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Research Studies in Music

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 DOI: 10.1177/1321103X10386650

2010 32: 215Research Studies in Music EducationMelissa Cain1847062075

Music Education. London: Continuum International, 2010. 256 pp. $140. ISBN Book review: Gordon Cox and Robin Stevens (eds), The Origins and Foundations of

  

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Book reviews

Research Studies in Music Education32(2) 215–219

© The Author(s) 2010Reprints and permission: sagepub.

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Book reviews

Gordon Cox and Robin Stevens (eds), The Origins and Foundations of Music Education. London: Continuum International, 2010. 256 pp. $140. ISBN 1847062075

Reviewed by: Melissa Cain, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Australia

In order to understand the present, and to craft the future, one must come to know the past. The knowledge, skills and cultural values we endeavour to instil in our music students, as well as the methods teachers employ in their work, and the systems we develop for music teacher training, result from a complex combination of personal, political and historical factors. The importance of examining such influences, and how we use this knowledge to assess and manage contem-porary music programmes, cannot be underestimated.

This is the message and aim of Cox and Steven’s highly informative and illuminating publi-cation, The Origins and Foundations of Music Education. In this compilation, 19 specialist music educators and academics from 14 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, provide insightful accounts concerning the role and place of music in compulsory education. For this publication, contributors were asked to examine the impact of particular historical fac-tors, in order to reflect on the present state of music education in each geographical location. Each author scrutinized the role of politics and religion on nation building, the content and approaches employed in school music programmes, the training of music teachers and the experiences of students. Several major themes and commonalities arise from the comparison of these cross-cultural case studies. On the surface, the authors’ accounts may appear quite simi-lar, even in countries with diverse social and ethnic cultures, but a closer look reveals the ways in which methods and repertoire are adapted over time in their cultural and historical context, to produce unique national music education identities.

As evidenced in many of the accounts in this book, the origins of music in compulsory schooling primarily evolved from the political ideologies of colonialism (and later nationalism) and the practices of music-making at mission schools. Australia’s music education system, for example, was highly influenced by inherited traditions from Great Britain. This can be seen in the content (songs that inculcated religious and moral values) and the teaching methods (‘note’ rather than ‘rote’) used in the 19th century, which were modelled on the Irish National System (Stevens & Southcott, p. 4). In China, European music was introduced by Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries, and songs for young children were adapted from the melodies of Brit-ish and American tunes. Tonic sol-fa was introduced by British missionaries, and later a type of numerical notation (Jianpu) was adapted from the French Galin-Paris-Chevé system (Ho, p. 191).

As stated in several of the individual accounts (such as the chapters on Norway, Argentina and Australia), ‘music’ in formal education was generally understood to be singing, and the tonic sol-fa method of teaching sight-singing spread by Methodist minister John Curwen was the most widely employed method of music pedagogy (Cox & Stevens, p. 5). This method remains in some form in many systems today. Over time, more comprehensive systems of music

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216 Research Studies in Music Education 32(2)

teaching developed. Teachers were required to take compulsory music courses in their tertiary education, and with the introduction of instrumental music-making, the subject was changed from ‘singing’ to ‘music’. Music was, however, not often taught for its own sake. Extra-musical reasons for the development of music classes were plentiful. In Germany, congregational singing was used to unify the community (Gruhn, p. 46). In England, the aim of music edu-cation was to create the ‘Ideal Citizen’ (Cox, p. 19). Music education was assumed to instil discipline and patriotism in Argentina (Frega, de Couve, & Dal Pino, p. 140), and, in China, compulsory music education was thought to uphold the Confucian values of harmony and goodness (Ho, p. 191).

