hsc_symposium_2006

The INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF MUSIC EDUCATION Website

A project of ISME’s History Standing Committee

Guido d’Arezzo

Guidonian Hand

HISTORY STANDING COMMITTEE SYMPOSIUM PRESENTED AT THE 27th ISME WORLD CONFERENCE (KUALA LUMPUR), 2006 Symposium Title: Comparative Perspectives in Music Education History Symposium Convener: Marie McCarthy Symposium Speakers: Gordon Cox (University of Reading, UK), Marie McCarthy (University of Maryland, USA), Patricia Shand (University of Toronto, Canada) and Robin Stevens (Deakin University, Australia) Moderator: Sondra Howe (Minneapolis, USA) Rationale for Topic:The ISME History Standing Committee was then a newly formed group. Its mission is to identify and create opportunities to celebrate and showcase the history of the Society and music education internationally. One of the ways in which this mission can be accomplished is to plan history sessions at the ISME biennial world conference. The purpose of this Symposium was to bring the Committee and its agenda to the attention of the conference participants, and indirectly, to the attention of all ISME members. Aims of the Symposium:The history of the Society’s first fifty years has been documented in Toward a Global Community: The International Society for Music Education, 1953-2003 (ISME, 2004). Now as we look forward to the next half century of life in the Society, the question arises as to how historiography can assist the Society in documenting and reflecting on its own development, and at the same time provide a forum for comparative perspectives in music education history. While the former goal was discussed in a Committee meeting during the ISME 2006 conference, the members used this session to confront the latter task. In general terms, the goal was to describe the state of historical research in music education in various regions of the world—Australia and Asia (Robin Stevens); Canada (Pat Shand); the UK and Continental Europe (Gordon Cox), and the USA (Marie McCarthy). This overview attempted to make a beginning in constructing a general picture of how music education history has been documented in these regions, and to identify areas where comparative study of music education has already begun. Format of Symposium:Each speaker addressed the following topics in a series of twenty minute presentations:1. Has music education history been recognized in the region as an area of study?2. Is there a recognized forum for the documentation and dissemination of music education history?3. Where are the major centres/libraries that collect historical documents in music education?4. Who are the principal scholars who have advocated and advanced the cause of music education history? 5. What aspects of music education have been researched and documented from historical perspectives? 6. Where are the lacunae in the literature? General Discussion Topics: 1. ‘The Silk Road’ of Music Education: What areas of music teaching and learning are international in scope, due to their global adoption: for example, the use of Tonic Sol-fa in various educational systems, from England to Australia; the Westernization of school song repertoire; the philosophy of music education that rationalized its introduction into school systems in the nineteenth century; the exclusion of certain social and cultural groups from mainstream historical record; or the journey of music textbooks from one continent to another. 2. How can the ISME History Standing Committee and the Society in general serve to advance comparative music education history? Implications of the Symposium:The desired outcome was to construct an overall picture of the state of music education history in various parts of the world, and to synthesize that information as a basis for future work of the Standing Committee. The objectives were: (1) to attract an audience of teachers and graduate music education students who are beginning or established researchers in historical research, (2) to form a network of individuals who can supply information from various regions toward the development of a website, and (3) to identify tasks that can form the basis of a five-year working agenda for the Committee.