"Kim Had the Same Idea as Haydn": International Perspectives

on Classical Music and Music Education

Alexandra Kertz-Welzel

Philosophy of Music Education Review, Volume 28, Number 2, Fall

2020, pp. 239-256 (Article)

Published by Indiana University Press

For additional information about this article

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/772748

[ Access provided at 2 Feb 2023 07:39 GMT from University of Toronto Library ]
“Kim had the same idea
as Haydn”: International
Perspectives on Classical
Music and Music Education
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Germany
kertzwezel@lrz.uni-muenchen.de

Abstract
Classical music has often been a chosen enemy in discourses about music in
general and music education in particular. It has been blamed for being an elit-
ist culture and perpetuating inequality in societies. This and many more rather
one-sided arguments dominate the discourse about classical music. But are they
really true? Should classical music therefore be eliminated from the music edu-
cation curriculum? This paper analyzes selected aspects of the ongoing criticism
of classical music in music education from a philosophical and sociological
perspective. It identifies, questions, and addresses significant arguments. The
main thesis of this paper is that it might be time to deconstruct the discourses
surrounding classical music, as particularly dominated by Anglo-American
education, toward understanding classical music in music education from a
global point of view, recognizing it as one musical culture among many others.

Keywords: classical music, Haydn, diversity, international music education,

teaching methods

Philosophy of Music Education Review 28, no. 2 (Fall 2020), pp. 239–256
Copyright © 2019, The Trustees of Indiana University  •  doi: 10.2979/philmusieducrevi.28.2.08
240 philosophy of music education review 28:2

Introduction
Classical music has often been a chosen enemy in discourses about music in
general and music education in particular. It has been blamed for being a high
culture and perpetuating elitism. It seems to represent the music of white men
from Western countries, particularly Europe, marginalizing the musical heritage
of the world’s cultures or devaluing the creative accomplishments of female com-
posers. It is supposedly a musical culture for experts, based on notation and wor-
shipping music as an artwork, disconnected from societies and its people.1 When
classical music is part of the curriculum, it seems to bring with it all these issues.
But is this critique of classical music appropriate? Can we blame classical music
for so many things? Would the world be a better place without it?
This paper analyzes selected aspects of the ongoing criticism of classical
music in music education, from a philosophical and sociological perspective. It
identifies, questions, and addresses significant arguments in defense of classical
music in music education. While there is a lot to query regarding classical music,
the discussion needs to be balanced and philosophically informed, going beyond
superficial arguments. Furthermore, in view of globalization, it is important to
include international perspectives. What has so far been recognized as the global
discourse about the problems of classical music in music education is to a large
extent only an Anglo-American discourse. Perspectives from other countries, for
instance Germany, can be enriching and present much needed alternative points
of view. This can support the assumption that young people’s interest in classical
music very much depends on the teaching methods, as indicated in the title of
this paper. “Kim had the same idea as Haydn” refers to a composition project in
a German elementary school classroom featuring texts about the creation. Kim
and her friends had similar musical ideas about the text as Haydn had in his ora-
torio The Creation. 2 This incident indicates that through creative processes, chil-
dren are able to understand and appreciate various kinds of music. Thus, it might
be time to deconstruct the discourses surrounding classical music, as particularly
dominated by Anglo-American music education scholars, toward understanding
classical music in music education from a global point of view, recognizing it as
just one musical culture among many others.

Defining Classical Music

While many people seem to know what classical music is, it is not easy to
define. Is it the music of Mozart and Beethoven? Is it a global concert repertoire?
Is it music which has been recognized as exemplary? These questions certainly
touch important aspects of classical music. It can be understood as the music of
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 241

a certain era, featuring Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Western European Art
Music might be a synonym for it. Classical music is also a global concert reper-
toire which was originally German or Austrian and later became international.3
Many musicological definitions point out classical music’s uniqueness. Julian
Johnson describes it as a special kind of music that “functions as art, as opposed to
entertainment or some other ancillary or background function.”4 This indicates
a differentiation between music as pure art, being removed from the constraints
of everyday life, and music with a clear purpose and function, no matter whether
it is for entertainment or mood management. While this is a well-known argu-
ment, it could be used to indicate that classical music is superior to other kinds
of music, for instance popular music.5 Understanding classical music as special,
possibly existing for its own sake, provoked a lot of critique, not only in musicol-
ogy or ethnomusicology, but also in music education.6 However, the potential
uniqueness of classical music does not necessarily lead to the marginalization
of other musics. Every music is special in its very own way. For classical music
and its respective characteristics, concentrated listening has been identified as
an appropriate way to approach it, helping the listener to get away from everyday
life and its noise.7 By having a focus on the specific compositional structure and
emotional content, classical music seems to provide special “sources of pleasure
and puzzlement, of self-discovery and self-bafflement.”8 According to Lawrence
Kramer, no other music is able to accomplish this in the same way, so that classi-
cal music is for him indeed unique.
While there are many more ways to describe what classical music is, there
also is a lot of critique. Anna Bull summarizes the most common critique of
classical music in this way. First, classical music is often understood as a text and
not a cultural practice in terms of something which people do.9 While ethnomu-
sicologists such as John Blacking or Christopher Small would certainly agree,10
one might also argue that historically informed performance practice tries to go
beyond the score and to revive the original sound,11 often through improvisato-
rially approaching classical music.12 Furthermore, Bull criticizes a set of “shared
conventions” regarding classical music:

