The purpose of this doctoral thesis was to investigate some of the major issues, principles, and practices in education and music education to provide direction in planning and implementing more realistic and comprehensive music programming at the elementary level. The inquiry into current educational trends outside of the specialized area of music was undertaken as an initial step in eradicating the "music-in-isolation" notion that tends to pervade much of music education. Specifically, the study asked whether contemporary elementary music programs are directed toward meeting the intellectual, cultural, and artistic needs of children in a changing society. On the basic of the literature examined, the need remained to produce a music program which exemplified how the theory and history of music could be applied to actual performance in creative ways. Based on the inequities of current educational practice, a broad-based humanities and social-studies oriented program entitled "Music and Social Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach," is described. The program design reflects a conscious concern to (1) synthesize both musical and social learning; (2) develop both individual and interpersonal skills; and (3) guide the development of students' interests, attitudes, values, and judgments toward both musical and human phenomena. (Author/DE)