ERIC Number: EJ1117860
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1063-5734
EISSN: N/A
The Rehearsal and Performance of Holiday Music: Philosophical Issues in "Stratechuk v. Board of Education"
Perrine, William M.
Philosophy of Music Education Review, v24 n2 p131-150 Fall 2016
This philosophical study addresses the implications of the legal case "Stratechuk v. Board of Education" ruling that a policy prohibiting the performance of religious-themed holiday music did not violate the United States Constitution. Two questions are investigated: the differences between the classroom study and public performance of religious music, and the study of holiday music as a subgenre of religious music. Conclusions suggest that a school policy delineating between the rehearsal and performance of sacred music fails to appreciate the interrelationship of these musical practices. While this type of policy attempts to resolve controversy by moving sacred music out of public performance spaces it does not succeed in addressing the underlying philosophical tensions involved in the curricular use of sacred music. Further, a policy that allows the musical celebration of only secular aspects of particular holidays unnecessarily privileges secular over religious meanings and thus limits students' contextual understanding of the holiday. The academic performance of sacred music within the comprehensive study of a given holiday should not constitute an endorsement of particular religious beliefs, or violate an appropriate position of religious neutrality.
Descriptors: Music Education, Court Litigation, Holidays, Constitutional Law, Religious Factors, School Policy, Theater Arts, Performance, Music Activities, Philosophy, State Church Separation
Indiana University Press. 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN 47404. Tel: 800-842-6796; Tel: 812-855-8817; Fax: 812-855-7931; e-mail: iuporder@indiana.edu; Web site: http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/index.php?cPath=519_701
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A