… a practice that reproduces from staff notation a canon of music composed

between around 1750 and 1950, using acoustic instruments and tending to
eschew post-1900 technologies. It draws on the ‘work-concept,’ where the
performer attempts to faithfully reproduce the intentions of the composer …
This reproduces a hierarchy between composer, performer and audience …
where the composer’s wishes take priority. It requires distinctive modes of
adult-led pedagogy where pupils usually take one-to-one lessons to learn
‘musicianship’…13
242 philosophy of music education review 28:2

Although Bull excludes Baroque music and the era before from classical music,
she raises important issues. Classical music certainly concerns a specific canon of
works, even though sometimes forgotten composers are rediscovered and added
to the canon, for instance female composers such as Fanny Hensel (1804–1847).
It is also true, due to the fact that classical music is mostly notation-based, that
the wishes of composers are paramount–and the more precise notation of the
composers’ intentions since 1750 might be one reason for Bull to use this year as
the beginning of her respective notion of classical music. Pedagogically, classi-
cal music is indeed mostly connected to the master-student model, in terms of a
musical expert transmitting a cultural practice. Later, Bull also mentions classical
music supporting cultural inequality particularly regarding access. In addition,
Bull emphasizes that institutions such as schools of music or concert halls per-
petuate the tradition of classical music and thus inequality and restricted access.14
There are certainly many aspects to criticize regarding classical music, most
commonly concerning the discrimination against women (for example, female
composers or conductors), the demanding musical structure, its connection to
institutions of high culture, or issues of power for instance regarding the con-
ductor. Classical music might even seem to be a special or superior kind of
music, although there is “classical music” in many musical traditions as an often
more elaborated kind of music for experts such as the Chinese opera, sometimes
including similar problems as Western European art music has in music educa-
tion.15 The difference between folk or dance and art music is likewise most com-
mon in many musical traditions, representing the variety of musical expressions,
although it should not lead to devaluing one kind of music.
Perhaps, classical music in terms of Western European art music is today
overloaded with too many different meanings, connotations, and a heavy intel-
lectual discourse. One could forget that it is just one kind of music. At the time
of its creation, it might have represented melodies for everyone such as some of
Mozart’s opera arias, or entertaining music for the powerful who paid for it, such
as Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, or music for wealthy aficionados, such as some
of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. The power of the discourse surrounding classical
music started in the last decades of the eighteenth century, at the advent of early
romanticism when, after the end of trusting religion and reason, there was a
need for a new way of understanding humanity and experiencing the mysteries
of the world. Early romanticism proclaimed the uniqueness of music, particu-
larly instrumental music, developing the concept of art as religion, based on the
notion of art for its own sake.16 This includes the seeming “ideology” of absolute
music, as proposed by German musicologist Carl Dahlhaus, referring to instru-
mental music for its own sake, thereby exemplifying the high mission music has
for humanity, necessarily leading beyond the constraints of everyday life and its
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 243

demands.17 Beethoven had been the first composer to use the power of this new
discourse in his favor, connecting himself with the notion of creative and God-
given genius which later inspired the so-called Beethoven cult.18 Art religion and
the apotheosis of instrumental music certainly led to an overemphasis on the
uniqueness or even superiority of classical music. Romanticism contributed sig-
nificantly to today’s contested discourse about classical music, proclaiming, for
instance, it to be high culture, also leading to its later misuse for cultural imperi-
alism regarding “civilizing” people and bringing culture to seemingly musically
impoverished nations.19 This history of power and hegemony to which classical
music is connected is certainly a heavy burden. But instead of being the reason
for excluding it from the school curriculum, this could be a starting point for
critically discussing the challenges and opportunities classical music presents–
thereby opening up much-needed chances for addressing power and hegemony
with regard to music.

