Musical Congruency-Part 1

Musical Congruency-Part 1

       Today we are beginning a series of posts on musical congruency.  If you are new to my blog you will need to know that I make no attempt to draw specific conclusions at the end of each day’s post.  Therefore if you miss any of the posts in the series, you will need to read them before continuing. 

       Perhaps the place to start this philosophical discussion is with some definitions of terms.  The term congruent is generally defined as meaning agreement, harmony, correspondence or conformity. Although the word music needs no general definition, technically it is a series of organized sounds and silences formed into a congruent whole.  Musicing is a word coined by the music philosopher David Elliott in the late twentieth century.  Musicing is the act of making music as opposed to aesthetic music education which is a listening based music education praxis. [He has taught at the University of Toronto, Indiana University, and Northwest University as a visiting professor.  He joined the New York University graduate faculty in 2002.  He is the author of the book Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education and other valuable publications on music education philosophy.

       Also, before we continue, the word praxis needs to be defined.  David Elliott stated, “As Aristotle used the word in his Poetics, praxis connotes action that is imbedded in, responsive to, and reflective of a specific context of effort.”  Music Matters, by David Elliott, page 14-quoting Aristotle.  So, when the word praxis is used in this discussion it will refer to a specific way of “doing” or “musicing” that reflects the context in which one performs or listens to it. .