‘It is one of the most deeply rooted superstitions of our age that the purpose of education is to benefit those who receive it. What we teach in school, what subjects we encourage in universities, and the methods of instruction, are all subject to one overarching test: what do the kids get out of it? And this test soon gives way to another, yet more pernicious in its effect, but no less persuasive in the thinking of educationalists: is it relevant? And by relevant is invariably meant ‘relevant to the interests of the kids themselves.’ [1] Thus writes Roger Scruton, philosopher of both conserva ..read more

On Wednesday this week I attended the English National Opera’s production of the Philip Glass opera Akhnaten. I am something of a devote of American minimalism. (When I introduced it to my U3A Group they weren’t impressed. They made no sense of it. what is the point of it was a very good question posed. Their habituated mode of listening didn’t work in this case so it seemed.[1]) I have seen both Philip Glass and Steve Reich in concert and a wonderful Kronos Quartet performance of Reich’s Different Trains. I recall in 1984 running a workshop making minimalist music on an Arts in the Curriculum ..read more

‘Hearing and comprehending in one’s mind the sound of music that is not or may never have been physically present.’ This is possibly Edwin Gordon’s sharpest definition of the term audiation or better in its active form, what it means to audiate. Audiation is the central concept in Gordon’s music learning theory and his notion of musical aptitude. For Gordon there are types and stages of audiation and the means of constructing sequences of learning. His book ‘Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns – A Music Learning Theory (1997) provides a comprehensive account of his theory ..read more

Say the words ‘musical knowledge’ and thought goes heavy, rushing to the ‘knowing that’ kind of knowledge, theoretical knowledge, ‘knowing that’ this is an ostinato, ostinato as fact. It is known what an ostinato is, key words, concepts, encyclopedias, dictionaries.  Thankfully, we have another kind of knowledge, ‘knowing how’ – knowing how to create an ostinato, knowing how to make effective use of an ostinato. If you like, ‘practical knowledge’. [1] ‘Practical knowledge’ – yes, still knowledge, really useful knowledge, dynamic musical knowledge. [2] The Greeks had a number of words to d ..read more

Better try over number seventy-eight before we start I suppose?’ said William, pointing to a heap of old Christmas carol books on a side table. [2] Thomas Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree, like much of his writing, contains references to music-making. Hardy’s interest in the social conditions of his characters is matched by interest in the social conditions of their music-making. For Hardy music is social practice. Musical meanings and musical knowledge are made here and now together and bound to the meanings made through the relationships of those participating. And all this in relationship t ..read more

To be critical is to be thoughtful, reflective, evaluative, analytical, knowing, insightful and a symbol of becoming wide-awake to the world: musical experience, if it is to be educative and part of a compulsory education, calls for a critical orientation. It calls for a growing awareness of what music is, how it is used, how music is given meaning and how these meanings are continually negotiated and re-negotiated. It calls for a recognition that music has human interest: social, cultural and political. Without a critical orientation music ceases to be a subject of significance. In this paper ..read more

Here a music teacher was asked to write a few paragraphs about her ideas for music in the school for those attending the school’s Spring Concert. “For me, music is about working together, and about participation. In the making of music, pupils work with the song or the piece, they work with each other, and they work with their audience. They learn to work with themselves. And when by concentration and practice a performance hits its groove, music can activate a joy or elation in expression that can go on to inform and permeate achievement across the disciplines. This is why music can be – and ..read more

Does using the so-called ‘elements of music’ as a classificatory framework lead to obscuring the particularities of musical phenomena and the erosion of difference? I have derived this statement from Adorno’s concept of identity thinking. [1] I will try to show how a critique of what Adorno calls identity thinking raises questions about the desirability of a concept-led music curriculum. As an alternative I will propose a music curriculum drawn forward by musical meaning making in which musical concepts know their place. Propositions: Music is non-conceptual There are concepts about music But ..read more

It was in the early 1990s that I made an application to my school’s deputy head to attend a weekend course at Dartington College. The course was on music and special needs education. But would my school fund my attendance? There was a period of deliberation and then two questions were presented to me: ‘how would the course enhance my teaching’ and ‘how would it contribute to the school’s priorities for development’? I had taken the course to be self-evidently valuable to both my own and the school’s development. However, I made the case in writing and was duly funded. Whether the course had an ..read more

In 1899 William McNaught identified three mental faculties that all methods of teaching listening assumed children to possess. the observation of what is heard at any given moment the recollection of what has previously been heard the comparison of what we hear now with what we have recently heard [1] We would perhaps want to add the prediction of what is to come McNaught was writing about the teaching of listening and the methods by which children are taught to listen. [2] Might it be a good thing to teach children that they possess the potential to observe what is heard at any given mom ..read more