Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p.144-208) and index.

This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of three music teachers who are invited to view themselves and their practices as “becoming” in the context of Maxine Greene’s philosophy of education. In communion with my own becoming as teacher and researcher, I explore the aspects of my participants’ musical and teaching identities over the course of their careers and in relation to their unique teaching contexts. Throughout this project, I explored qualities of resonance, striving, a sense of artistic “re-capturing,” wide-awakeness, social imagination, and courage. I came to understand that stories play an important role in shaping our perceptions of reality and awareness of the lived lives of the “other” as we strive together toward a more just society through artistic encounters in education.

This autoethnographic study explores a space for aesthetic education in a Western classical music conservatory setting. It examines my own teaching of a graduate-level elective course called Modernism: Art and Music over the span of three years under the zero-Covid policy in China. Through my own attending as a teacher, I explore areas of wide-awakeness, imagination, and pluralism found within the framework of Maxine Greene’s aesthetic education philosophy. By documenting my transformative and reflexive journey, I hope to shed light on the possibilities for educators and policymakers to consider a wider implementation of aesthetic education approaches in the conservatory to better support students’ personal, musical, and career developments.