The previous posts have primarily leveled an attack on music curriculum and its traditional prescription of theory, history, applied, ensembles, and technical courses all aimed to create a classical musician. But if the world no longer has interest in classical performance, what is a musician to do? Where are the positions in music and how should a university respond to the changes?
There is a temptation in the study of history, to increase the knowledge base to match the additional years as well as any current research. We may learn some new details about George Washington that need sharing or we may need to spend quite a bit of time discussing the current problems in the Middle East. Yet universities cannot keep adding history courses to match the growing knowledge. This means that professors have to make discerning judgments on the necessary information that is essential for students to receive a balanced and well-rounded liberal arts education. Affecting the teaching of history is the encyclopedia of information that is now found with a click or two on a computer or a cell phone. How necessary is it to teach broad general concepts of the causes of the civil war, when that information can be acquired instantly?
Why impart information that is readily available with a click and look? College professors at one time felt the responsibility to teach facts of the discipline, facts that were integral to the success of the student for the future. But the rules are changing with each passing hour as it becomes more apparent that learning the facts has no gain if all the information is there for everyone to see and experience. In that respect then, there is no reason for a college professor or even a college education. Time to close up shop!
Yet education is more than learning information and regurgitating it for a test. Education is the process of moving from the known to the unknown and acquiring the ability to process information that allows for quality judgment, critical thinking, and correct decisions. These are traits that cannot be delivered by the internet. These characteristics are developed over time and through the broad study of several disciplines, applying the knowledge in a collective package that allows for further development. Thus it takes several years of learning and maturity to actualize the potential and utilize the skills acquired. For example, the causes of the civil war are evident but not so obvious is how to avoid the same mistakes in the future, mistakes that resulted in pain and suffering for millions. What does it mean to have states rights and at what point does that concept interfere with the collective good of the centralized government? We ended slavery with the Civil War but can slavery be manifested in many other ways such as poverty, ignorance, fear? These are the kinds of questions that a college education seeks to resolve. In college work we learn the reasons, the results, the influences, the developments, and we begin to apply principles for the future.
Returning now to the music curriculum. We must broaden our scope and our purpose not just to meet the changing market demands but to be able to make informed decisions for the future. I am not advocating a moving away from a performance base but I am recommending varied performances. I am not suggesting a music curriculum devoid of music theory but I am suggesting a theory that encompasses vast styles of music. I am not a proponent of all that is past should be forgotten but I am pushing for a broader, comprehensive look at music history that goes beyond the facts and deals with developments, influences, reasons, and possible future experiences. A type of holistic music history sequence integral to the total musician regardless of what musical profession is desired. A program of study applicable to every student in music.
It is difficult to imagine a curriculum that fits all students and with the varying types of music professions available, it is nearly beyond the scope of an undergraduate degree to prepare completely music students for a career in music. Yet that is in fact what I advocate--a broad-based curriculum that is somehow comprehensive, specific, and general. A curriculum for the music "everyman," the student who can use the information, the skills, the knowledge, and with ingenuity, initiative, and industry meets the musical world of today head-on and ready.
We now seek to devise such a concept.
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