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    Education
    469-4/808
    MUSIC
    EDUCATION AS
    THINKING IN
    SOUND
    Summer Semester, 1985
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    INSTRUCTOR: Dr. R. Walker
    Tuesdays, 5:30 - 9:20 ?
    LOCATION: MPX 7610
    This course is for those who wish to broaden and deepen their understanding
    of music in order that their classroom teaching can be more precisely
    focussed.
    Four areas of activity will comprise the organization of the course. These
    are: 1) the topics illustrating various theories of thinking in sound;
    2) using sound in personal expression; 3) listening utilizing different
    theoretical bases; 4) Applications to education in music and general
    education.
    1) Topics illustrating various theories of thinking in sound
    1) Ancient Greek views of music
    2) Christian intellectualism and the Western consciousness in music
    3) Theories of symbols and signs - semiotics
    4) Referentialists of the 19th Century
    5)
    Objectivity in the 19th Century - Hanslick and the early psychobiologists
    6) Langer - music as symbol of human feeling
    7)
    Langer - music as significant form
    8) Psychobiological views of music - 20th century behaviorism and music
    9)
    Mental imagery research and music.
    10)
    The present-day-music as a means of manipulation and music as art -.
    the legacy of the greco-roman philosophers and the assimilation of
    different traditions in the use of music.
    2) Using sound as personal expression
    The purpose of this activity is to enable the student to explore the
    workings of different theoretical standpoints regarding music in order to
    experience him/herself the problems involved.
    Various contemporary methods and schemes will be used. A knowledge of
    acoustics will form a part of the work in this segment, and the application
    of physical laws of pressure waves and their behavior to the various
    theories will be explored.
    The basis of many of the theories concerns beliefs about the intrinsic
    meanings of physiognomic properties of sound. Modern science tends to
    refute such beliefs. The question of whether modern science has or has
    not destroyed much of the ancient meaning we have traditionally applied to
    music will be explored through direct contact with sound.
    3) Throughout various musical examples will be played in order to demonstrate
    the musical products of various theories of musical meaning and function.
    These will range widely across time and national boundaries and cultures.
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    4) Discussion and readings related to the implications of the above
    for both musical and general education will form the basis of
    seminars and written work. Assessment will comprise a series of
    assignments throughout the course.
    A significant part of the course will comprise practical work suitable
    for the classroom and the general music lesson.
    REQUIRED TEXTS:
    R. Walker. Music Education - Tradition and Innovation C.C. Thomas, 1984.
    R. Walker. Sound Projects Oxford University Press, 1978.
    J.B. Davies. The Psychology of Music., Stanford paperback, 1978.

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