Musical Life Practice and Music Learning at School

Abstract

(from the chapter) Originally appeared as "Musikalische Lebenspraxis und schulisches Musiklernen" in Forum Kritische Psychologie, 1993, 32, 67-85. Obviously, pupils do not have their first and only contact with music in school. Before entering school, everyone has already had their own particular experience with music and developed her/his own access to it; and, of course, this practical experience with music outside school does not end when music becomes the object of lessons, i.e. something required to be learnt. Consequently, from the standpoint of the learning subject, her/his (spatio-temporally more comprehensive) musical experiences virtually constitute the background and frame of reference for the way one experiences music lessons in school, their significance for one's life, and the extent to which one is able or willing to become engaged in them. To elucidate this more precisely, I will begin by accentuating, more descriptively or "phenographically", the essential dimensions of music in everyday life and, on this basis, discuss in detail what this means for learning music in school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)