college and university Past and Present Philosophical Musings:
Celebrating a Fulfilled Life Vanissa Murphy, WMEA State Chair, College and University
As music educators, we are concerned with asking ques- tions and thinking reflectively about music as a content area, skill area, cul- tural medium, and, of course, about the teaching and learn-
ing of music. And, whether at a conscious level or not, we also embrace the challenge that philosophy poses to us to engage actively in constructing meaningful prob- lem-solving responses to those questions and to guide our students to do the same. Simply put, we all struggle to know our world, and the act of doing that mandates that we know something about inquiring into things from a philosophical perspec- tive. For many of us, that inquiry at least includes consideration of non-conceptual thinking within the context of music edu- cation as aesthetic education. And, this being the case, we have and do consider the influence of Dr. Bennett Reimer.
With Reimer’s writing of the book, A Philosophy of Music Education (1970), the rationale for music education in North America was anchored in aesthetic philosophy for several decades (Allsup, 2010). Later writings offered alternative ways of knowing about music and its purposes. “Praxilism” (deliberate think- ing and doing with emphasis on technical skills and knowledge) offered a frame for some of these alternatives. For example, the idea that to know music it must be performed, that musicianship is context dependent and that music instruction should be specialized, was premised in David Elliott’s Music Matters (1995). In offering a way to consider both, Estelle Jorgensen’s In Search of Music Education (1997) asks us to dialectically consider
14
the merits of opposing views and how they might be incorporated together*. An understatement would certainly be that the beliefs of these writers have offered fodder for consideration, implementation and much debate.
And the debate (dialectic process?) con- tinues! Would not the opportunity to ask, face-to-face, one of these influential music educators, why we should study music, or how to best go about studying music and preparing our future teachers, or about their visions for the future of music educa- tion, be an amazing adventure? Well, pre- pare to be amazed as our guest facilitator for our upcoming Wisconsin Society for Music Teacher Education reception and meeting on Wednesday, October 27, is Dr. Bennett Reimer. Please bring a retired music educator and future music educator with you as your guests to this very special meeting as he leads us to understand the meaning of music education in the context of a fulfilled life.
“…we have and do consider the influence of
Dr. Bennett Reimer.”
To help prepare us for this adventure, see the partial reading list below – partial because it is limited to only a few books (of the 12) and articles (of some 150) written by Dr. Reimer. The list is offered here to both highlight his work and to of- fer an avenue to review some of our past, present and future as can be experienced in his words.
Books:
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall: 1970.
A Philosophy of Music Education (1st
On the Nature of Musical Experience (by Bennett Reimer and Jeffrey E. Wright), University of Colorado Press: 1992.
World Musics and Music Education: Facing the Issues, MEND: 2002.
Performing with Understanding: The Challenge of the National Standards for Music Education, MENC: 2000.
Seeking the Significance of Music Education: Essays and Reflections, Rowman & Littlefiled: 2009.
Articles:
“College Course in Supplementary Instruments,” Music Educators Journal, Vol. 42, No. 6 (June–July 1956), pp. 42+44.
“What Music Cannot Do,” Music Educators Journal, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Sept.–Oct. 1959), pp. 40-45.
“Leonard Meyer’s Theory of Value and Greatness in Music,” Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Autumn 1962), pp. 87-99.
“Information Theory and the Analysis of Musical Meaning,” Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, No. 2 (Winter 1964), pp. 14-22.
“Effects of Music Education: Implications from a Review of Research,” Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Autumn 1965), pp. 147-158.
September 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72