This book does provide a cross-cultural approach, yet, as a result of the scope of what is examined (specifically programmes of compulsory music education), readers primarily gain a description of the ways in which western music genres, performance practices and transmis-sion systems were transplanted to a variety of countries; either through colonization or by invi-tation. In many situations, western musics dominated over indigenous and traditional forms of music-making. As indigenous and traditional musics were not part of compulsory music pro-grammes, readers learn little of the role and teaching of these musics in their cultural context. The legacy of this type of exclusion is evident today in a variety of music education systems. The author of the chapter on Japan, Ogawa, questions why contemporary Japanese school music programmes are so western-centric. The answer is complex, and despite several attempts to include Japanese musics alongside western musics in the curriculum and even attempts to inculcate bi-musicality, the history of Japanese compulsory music education provides a vivid example of how western music was ‘imported and implanted along with political and economic ideologies during the 19th century’ (p. 205). In Cuba, schools and music institutions only accepted pupils of Iberian descent, and African musics were not included in formal music edu-cation. Non-western musics were practised in organizations such as Cabildos, which served as centres for the preservation of black musical cultures and also for the propagation of Catholi-cism. With the abolishment of slavery in the late 1800s, Cubans of African descent were per-mitted to study and teach in western music schools, where they introduced more traditional pedagogies used in their own musics (Lorenzino, p. 155). The dominance of western musics continued, however, and it was not until the 1980s that Cuban music curricula emphasized the music and dance of Cuba as well as European art forms (Lorenzino, p. 165).

This publication, in chronicling the historical development of music education in compul-sory schooling, provides an outstanding foundation for the assessment of current curricula and the development of new and dynamic programmes. Not merely a historical reference, this collection highlights possible future trends based on historical developments, and invites read-ers into a thought-provoking analysis of contemporary music education. How music educators use this summary to guide and develop their own teaching is of great importance. The editors anticipate that the information provided in these cross-cultural comparisons will initiate an international exchange, encouraging music educators to reflect on the ways music education has evolved, and continues to change as a result of globalization.

The editors acknowledge that this book is a pioneering volume and provide several specific aims and recommendations for future research on this topic: to include the music of Jewish and Muslim cultures, to assess the impact of compulsory schooling on indigenous cultures and to provide his-torical accounts of the many national associations of music education. In addition, this publica-tion may prompt philosophers and educators to address the hegemony of western music methods, repertoire and means of transmission in both western and non-western countries.

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Book reviews 217

Cox and Stevens have produced a powerful and well-timed publication. The editors and con-tributors should be congratulated on their fine achievement, and on presenting an invaluable gift to the music education community.

References

Cox, G. (2010). Britain: Towards ‘a long overdue renaissance’? In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural historical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 15–28). London: Continuum International.

Cox, G., & Stevens, R. (2010). Introduction. In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural historical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 1–12). London: Continuum International.

Frega, A., de Couve, A., & Dal Pino, C. (2010). Argentina: From ‘música vocal’ to educatión artística: Música’. In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural his-torical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 139–151). London: Continuum International.

Gruhn, W. (2010). Germany: Educational goals, curricular structure, political principles. In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural historical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 45–60). London: Continuum International.

Ho, W. (2010). China: Socio-political constructions of school music. In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural historical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 189–204). London: Continuum International.

Lorenzino, L. (2010). Cuba: Music education and revolution. In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural historical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 153–168). London: Continuum International.

Ogawa, M. (2010). Japan: Music as a tool for moral education? In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural historical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 205–220). London: Continuum International.

Stevens, R., & Southcott, J. (2010). Australia: Recurring problems and unresolved issues. In G. Cox & R. Stevens (Eds.), The origins and foundations of music education: Cross-cultural historical studies of music in compulsory schooling (pp. 171–187). London: Continuum International.

Simone Krüger, Experiencing Ethnomusicology: Teaching and Learning in European Universities. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. 254 pp. £55. ISBN 9780754667780

Reviewed by: Huib Schippers, Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University, Australia

If there is a single sub-discipline in music that should be able to scrutinise itself profoundly, it must be ethnomusicology, with a strong commitment to ethnographic approach central to so many of its endeavours. We have seen evidence of this in the excellent 2004 volume on the roles and challenges of university world music ensembles Performing Ethnomusicol-ogy (Solis), and to some extent in Bruno Nettl’s Heartland Excursions (1995), although the latter study of a ‘typical’ US School of Music rarely rises above the level of a really clever idea for a lecture, and leaves many of the most interesting realities and underlying constructs unexplored.

Simone Krüger embarks on a ‘bottom-up’ study of student experiences of a number of eth-nomusicology programmes just after the turn of the current century. Her selection of ‘field-work sites’ is a bit uneven to represent ‘European universities’: 14 UK and 2 German universities.

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