Sociology and Music Education: a further response to Swanwick |
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| Authors: | Graham Vulliamy John Shepherd |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Education , University of York;2. Department of Music , Carleton University |
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| Abstract: | This paper is a response to Professor Swanwick's further critique of our sociological perspective on music education. We argue that criticisms made in relation to our positions on referenlialism, the ability of people to appreciate music cross‐culturally, and the various analytic categories of Meyer, Chester and Keil are all grounded in a desire to isolate the essence of ‘music’ from social and cultural processes. We further argue that the difficulties perceived with our positions do not follow from a belief in the culture‐specific significance of different musics per se, but rather from overly rigid and sometimes mistaken interpretation of our perspective. Finally, we point to the danger of assuming a cross‐cultural category, ‘music’, when many cultures have no equivalent word and use what we understand as ‘music’ in ways vastly different to ourselves. |
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