Music Education Six Months After the Turn of the Century 1

Abstract

This paper puts music education in its current social and education context, a context that has required music educators to reflect upon their aims. Some of the aims for music education that have been proposed emphasize the instrumental value of music in our schools. Some music educators justify music education by their contributions to extra-musical outcomes. This paper argues that the distinctive contributions of music education pertain to both the generation of musical experience and the cultivation of forms of thinking that are distinctive to music itself. It urges music educators to embrace a conception of music education that emphasized its distinctive educational contributions for it is these contributions that provide the most secure foundation for music in our schools.