The Origins and Foundations of Music Education International Perspectives Introduction

Abstract

Our purpose in this book is to assemble accounts of the origins and foundations of music education in compulsory schooling from a selection of representative countries. The idea arose from a concern that for too long we, as music educators, have been constrained by the national boundaries in which we work. Yet increasingly in music classrooms, we observe musical practices and musical tastes that draw on a wide variety of cultures across the world. We need to confront this reality and learn from those operating in different cultural settings. One way of doing this is to discover the roots of our present practice and to compare and contrast them with those of music educators working within dif..