This quintet of essays examines the reasons why music education should be transformed, investigates the nature of education and musical transformation, and suggests alternative educational models and strategies. Estelle Jorgensen frames her argument for new approaches against the backdrop of historical musical and educational practice and draws on literature from various fields. Transforming Music Education is addressed to current and future music teachers, those who train them, and all who are interested in revolutionizing music education.
Estelle R. Jorgensen is Professor of Music at Indiana University, where she teaches courses in the foundation of music education. She is editor of Philosophy of Music Education Review, author of In Search of Music Education, and a frequent contributor to leading journals in music education.
"Jorgensen (Indiana Univ.) believes that music education has been adversely affected by mass media and popular culture and needs to be reformed. She argues that knowledge of both aesthetic and practical aspects of music is in decline and the general population can no longer read music, sing in parts, or even carry a melody. She takes a dialectical approach to problem solving in offering images of transformation—investigating the truth through debate and discussion and accepting and practicing diverse methods to achieve a comprehensive musical education that will affect society in positive ways. An examination of potential suggests role shifts to meet expectations. In extensive footnotes Jorgensen provides suggestions for readings that enhance her arguments and help lead readers to the next step—a comprehensive and specific curriculum evolving from a healthy debate that results in a new methodology based on the best and most creative aspects of the many methods in current practice. Jorgensen's book will serve the discipline of music education best as an impetus for discussion by those who have the authority to affect change. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, and professionals."
Universityof Washington - Patricia Shehan Campbell
Brilliant . . . important reading for those who teach music, who write the curricular plans for teaching it, and who guide prospective teachers to the profession. . . . It is a must-read, for it awakens thoughts about why we teach and how.
J. P. Ambrose]]>
Jorgensen (Indiana Univ.) believes that music education has been adversely affected by mass media and popular culture and needs to be reformed. She argues that knowledge of both aesthetic and practical aspects of music is in decline and the general population can no longer read music, sing in parts, or even carry a melody. She takes a dialectical approach to problem solving in offering images of transformation—investigating the truth through debate and discussion and accepting and practicing diverse methods to achieve a comprehensive musical education that will affect society in positive ways. An examination of potential suggests role shifts to meet expectations. In extensive footnotes Jorgensen provides suggestions for readings that enhance her arguments and help lead readers to the next step—a comprehensive and specific curriculum evolving from a healthy debate that results in a new methodology based on the best and most creative aspects of the many methods in current practice. Jorgensen's book will serve the discipline of music education best as an impetus for discussion by those who have the authority to affect change. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, and professionals.
J. P. Ambrose
Jorgensen (Indiana Univ.) believes that music education has been adversely affected by mass media and popular culture and needs to be reformed. She argues that knowledge of both aesthetic and practical aspects of music is in decline and the general population can no longer read music, sing in parts, or even carry a melody. She takes a dialectical approach to problem solving in offering images of transformation—investigating the truth through debate and discussion and accepting and practicing diverse methods to achieve a comprehensive musical education that will affect society in positive ways. An examination of potential suggests role shifts to meet expectations. In extensive footnotes Jorgensen provides suggestions for readings that enhance her arguments and help lead readers to the next step—a comprehensive and specific curriculum evolving from a healthy debate that results in a new methodology based on the best and most creative aspects of the many methods in current practice. Jorgensen's book will serve the discipline of music education best as an impetus for discussion by those who have the authority to affect change. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, and professionals.
