Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Tangelwood Symposium
The Tanglewood Symposium was a convening of music educators in the 1960s to discuss “Music in American Society.” The results of this symposium provided the music education profession with philosophical guidance that is still useful today.
A declining economy in the early 1960s caused the American public to support a “back to basics” educational movement. In response to attacks being made on music education, the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) and important music educators met in Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, to discuss this issue and other pressing matters regarding the arts. The symposium’s focus was “Music education as an integral part of life and living, not only within the individual but as it extend[s] to society” (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman 1995, 23).
At the symposium’s conclusion, the Documentary Report of the Tanglewood Symposium stated, “Educators must accept the responsibility for developing opportunities which meet man’s individual needs and the needs of a society plagued by the consequences of changing values, alienation, hostility between generations, racial and international tensions, and the challenges of the new leisure” (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman 1995, 23). With such a rapid cultural shift occurring in the 1960s, the symposium was able to keep up with educational trends and set a precedent for future music educators to adapt to similar changes.
Many of the issues becoming relevant to American society in the 1960s are still factors in music education today. The Tanglewood Symposium brought up issues related to special education, electronic music, youth music and jazz, music education in urban settings, and music as related to other arts (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman 1995, 23). The MENC National Standards, written in 1994 and still highly advocated by music educators today, promote an awareness of music’s relation to cultural factors (The National Association for Music Education 2008). Many U.S. laws, most recently the Bush administration’s “No Child Left Behind,” require equal educational opportunities, and therefore music education opportunities, for children with special needs. With the dawning of a new administration, educators can depend on more changes in educational policy, and with an even greater economic slump than in the 1960s, music educators in particular will need to draw on historical support such as the Tanglewood Symposium to ensure arts education is not forfeited for the sake of another “back to basics” movement.
Abeles, Harold F., Charles R. Hoffer, and Robert H. Klotman. Foundations of Music Education, 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomas Higher Education, 1995.
The National Association for Music Education. “National Standards for Music Education.” 2008. http://www.menc.org/resources/view/national-standards-for-music-education (accessed January 25, 2009).
A declining economy in the early 1960s caused the American public to support a “back to basics” educational movement. In response to attacks being made on music education, the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) and important music educators met in Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, to discuss this issue and other pressing matters regarding the arts. The symposium’s focus was “Music education as an integral part of life and living, not only within the individual but as it extend[s] to society” (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman 1995, 23).
At the symposium’s conclusion, the Documentary Report of the Tanglewood Symposium stated, “Educators must accept the responsibility for developing opportunities which meet man’s individual needs and the needs of a society plagued by the consequences of changing values, alienation, hostility between generations, racial and international tensions, and the challenges of the new leisure” (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman 1995, 23). With such a rapid cultural shift occurring in the 1960s, the symposium was able to keep up with educational trends and set a precedent for future music educators to adapt to similar changes.
Many of the issues becoming relevant to American society in the 1960s are still factors in music education today. The Tanglewood Symposium brought up issues related to special education, electronic music, youth music and jazz, music education in urban settings, and music as related to other arts (Abeles, Hoffer, and Klotman 1995, 23). The MENC National Standards, written in 1994 and still highly advocated by music educators today, promote an awareness of music’s relation to cultural factors (The National Association for Music Education 2008). Many U.S. laws, most recently the Bush administration’s “No Child Left Behind,” require equal educational opportunities, and therefore music education opportunities, for children with special needs. With the dawning of a new administration, educators can depend on more changes in educational policy, and with an even greater economic slump than in the 1960s, music educators in particular will need to draw on historical support such as the Tanglewood Symposium to ensure arts education is not forfeited for the sake of another “back to basics” movement.
Abeles, Harold F., Charles R. Hoffer, and Robert H. Klotman. Foundations of Music Education, 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomas Higher Education, 1995.
The National Association for Music Education. “National Standards for Music Education.” 2008. http://www.menc.org/resources/view/national-standards-for-music-education (accessed January 25, 2009).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment