The History of Music Education—part 1

The History of Music Education—part 1

            Mark and Gary’s book A History of American Education begins with the statement “The history of music education in Western civilization begins with the Hebrews because in their culture, unlike others, music was part of the lives of all the people and not just the domain of professional musicians.” (p. 3) As one reads about music education both Europeans and Americans at times suppose that they were the fathers of music education.  Many music educators believe that they even have a corner on the correct way to educate young musicians. 

            There is nothing inherently wrong with a music professor being convinced of the value of a particular music education philosophy or of a particular music praxis.  Surely, a university music department in the U.S. or somewhere in Europe should be convinced about the way they are going about educating the next generation of music teachers.  However, the problem occurs when a particular educational system is so haughty that they are the only ones in the world that educate music teachers in a proper way.  For much too long music educators have ignored what the Bible teaches us about music education.

Bible Thought for the Day

1Corinthians 1:2, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”  The wisdom of this world most often derives the exact opposite conclusions about spiritual things—including music and musicing.