Classical Music: A Contested Topic in Music

Education
To understand the negative discourse about classical music in music educa-
tion today, it is necessary to know what came before. Chris Philpott states that
classical music has long been assumed to be “the best of music, that it emanates
from the very best of societies and that it appears both autonomous and univer-
sal.”20 Classical music seemed to be the best suited music for students because it
supposedly exemplifies a certain image of humanity. It seems to represent values
and norms that mirror the good and the beautiful, offering an aesthetic way to
implement these ideals in the minds and hearts of students. Bennett Reimer’s A
Philosophy of Music Education,” the first edition published in 1970, promoting
classical music as the foundation for aesthetic education, is an example for this
approach.21 In Germany, Michael Alt’s Didaktik der Musik, published in 1968,
argues along similar lines, while drawing on German philosopher Hans-Georg
Gadamer’s hermeneutics to illustrate the various levels of musical experience
and aesthetic understanding.22 In both conceptions, concentrated listening plays
an important role, facilitating musical experiences and an education of feelings–
thus determining the most important activity in music education featuring clas-
sical music. The fact that in different parts of the world at the same time, two
scholars argued similarly for the value of classical music underlines the signifi-
cance of this line of thought at this time. But certainly, there also have been other,
more critical voices such as Danish scholar Frede Nielsen, who emphasized the
need for critically reconsidering the content choices in music education and the
categories giving rise to them–without arguing for privileging classical music.23
244 philosophy of music education review 28:2

However, the variety of music available, facilitated through technology and the
development of new educational concepts emphasizing music making instead
of just listening (for example, praxial music education) challenged the position
of classical music as lesson content. Eventually, this resulted in a discourse ques-
tioning if classical music should be any part of the music education curriculum.
Generally, there are several well-known arguments dominating the discussion
against classical music in music education which are rarely questioned. The first
argument against classical music in music education is that young people do not
like it. Lucy Green notes, when investigating young people’s musical identities in
relation to classical music, that teenagers do not even think about classical music
when asked what kind of music they listen to.24 When explicitly asked, they refer
to classical music as “boring,” “old,” or “depressing,” sometimes even describing
it in more detail as repetitive or lacking rhythm.25 While there might be various
reasons for this reaction, it might not always be an informed decision. Young peo-
ple might not be familiar with classical music and therefore be guided by stereo-
types and prejudices. If music education aims at overcoming stereotypes toward
enabling students to be critical and make informed musical choices, they might
learn why some people like classical music and respect it as part of the general
music culture and others do not.26 Therefore, educational programs of orchestras
and theaters aim at making classical music more accessible to young people. In
Green’s research as well as in many others, it is obvious that opportunities for
getting to know classical music better help to change young people’s opinions
about it, even if they might not become big fans.27 When they start to understand
why other people like it, as much as they themselves like certain kinds of music
and their classmates maybe others, an important point is reached.28 Certainly,
there is no doubt about the fact that young people are usually not very much
drawn to classical music, unless they learn an instrument featuring music of this
repertoire. But even then, the relationship is not unproblematic.29
Furthermore, classical music is often seen as an elite music. Estelle Jorgensen
summarizes that classical music in music education has a “negative connotation
as a bastion of elitism and privilege.”30 This certainly sums up a huge part of the
discourse about classical music particularly in Anglo-American music education.
This notion is connected to Pierre Bourdieu’s critique of taste and high culture
as social distinction.31 But ethnomusicologists also frequently point out that clas-
sical music is only for an elite group. Regarding classical music, John Blacking
emphasizes that if some people are recognized as professionals and gifted musi-
cians, this would lead to the logical consequence that others are not:

Being a passive audience is the price that some must pay for membership in
a superior society whose superiority is sustained by the exceptional ability of
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 245

a chosen few. The technical level of what is defined as musicality is there-

fore raised, and some people must be branded as unmusical.32

While this statement might seem compelling, given Blacking’s close observations
of the Venda people regarding everyone’s musicality, it cannot be completely
convincing because there is no logical consistency that it has to be that way.
Many cultures around the world have a kind of “classical” tradition for profes-
sionals and various other kinds of music, more suitable for everyone to join in
regarding participatory music making. Classical music traditions such as Chinese
opera or Gamelan music reserved for professional ensembles at the court do not
necessarily devalue everyone’s ability to make music, even though they demand
the professional skills of experts to be performed. Small likewise identifies classi-
cal music as marginalizing human beings’ general musicality and refers to clas-
sical music’s complex structure.33 For Small, classical music resembles an elitist
order of society, also exemplified in the concert hall as a place where the social
and musical hierarchy is illustrated in the architecture, featuring gifted musical
leaders on a stage, while others, who are not so gifted, remain passively listening
in the audience.34 According to Small, only musicking as a way of non-hierarchi-
cal, inclusive, and participatory music making could overcome this problem and
thus likewise solve issues of inequality in societies. Both for Small and Blacking,
classical music is not just one kind of music among many others, but rather rep-
resents an elitist society which musically, culturally, and socially marginalizes
many in favor of a few. In their line of thought, the logical consequence would
be to change the way of music making or the kind of music featured at concerts
so that society would be transformed.
Connecting classical music with a certain world order, seeing it as one reason
for perpetuating inequality and marginalization, is best exemplified in the notion
of classical music as social distinction. It represents the cultural and musical taste
or identity of higher social classes. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital explains
how musical taste and social class are linked and how learning to appreciate high
culture such as classical music happens.35 For Bordieu, schools, in particular, are
places where the social distinction through developing the specific habitus of
appreciating high culture is perpetuated. Transforming schools could therefore
be a first step to change this, particularly by eliminating classical music and other
high culture from the curriculum–or giving everyone access to it, if it is acknowl-
edged as valuable. From a British perspective, Bull emphasizes the connection
of classical music and Victorian values such as working hard or fitting in a group
like an orchestra. This also includes supporting a Bourgeois notion of society,
related to social and gender inequality. Bull’s critique of classical music in music
education as fostering desirable social skills, for instance by being an obedient
246 philosophy of music education review 28:2

