Open Peer Commentary: Musical Knowledge: the Saga of Music in the National Curriculum

Abstract

In this paper I wish to consider epistemological models that have recently been associated with the development of music teaching in Britain. I shall show how particular views of musical knowledge, or perhaps better, musical knowing, have coloured thinking about the music curriculum and point to the importance of professionalism in curriculum development and formula- tion. Although this article concentrates on developments in the UK, the issues raised are of general importance. In Britain the idea of a National Curriculum replaces a situation where no subject was required by law (except religious education) and where choice of subject content was largely in the hands of teachers. The shift towards national specification is therefore of great consequence and has caused a wide and often heated debate. The essential nature of subjects and the appropriateness or otherwise of cultural content has been an educational and political issue.