respective conceptions. Utopia, being an important topic in sociology and political science, offers a new tradition of thinking and a scholarly foundation for music education’s relation to social change. However, music education is not only a means for social transformation. It also has artistic and aesthetic dimensions. Thus, connecting music education with utopia leads to two approaches in terms of politically or socially responsive music education and “esthetic” music education. Rethinking music education and social change within the framework of utopia offers much-needed opportunities for reconceptualizing music education in the 2020s.

scholarly journals Composing music, developing dialogues: An enactive perspective on children's collaborative creativity

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-276
Author(s):  
Ana Luísa Veloso
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Music Composition ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Collaborative Creativity ◽  
Collaborative Processes ◽  
Education Theory ◽  
Teacher Researcher ◽  
New Ideas

This study aims to provide new insights on the nature of the embodied and collaborative processes related to the emergence of new musical ideas that occur when children are composing in groups.Data was obtained by participant observation of the teacher/researcher and by ten videotaped one-hour musical sessions dedicated to the development of a music composition by two groups of children, all of whom were eight years old.It was found that when composing in groups a) children use embodied processes to transform what they experience on diverse realms of their existence into musical ideas, and that b) while creating music, children engage in several improvisatory moments where new ideas emerge through the diverse ways they enact the surroundings where the activity is occurring. Findings suggest a conception of music composing as a multidimensional phenomenon that entails cognitive processes that are distributed across and beyond the physical body. Findings also suggest that composing music in collaboration with others nurtures a set of creative possibilities that would otherwise, not occur. Considerations for music education theory and practice are addressed in the last section of the article.

scholarly journals Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Education Theory ◽  
Utopian Thinking ◽  
Education And Social Change ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study ◽  
Specific Contribution

The chapter introduces the topic of music education and social change and shows the need for an interdisciplinary study. It discusses research related to social change and music education critically and shows possible directions for new investigations. It develops the theoretical framework of utopia and utopian thinking as an innovative approach to music education and social change. It offers a much-needed scholarly foundation for music education and social change. Furthermore, this chapter presents the purpose of the present study, and the specific contribution this book will make to music education theory and practice. Finally, it offers a brief overview of the book chapters.

scholarly journals Applying music-and-movement to promote agency development in music education: a case study in a special school

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Sutela ◽  
Marja-Leena Juntunen ◽  
Juha Ojala
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching Experiment ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
General Level ◽  
Special School ◽  
Embodied Interaction ◽  
Music Classroom ◽  
Education Theory ◽  
Relaxation Exercises

AbstractIn this article, we describe the agency development in one student with special needs through Dalcroze-based music-and-movement activities. The case study was conducted in the context of classroom music education in a special school. The data were produced via a teaching experiment (from August 2015 to March 2016), in which a group (n = 13) of 15- to 16-year-old students participated in added lessons (one lesson per week) provided by the first author. The lessons included a variety of Dalcroze-based activities, such as singing with movement, quick reaction and follow exercises, movement improvisation, body percussion exercises, dances, and relaxation exercises. The data consist of video-recordings of the lessons, a research diary, and interviews with teachers, teaching assistants, a therapist, and a specialist of special education. During the teaching experiment, the case student’s agency developed from being a passive outsider to being an active participant and leader. The change in agency was noticed also outside the classroom. The study suggests that using music-and-movement in a music classroom offers possibilities for nonverbal embodied interaction and thereby opportunities for the development of students’ agency and autonomy foremost by developing their body and social skills. On a more general level, the article contributes to developing such music education theory and practice that acknowledges the significance of experience in learning music and in embodied interaction, where individuals interact and make sense of the world through nonverbal communication. In addition, this study highlights the strength of such education in supporting the development of the whole human being.

COMPETENCY-BASED EDUCATION: THEORY AND PRACTICE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tacettin Açıkgöz ◽  
Mustafa Cem Babadoğan
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Traditional Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Formative Assessments ◽  
Competency Based Education ◽  
Education Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Competency Based ◽  
Convergent Design ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

This study aimed to reach a pro on Competency-Based Education (CBE) through the opinions of Educational Sciences experts and to review the literature on CBE. In this study, convergent design, one of the mixed methods research, was used, and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The sample was selected through convenience sampling and consisted of 28 participants. In the study, the documents related to National and International Qualifications Frameworks, history of CBE, its comparison with traditional education, its implementation, and the challenges of CBE practices are reviewed. The findings revealed that there is a conceptual consensus among the experts on the concepts of skill and learning outcome, but no agreement on the use of “competence,” “proficiency,” and “qualification.” The study showed that the experts adopt the most up-to-date definitions of CBE, but it is often confused with Proficiency-Based Education. The study revealed that CBE focuses on the demonstration of competence when considering students’ progress and measures it by formative assessments and that, in CBE, students’ learning gaps are eliminated by supporting them at each stage.

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