part of a community such as an orchestra, is especially related to El Sistema and

the societal role it plays in Venezuela.36
But the interesting question would be: Does classical music really repre-
sent high culture? Norwegian scholar Petter Dyndahl argues, by adjusting Tony
Bennett’s concept of “cultural omnivourness” to music,37 that formerly high cul-
ture such as classical music is today no longer connected with hierarchies and
social privileges.38 Rather, being open to various musical genres is the new ideal
in today’s diverse musical world. This musical omnivourness is a new attitude and
habitus, supported by “musical gentrification” as people of higher social status
adopt the music of lower classes, indicating that it might today not be possible to
identify a single musical genre as related to high culture.39 Due to this complex
situation, Dyndahl argues for critically reconsidering music curricula, research,
and practices. The notion of musical omnivourness could be a good point of
reference for deconstructing the notion of classical music as high culture, partic-
ularly in view of international music education.
Another argument against classical music is the claim that it represents a
Eurocentric music tradition. It is certainly true that classical music is a musi-
cal genre which originated in Europe. But its roots go back to the Middle East
and Africa and are therefore also multiculturally shaped.40 Furthermore, classical
music has become an international musical repertoire, encompassing many cen-
turies and countries, linked by a certain musical style, musical texture, audience,
and performance rituals.41 It includes more than just European composers, for
instance the Brazilian composer Hietor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) or American
composers, such as Aaron Copland (1900–1990). Classical music has rather
become a musical tradition to which composers can even contribute today, for
instance in avantgarde music. Furthermore, the influences of non-European
music such as Gamelan on composers like Claude Debussy (1862–1918) is
well known, as many other musical influences have renewed classical music.
But regarding encounters of classical music and musics of the world, there cer-
tainly is the problem of how cultural exchange happens and if it implies musical
imperialism.42
One of the most popular arguments against classical music in music education
is that it is related to contested aesthetic concepts such as autonomy aesthetics
in terms of music for its own sake. This likewise concerns educational concepts
that are linked with it, for instance aesthetic education. For many authors, these
concepts exemplify music education’s disconnection with society and the per-
petuation of a Bourgeois ideology.43 Music education promoting classical music
is thought to be related to these concepts. It is therefore suspected to be only
interested in fostering students’ abilities to judge music as a music critique or to
escape into a world of beautiful sounds, while forgetting urgent social problems.44
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 247

The possible focus on music listening seems to prove this. Thus, music educa-
tion fostering listening and classical music seem to fail their true mission to get
students interested in transforming societies and its people.45 To see music educa-
tion’s main mission in social change might be one reason why classical music is
not seen as an appropriate content for music education anymore. Furthermore,
classical music sometimes even seems to embody social and cultural inequality
in society. Then, the problems of society could possibly be overcome by elimi-
nating classical music from the music education curriculum. Since the debate
does not only concern music or a specific approach to teaching music, but the
fate of society and its people in general, it is often rather emotional, particularly
in praxial music education. Tom Regelski for instance states passionately that
“music education that intends to convert students to the quasi-sacred premises of
musical autonomy advanced by aesthetic theories is wrongheaded and dysfunc-
tional.”46 It represents for him an old-fashioned social order, perpetuates inequal-
ity, and seems to lead students away from the urgent problems of society and their
mission to transform it. Regelski’s choice of words regarding “wrongheaded” and
“dysfunctional” indicates strong emotions moving beyond a purely intellectual
argument. Certainly, the shadow of the Reimer-Elliott debate is present in all
these discourses. It seems that the question whether an education of feelings
through aesthetic experience and listening or musical praxis, flow, and social
responsibility should guide music education in schools is still alive and para-
mount. It is quite surprising that this debate is still going on, even though there
are few if any supporters of aesthetic education and music for its own sake in
Anglo-American music education anymore. However, this debate is about society
and music education’s social responsibility in general–and thereby about the fun-
damental question of what music education is for. Thus, it creates the opposition
between music (education) for its own sake and for social transformation. David
Elliott, Marissa Silverman, and Wayne Bowman state about the notion of art for
its own sake the following:

