This Field Study Report represents a preliminary inquiry or
prolegomenon to a Philosophy of Music Education in Australia.
My concern here is with the nature and function of music in
Australian education, especially of young people. I am not
concerned with the technical details of education and training
in the musical art itself: my aim is rather to distinguish and
account for public and professional attitudes towards music in
Australian education, by identifying their philosophical sources
and social determinants.
The Introduction begins with a general historical background,
including detailed references to the important developments of
the past decade that have dramatically altered the role and
raised public awareness of music in Australia.
Chapter I, 'The Politics of Music in School and Society' argues
that the philosophy of music education derives from two classical
sources: Plato, the inspiration for music educators in totalitarian
societies; and Aristotle, for education in the liberal
democracies. A recent review (Sparshott 1980) indicates that
these two philosophies are still key positions in the field.
Chapter II, 'The Tradition of Music in Australian Education'
shows how the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, with Locke's
utilitarianism, have influenced music education since colonial
times, and how British pedagogical traditions have been modified
by adaption to a new society and ethos.
Chapter III, 'Music in Contemporary Australian Education'
reviews recent empirical studies of the subject, showing,
the persistence of traditional attitudes and basic problems.
Chapter IV, 'The Right to Music: Aims and Methods' reports
the empirical part of this Field Study - recorded interviews
and discussions with adults and children involved in Australian
music education and associated activities. These were the
subject of a series of eight radio programs, first broadcast
nationally by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, November
1979 to February 1980, subsequently rebroadcast twice, and now
published on cassette (1981)
Chapter V, 'The Right to Music : the Broadcast Series' consists
of cassette recordings of the broadcast discussions, together
with minimally edited transcriptions of the text.
In my Conclusion, 'Philosophy of Music Education in Australia:
the Three Traditions', I offer a preliminary analysis of contemporary
Australian attitudes towards music in education as
revealed by the broadcast discussion. I conclude that, while
Australian music educators have been untrained philosophically,
their attitudes (like those of society at large) towards music
in education derive, in the main, from Plato, Aristotle and Locke.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218786 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Bonham, Gillian, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Gillian Bonham |
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