{"id":396,"date":"2017-06-20T17:36:48","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T17:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-music-and-the-child\/chapter\/chapter-2-music-fundamentals-and-educational-roots-in-the-u-s-2\/"},"modified":"2017-09-12T15:26:31","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T15:26:31","slug":"chapter-2-music-fundamentals-and-educational-roots-in-the-u-s-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-music-and-the-child\/chapter\/chapter-2-music-fundamentals-and-educational-roots-in-the-u-s-2\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 2: Music: Fundamentals and Educational Roots in the U.S.","rendered":"Chapter 2: Music: Fundamentals and Educational Roots in the U.S."},"content":{"raw":"
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Chapter Summary<\/h3>\r\n

Chapter Summary: The first half of this chapter attempts to define music as a subject and offers perspectives on music, including basic vocabulary and what you should know about music in order to incorporate it in your work with children. The second half gives a brief overview of music education and teaching in the U.S., which provides the foundation of the discipline for the book.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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I. Defining Music<\/h1>\r\n\u201cMusic\u201d is one of the most difficult terms to define, partially because beliefs about music have changed dramatically over time just in Western culture alone. If we look at music in different parts of the world, we find even more variations and ideas about what music is. Definitions range from practical and theoretical (the Greeks, for example, defined music as \u201ctones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmony\u201d) to quite philosophical (according to philosopher Jacques Attali, music is a sonoric event between noise and silence, and according to Heidegger, music is something in which truth has set itself to work). There are also the social aspects of music to consider. As musicologist Charles Seeger notes, \u201cMusic is a system of communication involving structured sounds produced by members of a community that communicate with other members\u201d (1992, p.89). Ethnomusicologist John Blacking declares that \u201cwe can go further to say that music is sound that is humanly patterned or organized\u201d (1973), covering all of the bases with a very broad stroke. Some theorists even believe that there can be no universal definition of music because it is so culturally specific.\r\n\r\nAlthough we may find it hard to imagine, many cultures, such as those found in the countries of Africa or among some indigenous<\/span> groups, don\u2019t have a word for music. Instead, the relationship of music and dance to everyday life is so close that the people have no need to conceptually separate the two. According to the ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl (2001), some North American Indian languages have no word for \u201cmusic\u201d as distinct from the word \u201csong.\u201d Flute melodies too are labeled as \u201csongs.\u201d The Hausa people of Nigeria have an extraordinarily rich vocabulary for discourse about music, but no single word for music. The Basongye of Zaire have a broad conception of what music is, but no corresponding term. To the Basongye, music is a purely and specifically human product. For them, when you are content, you sing, and when you are angry, you make noise (2001). The Kpelle people of Liberia have one word, \u201csang,\u201d to describe a movement that is danced well (Stone, 1998, p. 7). Some cultures favor certain aspects of music. Indian classical music, for example, does not contain harmony, but only the three textures of a melody, rhythm, and a drone. However, Indian musicians more than make up for a lack of harmony with complex melodies and rhythms not possible in the West due to the inclusion of harmony (chord progressions), which require less complex melodies and rhythms.\r\n\r\nWhat we may hear as music in the West may not be music to others. For example, if we hear the Qur\u2019an performed, it may sound like singing and music. We hear all of the \u201cparts\u201d which we think of as music\u2014rhythm, pitch, melody, form, etc. However, the Muslim understanding of that sound is that it is really heightened speech or recitation rather than music, and belongs in a separate category. The philosophical reasoning behind this is complex: in Muslim tradition, the idea of music as entertainment is looked upon as degrading; therefore, the holy Qur\u2019an cannot be labeled as music.\r\n
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Activity 2a: Listen<\/h3>\r\n
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Qur\u2019an Recitation<\/a>, 22nd Surah (Chapter) of the Qur\u2019an, recited by Mishary Rashid Al-\u2018Efasi of Kuwait.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n

Although the exact definition of music varies widely even in the West, music contains melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, pitch, silence, and form or structure. What we know about music so far\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n