According to this misguided idea (which for many has unfortunately

become something more akin to doctrine), the true or legitimate values of
art are “intrinsic” ... This notion is not just misleading; it is implausible and
irresponsible, leading us to trivialize or marginalize some of art’s most pow-
erful contributions to our shared humanity.47

This statement shows the interest in social activism as being opposed to art for its
own sake. The interesting question would be why music education should pro-
mote or support social change at all and why classical music in music education
seems necessarily opposed to that. However, Anglo-American scholars especially
248 philosophy of music education review 28:2

emphasize music education’s social responsibility. In contrast, Northern European

scholars have no problem with music for its own sake and the value of aesthetic
experience in music education.48
But in spite of all the arguments and defenses for or against classical music
in music education, no one would deny that there are many challenges–maybe
more than other kinds of musics have. Classical music certainly features a ques-
tionable notion of creativity as favoring the myth of the heaven-sent male genius,
as criticized by Pamela Burnard.49 It might possibly promote colonial approaches
in instrumental lessons, based on certain methods or teaching materials.50
Furthermore, female composers have been marginalized for centuries in classi-
cal music, likewise in the music education curriculum51
It might be worthwhile considering that most of the arguments discussed
above are part of the Anglo-American music education world and its respective
discourses. Even though it might seem that they represent music education inter-
nationally, they do not. Therefore, it is important to take a look at how classical
music is seen in countries outside the Anglo-American sphere.

International Discourse
In view of recurring calls for a culturally sensitive internationalization of
music education52 or decolonization,53 it might be time to start including the
perspectives on classical music from non-Anglo-American parts of the world to
get a broader picture, although they might not be as easily accessible as English
publications. In a globally connected world, we have to acknowledge different
perspectives on topics such as classical music, even though they might contradict
what has been assumed to be the international discourse.
There are certainly similar rationales for classical music in various countries.
The concepts by Reimer and Alt mentioned above, developed in the United
States and Germany around the same time, underline this fact.54 However, using
German music education and its discourse about classical music as a case in
point, it might be possible to assume, based on textbooks, articles, and teaching
materials, that classical music is still a common part of the music curriculum
in Germany.55 One reason why classical music is considered to be important,
for instance, in elementary schools is the fact that it is part of the German cul-
tural heritage, as one musical culture among many others–and children should
have a chance to know what it is.56 Surprisingly, the question of whether classical
music is appropriate for children is not important in German music education.
For many teachers, classical music’s meaning for children depends rather on the
choice of teaching methods than on musical structure. German music educator
Stefanie Adler argues that if classical music is a common part of music lessons
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 249

in first grade, it will become part of students’ musical lifeworld.57 She describes
successful projects such as a journey across the history of music: second graders
sing, play, and dance to parts of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, explore Leopold
Mozart’s Symphony for Children through play-alongs, or learn what it means to
perform in a symphony orchestra, for instance, regarding seating arrangements
or following the conductor.58 Children might also approach Gregorian Chant
through respective clothing and walking through a medieval monastery, while
singing. Children could likewise get to know various aspects of Mozart’s life
through storytelling, reading, or visiting important places, including learning
how to write notation with quill and ink as Mozart did. These and many more
ideas facilitate teaching classical music in elementary schools. Regarding middle
and high school, common approaches and methods concerning classical music
in German music education are for instance comparing cover versions with the
original (for example, Eric Carmen’s All by Myself and the second movement
of Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto), music and drawing (for example,
children draw pictures to Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals), theatrical play
(for example, young people create theatrical scenes fitting the music they listen
to), or using software such as the open source software Audacity to make their
own cover versions of classical music in a specific style such as Hip Hop. There
are likewise more traditional approaches featuring listening, reading music, or
dancing. It is also possible, with older students, to start a sociocultural analysis
of respective works; for instance, Beethoven’s third symphony Eroica, to under-
stand its social and political dimensions. Generally, in German music education,
classical music is not seen as superior music. It is just one kind of music, among
many others, but one which is significant for German culture and history.
It would certainly be interesting to know more about the practice of classical
music in classrooms around the world. In many countries worldwide, such as Italy,
classical music still plays an important role.59 Classroom observations in countries
such as Estonia or Scotland have also shown its significance.60 While it is often
not easy to find proof for this practice aside from occasional publications, record-
ings, and the analysis of music lesson plans, there is still an intense practice of
classical music in music education around the world.61 This reality in classrooms
is different from what the critical Anglo-American music education discourse on
classical music suggests. Certainly, research is necessary to learn more about clas-
sical music in international, and not only in Anglo-American music education.62

