In this paper we discuss the musical work of classical composer Benjamin Britten as a lasting legacy for public music education. Our starting point is the contemporary urgency to rethink both public music education in general, and the public-educational significance of Western classical music in particular, in the face of the dual threats posed by…

In the pedagogy of Western classical string music, creativity is often viewed according to the works of luminary composers, suggesting the question: how might string teachers, students, and musicians conceive of creativity? After problematizing standard definitions and ontological ideas of musical creativity, I outline an open model using the…

In this paper, I apply John Cage's wide musical embrace of sound to the field of music education and explore its curricular and practical implications. In particular, I ask music teachers to consider themselves teachers of sound, or "sound teachers." I argue that privileging sound as our chief concern leads us to reconsider the ways we…

This paper considers the issue of computer-assisted composition in formal music education settings from the perspective of critical theory. The author examines the case of MIDI-based software applications and suggests that the greatest danger from the standpoint of ideology critique is not the potential for circumventing a traditional…

This paper considers the issue of computer-assisted composition in formal music education settings from the perspective of critical theory. The author examines the case of MIDI-based software applications and suggests that the greatest danger from the standpoint of ideology critique is not the potential for circumventing a traditional…

This essay interview with Joan Tower is a meditation on the importance of composing, understood as a process larger than the making of new sound combinations or musical scores, suggesting that the compositional act is self-educative and self-forming. Tower's musical life, one of teaching and learning, one of composing and self-composing, is an…

This paper is concerned with the craft and pedagogy of contemporary classical composition, starting with an examination of French pedagogy as I received it from Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger in the late 1950s. I discuss their different points of view (briefly the global approach to composition vs. what might be termed the molecular), the…

This article represents conversations with the American composer Libby Larsen in which she described her beliefs about music, music education, and the dilemmas that our current system faces as we seek to provide relevant and meaningful music education to our students. Our conversation explores such topics as cognitive psychology, music theory,…

Composition is learned by discovering that musical ideas can be experienced in a variety of ways, and that new musical ideas can be created by reconfiguring learned materials in new contexts. The act of imagining, defining, and communicating unique musical ideas awakens in young people a dormant part of their brains, unlocking an awareness of the…

Music education discourse is marked by frequent comparisons of music to language, and of music notation to written language. However, the role played by writing, as opposed to reading, is often overlooked in that discourse, as well as in classroom practices and workbooks. Consequently, far too many students can read music notation but not write…

This essay explores the role of music composition within the curriculum of a typical small liberal arts college and the faculty composer's role(s) in facilitating the study of composition. The relationship between composition and campus performance is discussed, particularly in light of the increased emphasis on performance in formerly all-male…

There are several possible ways for investigating the creative process in musical composition in order to induce certain assumptions about the nature of the compositional experience that may provide a certain philosophical framework for shaping compositional experiences in music educational settings at all levels. By taking an approach mainly…

Writing and speaking are essential means of understanding, studying, and sharing music in the Western art music tradition. The papers presented in this symposium were the outgrowth of authors' dialogue during the summer of 2004. Each of them worked independently, yet each of them was also aware of the direction, the themes, and the ways of the…

In this article, the author examines the intersections of three concepts, form, feeling, and isomorphism, in the work of Susanne Langer, as they are fundamental to an understanding of her aesthetic theory and to the construction of a philosophy of music and music education. These three concepts hold meanings that differ among musicians and…

Gives an overview of the nine current models in multicultural music education. Discusses and critiques an intercultural, or tree, model that offers the possibility of comparison of performing and composing in a variety of styles. Explains that the tree model also suggests a way of looking at and comparing various musical cultures. (CMK)