What is music, and how should it be taught in schools? This thesis traces how education and literation have reified music and distanced the construction of music in western conceptions, and British education, from practice in other, historical and geographical, cultures. Musical practice is dependant on the technologies for music production, which also influence the cultural construction of music. New developments in music technology, through the application of electronics and digitisation, have substantially changed the music industry, and, beyond this, have altered the generally accepted construction of music, by opening up new possibilities of sound creation and manipulation. These changes are theorised here as a transgressional step in the progressive literation of music, that reconnects musical practice to wider possibilities in the organisation of sound, some of which are examined by reference to the example of the traditional music of sub-Saharan Africa. By requiring more music practice, and inclusion of music from other times and cultures, the (British) National Curriculum has made new demands of music education in schools. It is shown that as these coincide with concomitant changes in the production of music due to new technologies, there is a possibility of restructuring music teaching in schools to take account of twenty-first century industry practice of music production. This will provide a sound basis for future employment to pupils. While there are many examples of excellence in school music teaching, quality remains variable and change is uneven. This thesis demonstrates the possibility within school music, of increasing the emphasis on a wider range ix of possibilities of organised sound, by connecting music to science, especially acoustical science, in Key Stages 1-3. At higher levels, considering music and sound together with images in multimedia will provide wider opportunities for the development of career skills. An electronic xylophone serves as an example of an instrument developed to enable the exploration of sound in the manner proposed, while retaining the kinaethesia found in physical musical instruments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:515328 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Barrett, James Edward |
| Publisher | London Metropolitan University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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