Conclusion
The arguments and viewpoints above indicate that, in spite of all its problems,
classical music is still alive and popular. The Last Night of the Proms demonstrates
250 philosophy of music education review 28:2

this every year; in 2019 classical music’s political and social power was revital-
ized by soprano singer Jamie Barton raising the rainbow flag while singing Rule
Britannia, to support gay rights.63 Certainly, the Last Night of the Proms is not only
about classical music, but about an English tradition, patriotism, and emotions,
exemplifying everybody’s right to have access to classical music. It might be an
exceptional situation, but it demonstrates some aspects which are often forgotten:
that classical music can be music for everyone, uniting people by its emotional
power, facilitated by tunes that everybody loves and can sing along, dance to,
and enjoy in company. However, despite the Last Night of the Proms, there are
many more initiatives trying to make classical music accessible for everyone. This
includes guides explaining alternative ways to explore classical music,64 articles
pointing out the significance of musical amateurism,65 or why people like classical
music once more.66 Educational programs of orchestras or theaters demonstrate
this by offering workshops explaining their current concert or opera repertoire
to young people. In 2004, the documentary movie Rhythm is It, featuring the
Berlin Philharmonic, their conductor Sir Simon Rattle, and British choreogra-
pher Royston Maldoom, rehearsing a special choreography to Stravinsky’s Rite of
Spring with students from Berlin inner city schools, demonstrated the power of
classical music for young people at risk.67 While projects such as Rhythm is It can
certainly not be compared with music education in schools, they exemplify that
young people are able to appreciate and enjoy classical music if it is offered in an
authentic way. The title of this paper, “Kim had the same idea as Haydn,” refer-
ring to a composition project about the creation story where Kim and her friends
had similar musical ideas as Haydn in his oratorio The Creation, might show how
much depends on the choice of methods employed regarding classical music.68
Classical music is in fact not an outdated genre in music education. Its
significance rather depends on the teaching approach or the kind of musical
experiences offered. This reveals the Anglo-American discourse about classical
music in music education as rather shortsighted and certainly not representing
international discourse. The global discourse on classical music in music edu-
cation is rich and encompasses many ideas, approaches, and methods. It also
supports the notion that classical music is just one musical tradition among many
others–although connected to a controversial discourse. Green’s differentiation
between inherent and delineated musical meaning can be helpful here: classi-
cal music’s meaning goes beyond the music itself, beyond the inherent mean-
ing.69 It represents much more: it is connected to social and political aspects,
maybe even ideological dimensions. Raising awareness of this fact is important
and can facilitate deconstructing a superficial discourse about classical music
toward acknowledging it as one kind of music among many others. Certainly, we
need to be critical, to realize the problems associated with classical music and to
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 251

address them in philosophy and sociology of music education, in music teacher

education, and in classrooms around the world. But we also need a critical dis-
cussion of classical music’s critique–and dare to find arguments supporting its
significance in music education. Chris Philpot might be right when stating that
we need to be more aware of the meanings of music featured in the curriculum
and to raise awareness of its implicit connotations, to make it more explicit with
the “logical consequence of viewing music as a language characterized by com-
plex webs of meanings.”70 This could help teachers and students to have a more
balanced understanding and a heightened sensitivity for discourses surrounding
the music they encounter.
At the same time, the critical discourse about classical music is related to
music education’s interest in social change. Eliminating classical music from
the music curriculum means for many scholars eliminating cultural and social
inequality. The current interest in music education and social change is some-
thing that needs to be taken into account when addressing the critique of clas-
sical music. It might not be the task of music education to change societies and
its people. Music and music education can certainly contribute to making the
world a better place. Many composers or musicians did that, for instance during
the time of the German peaceful revolution on October 9, 1989, when, prior to a
concert, German conductor Kurt Masur gave a speech at a huge demonstration
in Leipzig, asking people to stay calm and work on a peaceful revolution in the
Democratic Republic of Germany.71 But it is not music or music education’s task
to be solely focused on social change. There also is a need for music (education)
for its own sake, being focused on intense musical experiences. It can offer a
sanctuary away from the noise and the demands of the world, an open space for
imagination, exploration and dreaming for students and teachers. While work-
ing on a better world through music and music education, we should not forget
this task of music education. An open discourse about our dreams and hopes
in music education, its social responsibility and creative freedom might help to
revise music education’s meaning for society–and maybe also the meaning of
classical music, in general and in music education, helping it to become just one
musical culture among many others.

