Skip to Content

What’s So Important About Music Education?

By J. Scott Goble

Published February 18th 2010 by Routledge – 338 pages

Series: Routledge Research in Education

Purchasing Options:

Description

What’s So Important About Music Education? addresses the history of rationales provided for music education in the United States. J. Scott Goble explains how certain factors stemming from the nation's constitutional separation of church and state, its embrace of democracy and capitalism, and the rise of recording, broadcast, and computer technologies have brought about changes in the ways music teachers and concerned others have conceptualized music and its importance in education. In demonstrating how many of the personal and societal benefits of musical engagement have come to be obscured in the nation’s increasingly diverse public forum, Goble also argues for the importance of musical engagement in human life and for the importance of music in education. The book concludes with recommendations for teaching the musical practices of the nation's constituent cultural communities in schools in terms of their respective cultural meanings.

Reviews

"What’s So Important About Music Education? is a thoroughly engaging, insightful, and detailed exploration of the history, philosophy, and significance of music education …this is unquestionably a valuable book that every serious music student, teacher, and school administrator should read. Goble has assembled and discussed a truly vast and impressive amount of information, combined and synthesized it in a thoughtful and convincing manner, and presented the reader with new educational goals that are truly admirable and inspiring."--Teachers College Record

"Goble provides a philosophical, historical, pragmatic study of the public school music curriculum as it relates to the new diverse student population….This resource gives readers a perspective on the development of past curricula and provides them with guidance going forward….Recommended [for] graduate students, researchers, and professionals."--CHOICE

Contents

1. Music as an Academic Subject in the Public Schools of the United States: An Inherent Cultural Tension 2. "Culture," "Worldview," and Pragmatism: The Philosophy and Semiotic of Charles Sanders Peirce 3. A Pragmatic Conception of Musical Practices: "Music" as a Sign of Worldview 4. Conceptions of Music in the United States 5. A Brief Historical Survey of Concepts of Music in Music Education in the United States 6. Community, Autonomy, and Music Education in the Postmodern United States: Summary and Recommendations

Author Bio

J. Scott Goble is a musician, teacher, scholar, and conductor who has presented lectures, classes, and workshops and conducted choirs and orchestras throughout North America. He is Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of British Columbia.

Name: What’s So Important About Music Education? (Hardback) – Routledge 
Description: By J. Scott Goble. What’s So Important About Music Education? addresses the history of rationales provided for music education in the United States. J. Scott Goble explains how certain factors stemming from the nation's constitutional separation of...
Categories: Music, Education Studies, History of Education, Teachers & Teacher Education, Music in Primary Education, Music in Secondary Education