Musical Criticism and Music Education

I am concerned here with the concept of musical analysis and its role in school and college education. My starting point is simply that musical analysis is the most important branch of musical criticism. By criticism I mean any discourse about music involving judgement or appraisal at any level. Critical statements that have analytical force must by definition say something about how a particular piece of music functions. All analysis is musical criticism but not all criticism is analysis. Analysis cannot be simply an expression of preference or a statement about the social or historical context of a piece of music. Critical statements that are simple expressions of preference or statements about context are not particularly helpful to the process of music education. For this reason I shall confine myself to the branch of criticism we call analysis. Analysis is essentially discourse concerned with the internal functioning of a specific musical object. It is about the integrity of a particular work. To be more accurate, analysis is discourse about our perceptions of a musical object. From an educational perspective it is not helpful to conduct musical analysis as though a work existed independently of individual perceptions of it and in classrooms we have to conduct musical analysis in a way that involves students engaging with music in his or her own way

The nature of musical knowledge

It is important for music educators to have a clear view of what constitutes musical knowledge. Education in music is inconceivable unless we believe that something of value is transmitted in musical transactions. Indirect, or factual knowledge is a small part of this process. It is direct musical knowledge, knowledge by acquaintance, that lies at the heart of musical experience. This is only open to us by familiarity with music itself, not in some generalised 'aesthetic' manner but within lively and developing artistic traditions

Reflexões sobre a sequência espiral do desenvolvimento musical

The sequence of musical development is revisited. The origins of the underlying and evolving theory are considered, along with organisation and classification of the data of children’s compositions. The cumulative and recursive nature of the spiral is remphasised and the dynamic relationship between the left and right side is clarified. The essential qualitative nature of the study is asserted and some possibilities for the future are considered, along with a two dimensional model for curriculum and student evaluation based on spiral-related outcomes and the musical activities that promote and sustain them.Este artigo revisita a sequência do desenvolvimento musical levando em conta as origens e o desenvolvimento da teoria juntamente com a organização e a classificação dos dados: as composições das crianças. Enfatiza novamente a natureza cumulativa e recursiva da espiral e traz à tona a relação dinâmica entre os seus lados esquerdo e direito. No texto, afirma-se a natureza essencialmente qualitativa do estudo e são discutidas algumas possibilidades para o futuro, juntamente com um modelo bidimensional para o currículo e para a avaliação dos alunos concebido com base nos resul- tados relacionados à espiral e nas atividades que promovem e sustentam o desenvolvimento musical

COMPOSING, AUDIENCE LISTENING AND PERFORMANCE IN MUSIC EDUCATION: THEORY, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

O artigo oferece fundamentação musical, filosófica e científica para a abordagem integrada das modalidades de composição, apreciação e performance, incluindo fundamentação para se preservar a configuração original do Modelo C(L)A(S)P (Swanwick 1979) ao invés da tradução (T)EC(L)A. Embora diferentes em sua natureza psicológica, essas modalidades constituem os principais indicadores da compreensão musical e as janelas através das quais ela pode ser investigada. A manifestação do nível ótimo de compreensão musical pode ser comprometida se a complexidade das atividades não for controlada. O estudo avaliou a produção musical de 20 alunos nas três modalidades, segundo os critérios derivados do Modelo Espiral (Swanwick e Tillman 1986). Os alunos apresentaram um desempenho simétrico (consistente) entre composição e apreciação; a performance, no entanto, mostrou-se o pior indicador da sua compreensão musical. A análise destes resultados envolve a natureza psicológica de cada modalidade, bem como a complexidade técnica das atividades específicas.The article offers a musical, philosophical and cientific rationale for the integrated approach to composing, performing and audience-listening activities, and argues against the translation of the C(L)A(S)P Model (Swanwick 1979) into (T)EC(L)A in the Portuguese literature. Although they are psychologically different in nature, these modes are the main indicators of musical understanding and the windows through which it can be displayed. The demonstration of the optimal level of understandin can be constrained when the complexity of the tasks is not controlled. The study assessed musical products of 20 students in the three modalities through criteria derived from the Spiral Model (Swanwick and Tillman 1986). The students achieved symmetrically (consistently) through composing and audience-listening; performance, though, has shown to be the worst indicator of their musical understanding. The analysis of these results involve the psychological nature of the modalities and the technical complexity of the specific activities

Música, pensamiento y educación

Este libro aborda la triple dimensión de la música como: lenguaje como sistema con poder de comunicación; dimensión estética; y medio de comunicación entre los seres humanos en un lenguaje de carácter universal y basado en códigos culturalmente establecidos en cada sociedad. Esta triple dimensión se plantea también en el Diseño Curricular Base para la enseñanza obligatoria de la música que propone el MEC. Además, se plantea el hipotético conflicto entre la teoría y la práctica, entre el pensamiento abstracto y la realización concreta, entre el mundo teórico y el marco de lo operativo.MadridBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]