Notes
1
Lydia Goehr, The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1992).
2
Franziska Guenther, “Klassik unterrichten?!–Eine Selbstverortung,“ in Andreas
Lehmann-Wermser, Musikdidaktische Konzeptionen (Augsburg: Wissner, 2016), 137.
3
Celia Applegate and Pamela Potter, Music and German National Identity (Chicago,
IL: Chicago University Press, 2002).
252 philosophy of music education review 28:2

4
Julian Johnson, Who Needs Classical Music? Cultural Choice and Musical Value
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 6.
5
Roger Scruton, The Aesthetics of Music (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997).
6
See for instance: Irma H. Collins, “Classical (Music),” in Irma H. Collins, Dictionary
of Music Education. (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2013), 61.
7
Johnson, Who Needs Classical Music? 6.
8
Lawrence Kramer, Why Classical Music Still Matters (Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press), 33.
9
Anna Bull, Class, Control and Classical Music (New York: Oxford University Press,
2019), xiii.
10
John Blacking, How Musical is Man? (Seattle, WA: Seattle University Press, 1970);
Christopher Small, Music, Society, Education (Hanover and London: Wesleyan University
Press, 1977).
11
The paper by Koopal et al. in this collection further explores the originality and
creativity of every performance.
12
Historically informed performance practice does not only concern music of
the Baroque or earlier, but can concern any kind of music, as demonstrated by Roger
Norrington’s recordings of Beethoven’s symphonies. For more information see Roger
Norrington, “In Tune with the Time,” The Guardian, March 14t, 2009. https://www
.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/14/beethoven, accessed July 21, 2020.
13
Bull, Class, Control and Classical music, xvii.
14
Ibid.
15
Bo-Wah Leung, “A Proposed Model of Transmission of Cantonese Opera in
Hongkong Higher Education: From Oral Tradition to Conservatoire,” Arts and Humanities
in Higher Education 19, no. 2 (2018): 144–166.
16
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel, Die Transzendenz der Gefuehle. Musik und Gefuehl bei
Wackenroder/Tieck und die Musikaesthetik der Romantik (St. Ingbert: Roehrig Verlag,
2001).
17
Carl Dahlhaus, The Idea of Absolute Music, trans. Roger Lustig (Chicago: Chicago
University Press, 1989).
18
Timothy Jones, Beethoven, the Moonlight and Other Sonatas, op. 27 and op. 31
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
19
For more information, see Geoffrey Baker, El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s
Youth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
20
Chris Philpott, “The Justification of Music in the Curriculum,” in Chris Philpott
and Gary Spruce, eds., Debates in Music Teaching (London: Routledge, 2012), 54.
21
Bennett Reimer, A Philosophy of Music Education (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-
Hall, 1970).
22
Michael Alt, Didaktik der Musik. Orientierung am Kunstwerk (Duesseldorf, 1968).
23
Frede Nielsen, “Quality and Value in the Interpretation of Music from a
Phenomenological Standpoint–a Draft,” Zeitschrift fuer Kritische Musikpaedagogik 2002,
no. 1, http://www.zfkm.org/02-nielsen.pdf.
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 253

24
Lucy Green, “Teenagers, Musical Identity and Classical Music: The Classroom as a
Catalyst,” in Lucy Green, ed., Music Education as Critical Theory and Practice (London:
Routledge, 2014), 277–290.
25
Ibid.
26
Michael Bischoff, Tim Sandkaemper, and Christoph Louven, “Jugendliche und
‘Klassische Musik.‘ Vorurteile und Klischees,“ in Anne Niessen and Jens Knigge, eds.,
Theoretische Rahmung und Theoriebildung in der musikpaedagogischen Forschung
(Muenster: Waxmann, 2015), 221–234.
27
Ibid.
28
Regarding young children between ages six and ten, Hargreaves’s (1982) concept of
openeardness emphasizes that at a certain stage in their development, children are open
for various kinds of music, including classical music. See David J. Hargreaves, “Preference
and Prejudice in Music: A Psychological Approach,” Popular Music and Society 8, no. 3/4
(1982): 13–18.
29
For more information, see Bull, Class, Control and Classical music, 155–173.
30
Estelle R. Jorgensen, “Western Classical Music and General Education,” Philosophy
of Music Education Review 11, no. 2 (2002): 130.
31
Pierre Bourdieu, “The Forms of Cultural Capital,” in Imre Szeman and Timothy
Kaposy, eds., Cultural Theory: An Anthology (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011),
81–93.
32
Blacking, How Musical is Man?, 34
33
Small, Music, Society, Education, 13.
34
“Different aesthetics of music are possible that can stand as metaphors for quite
different world views, for different systems of relationships within society and nature from
our own” (Ibid., 3).
35
Bourdieu, “The Forms of Cultural Capital,” 81–93.
36
Anna Bull, “El Sistema as a Bourgeois Social Project: Class, Gender, and Victorian
Values,” Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 15, no. 1 (2016): 120–153,
http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Bull15_1.pdf, accessed July 21, 2020.
37
Tony Bennett, Mike Savage, Elisabeth Bortolaia Silva, Alan Warde, Modesto Gayo-
Cal, and David Wright, Culture, Class, Distinction (New York, NY: Routledge, 2009).
38
Petter Dyndahl, “Everything Except Dance Band Music: Cultural Omnivourness,
Norms, and the Formation of Taboos,” in Sven Hroar Klempe, ed., Cultural Psychology of
Musical Experience (Charlotte, NC: IAP, 2016), 143–163.
39
Ibid., 154.
40
Jorgensen, “Western Classical Music and Music Education.”
41
Applegate and Potter, Music and German National Identity.
42
For more information about the problems of cultural exchange, music and globaliza-
tion, see: Bob W. White, ed., Music and Globalization. Critical Encounters (Bloomington,
IN: Indiana University Press, 2012).
43
For more information, see: David Elliott and Marissa Silvermann, Music Matters:
A Philosophy of Music Education (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014); Thomas
254 philosophy of music education review 28:2

