Praxial Music Education

1. Understanding Musical Understanding

1.1. To begin with one must understand the terms "understanding" and "music education".

1.2. Meanings are gained through experiences of cultural participation and communication. The more representations of something leads to deeper understanding.

1.3. Music can not be seen as an object according to praxial thinking and has a big connection with language acquisition.

1.4. Reflection as we perform ,rather than after, has a role in our understanding of music better.

2. General Music

2.1. Applications of the praxial philosophy can enhance the quality of general music programs.

2.2. General music is meant to include students of various backgrounds and range from students with no experience to students with a musical background.

2.3. Personal involvement in music learning is what connects students and teachers more to music.

2.4. Musicianship is what will ensure that the aims and values of music education are reached.

2.5. The understanding of dialogue between knowledge and musical activity and how that occurs within the social context of musical experiences is important.

3. Bodily Experiences/Listening/Composing/Improvising

3.1. Music takes place in the body but can also take the body to a different consciousness and transformations.

3.1.1. Project specifications

3.1.2. End User requirements

3.1.3. Action points sign-off

3.2. Musical listening and practice both must exist.

3.2.1. Top Priorities

3.2.2. Medium Priorities

3.2.3. Low Priorities

3.3. Composing must not be taken lightly and does not need to be created from a gifted individual, rather an individual who makes calculated decisions.

3.3.1. Top Priorities

3.3.2. Medium Priorities

3.3.3. Low Priorities

3.4. Teachers who study praxial music should be able to teach composition much better through careful understanding.

3.4.1. Top Priorities

3.4.2. Medium Priorities

3.4.3. Low Priorities

4. Building Cultures and Practices

4.1. Music teaches essential life values such as personal growth, differentiation, complexity, self-esteem and happiness.

4.1.1. Materials

4.1.2. Personnel

4.1.3. Services

4.1.4. Duration

4.2. Elliott's eyes were opened to community music and has since then expanded his thinking about the nature and values of music education.

4.3. There is value in different forms of music education. Community music creates an opportunity for many different experiences through music. This can occur in a non-standard setting and can occur around the world.

4.4. Elliot views that music is different and that there is not one standard set of music practice. It varies on cultures and communities that surround it.

5. Aesthetic Vs Praxial

5.1. Aesthetic philosophy is viewed to be behind other philosophies.

5.2. Idealism, realism and neoscholasticism are closely followed in aesthetic philosophies and is viewed as not being what students need to be successful, life-long learners.

5.3. Elliot's views on praxis theory is relied heavily on his research on Aristotle.

5.4. His comparison to Aristotle is viewed as incomplete. More connections can be made and thus, deeper music making can be made.

5.5. Aesthetic music tries to pull music away from the context that it was created in and meant to be performed in which takes away from the authenticity of music making.

6. Historical Perspective

6.1. Switching from an aesthetic approach to more of a praxial approach especially with influences of psychology, sociology, and ethnomusicology.

6.2. Bennet Reimer's Philosophy of Music Education was known to be climax of the aesthetic movement. (1960s)

6.3. 1980s "Music is taught for the sake of music" argument is brought up. Eventually there is a tear between performance based music learning and aesthetic based learning.

6.4. 1990s Praxial conceptions emerged to combine previous methods into one method and began to leave aesthetic views a little behind.