The student as maker : an examination of the meaning of music to students in a school and the ways in which we give access to meaningful music education.

Abstract

This thesis primarily involves an examination of the meaning of music to young people in a school context and the processes that facilitate that involvement. It is essentially a curriculum thesis and seeks to contribute to the understanding of how meaning and the processes that may give access to meaning in music education might be constructed and This thesis primarily involves an examination of the meaning of music to young people in
a school context and the processes that facilitate that involvement. It is essentially a curriculum thesis and seeks to contribute to the understanding of how meaning and the
processes that may give access to meaning in music education might be constructed and interpreted by teachers and curricula. The questions of meaning and access to meaningful
music education are examined empirically in a participant-observation casestudy and examined in conjunction with an ongoing body of theorising about music education. The intention of the thesis is to elaborate the meaning of music to young people in a school context, and to explore the issues of music teaching. The thesis argues that meaning is located in social, personal and cultural experiences and suggests the need for access to all of these in music education. Furthermore, it seeks to extend the implications of these meanings in the post-modern era by outlining the specific potential of the music experience and the teacher as artistic interpreter and facilitator of modern cultural life. Through an examination of context, it highlights the potential and possibilities of music experience for building and giving access to a range of music meanings. The thesis seeks to build a sense of the different aspects of music meaning that might be considered by music education. It attempts to build a vision of music education that takes the significance of intuitive and analytic music experience seriously. More importantly for
teaching and learning, it seeks to describe how a teacher might both teach in and construct environments where meaningful music might be made explicit and accessible in curriculum and practice.