Regelski, A Brief Introduction to a Philosophy of Music and Music Education as Social

Praxis (New York: Routledge, 2015).
44
Paul Woodford, “The Child as Music Critic,” in Gary E. McPherson, ed., The Child
as Musician. A Handbook of Musical Development, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2016), 284–287.
45
See for instance: Regelski, Introduction, xii.
46
Ibid.
47
David Elliott, Marissa Silverman, and Wayne Bowman, Artistic Citizenship (New
York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016), 3.
48
Øivind Varkøy, “On the Hegemony of Technical Rationality and the Importance of
Distinctions,” Philosophy of Music Education Review 25, no .1 (2017): 10–22.
49
Pamela Burnard, Musical Creativities in Practice (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2012).
50
Roe-Min Kok, “Music for a Postcolonial Child: Theorizing Malaysian Memories,”
in Lucy Green, ed., Learning, Teaching and Musical Identity (Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press, 2011), 73–90.
51
Roberta Lamb’s call for including more music of female composers in music edu-
cation classrooms, particularly regarding classical music, remains as vital as it had been
in 1991. For more information see Roberta Lamb, “Women Composers in School Music
Curricula Perspective, Grades 5–8: A Feminist Perspective,” in Judith Lang Zamont,
ed., The Musical Women. An International Perspective, vol. III (1986–1990) (New York:
Greenwood Press, 1991), 682–713.
52
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel, Globalizing Music Education. A Framework (Bloomington,
IN: Indiana University Press, 2018).
53
For the most recent ideas about decolonizing music education see Action, Criticism
and Theory 3, no. 18 (2019). http://act.maydaygroup.org/current-issue/, accessed July 21,
2020.
54
Reimer, A Philosophy of Music Education ; Alt, Didaktik der Musik..
55
See for instance, Renate Kern and Walter Kern, Klassik aktiv. Klassische Musik gan-
zheitlich erleben (Esslingen: Helbling, 2007).
56
Stefanie Adler, “Klassische Musik in der Grundschule: ein didaktisches Problem?ˮ
in Andreas Lehmann-Wermser, Musikdidaktische Konzeptionen (Augsburg: Wissner,
2016), 132–133.
57
Ibid., 133.
58
Ibid., 134.
59
Giuseppina La Face Bianconi, “La Trota Fra Canto e Suoni. Un Percorso Didattico,“
Il Saggiatore Musicale 12 (2005): 77–123.
60
For more information, see Christopher Wallbaum, Comparing International Music
Lessons on Video (Leipzig: Hochschule fuer Musik and Theater Felix Mendelssohn
Bartholdy, 2018).
61
For more information, see http://research.uni-leipzig.de/inkvid/COMPARING/index
.htm
Alexandra Kertz-Welzel 255

62
An international research project about classical music and music education is
currently conducted at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy), following an inter-
national conference in 2018. https://www.unibz.it/en/events/129326-international-confer-
ence-classical-music-and-music-education, accessed July 21, 2020.
63
https://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/news/2019/september/watch
-highlights-from-last-night-of-the-proms-2019-featuring-jamie-barton/, accessed July 21,
2020.
64
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/7-alternative-ways-experience-classical
-music/?utm_source=newsletter_281&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=music
-world-news.
65
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/29/opinion/sunday/piano-lessons-mind
-focus.html?utm_source=newsletter_267&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=
music-world-news, accessed July 21, 2020.
66
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/27/young-turn-to-classical-music
-to-escape-scala-radio-st ation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR0cq
FfnAKUiwdniFtBO60rZRuatgEgC0N12BYgdU_T77R7kjDVLaLcd8X0, accessed July 21,
2020.
67
For more information, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e-cwOn5w3A,
accessed July 21, 2020.
68
The musical task of Kim and her friends was to invent music illustrating the cre-
ation story so that someone who would not speak German could understand its meaning.
By talking about music’s effects and by improvising, Kim and her friends jointly created
fitting music, using some illustrative effects Haydn also chose in a similar way. For more
information see: Guenther, “Klassik unterrichten?!–Eine Selbstverortung,” 137–38.
69
Lucy Green, Music on Deaf Ears. Musical Meaning, Ideology, Education
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988).
70
Chris Philpott, “The Justification of Music in the Curriculum,” 54.
71
For more information, see https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/kurt-masur
-aufruf-friedliche-revolution-konzert-100.html, accessed July 21, 2020.