The Phenomenology of Music: Implications for Teenage Identities and Music Education

Abstract

Many writings about the philosophy of music and music education have focussed on concepts of meaning, metaphor, emotions and expression, invariably from the perspective of the individual listener or composer. This essay develops an alternative, phenomenological approach grounded in the writings of Hegel, Husserl and Heidegger. On the basis of these writers' discussions of musical being, the time of music, and its internal dialectics, we present an understanding of "style" as the primary basis for the mediation between production, musical experience and music learning. The essay suggests that music comes into presence within, and resounds, a nonconceptual and collective socio-historical world, feeding into the identity-formation of, in particular, teenagers. Through this, we offer a way of understanding why, as has often been argued, a purely conceptual music education can never be entirely satisfactory.

Music in our lives: Using the concept of “Bildung” to understand the role of music education policy in England

“…Ford and Green (2015) argue that music education should build on approaches that move away from being assessment- and objective-led (p. 164), which are characteristics of a “traditional” education philosophy. In their view, “no amount of ‘knowing that’ certain musical facts exist or ‘learning how’ to play musical instruments can be sufficient conditions for stimulating musical understanding and learning” (p. 164), and may instead lead to the perceived lack of musicality that many children bring with them into adulthood.…”

“…Ford and Green (2015) argue that music “of our own time can resound, in the sense of give voice to, our own world” (p. 161). For most young people, the closest and most immediate music is popular music, which they consume often in a distracted fashion as a backdrop to other tasks.…”

“…This leads to the question of whether there is a greater Bildung potential in a music education that builds on the lived non-conceptual (Ford & Green, 2015) experiences amongst young people, and whether this ought to be exploited. Or alternatively, whether music’s full Bildung potential can best be brought to fruition through the “object-oriented” cultural authority of teachers and other music education facilitators…”