Roger Mantie

This book explores historical and philosophical connections between music, leisure, and education. Specifically, it considers how music learning, teaching, and participation can be reconceptualized in terms of leisure. Taking as its starting point the art of living and the ethical question of how one should live, the book engages a wide range of scholarship to problematize the place of non-professional music-making in historical and contemporary (Western) conceptions of the good life and the common good. Part I provides a general background on music education, school music, the work ethic, leisure studies, recreation, play, and conduct. Part II focuses on two significant currents of thought and activity during the Progressive Era in the United States, the settlement movement and the recreation movement. The examination demonstrates how societal concerns over conduct (the threat of leisure) and differing views on the purpose of music learning and teaching led to a fracturing between those espousing generalist and specialist positions. The four chapters of Part III take readers through considerations of happiness (eudaimonia) and the good life, issues of work-life balance and the play spirit, leisure satisfaction in relation to consumerism, individualism, and the common good, and finally, parenting logics in relation to extracurriculars, music learning, and serious leisure.

Historical and Philosophical Perspectives

Music, Leisure, Education

Alex Ruthmann

"Few aspects of daily existence are untouched by technology. Learning and teaching music are no exceptions and arguably have been impacted as much or more than other areas of life. Digital technologies have come to affect music learning and teaching in profound ways, influencing how we create, listen, share, consume, and interact with music--and conceptualize musical practices and the musical experience. For a discipline as entrenched in tradition as music education, this has brought forth myriad views on what does and should constitute music learning and teaching. To tease out and elucidate some of the salient problems, interests, and issues, The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education critically situates technology in relation to music education from a variety of perspectives--historical, philosophical, socio-cultural, pedagogical, musical, economic, policy--organized around four broad themes: Emergence and Evolution; Locations and Contexts: Social and Cultural Issues; Experiencing, Expressing, Learning and Teaching; and Competence, Credentialing, and Professional Development. Chapters from a highly diverse group of junior and senior scholars provide analyses of technology and music education through intersections of gender, theoretical perspective, geographical distribution, and relationship to the field. The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education's dedication to diversity and forward-facing discussion promotes contrasting perspectives and conversational voices rather than reinforce traditional narratives and prevailing discourses."-- $c Book jacket.

The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education

Brent C. Talbot

The undergraduate years are a special time of life for many students. They are a time for study, yes, but also a time for making independent decisions over what to do beyond formal education. This book is based on a nine-year study of collegiate a cappella - a socio-musical practice that has exploded on college campuses since the 1990s. A defining feature of collegiate a cappella is that it is a student-run leisure activity undertaken by undergraduate students at institutions both large and small, prestigious and lower-status. With rare exceptions, participants are not music majors yet many participants interviewed had previous musical experience both in and out of school settings. Motivations for staying musically involved varied considerably - from those who felt they could not imagine life without a musical outlet to those who joined on a whim. Collegiate a cappella is about much more than singing cover songs. It sustains multiple forms of inequality through its audition practices and its performative enactment of gender and heteronormativity. This book sheds light on how undergraduates conceptualize vocation and avocation within the context of formal education, holding implications for educators at all levels.

Collegiate A Cappella and the Pursuit of Happiness

Education, Music, and the Lives of Undergraduates

Gareth Dylan Smith

Music has been a vital part of leisure activity across time and cultures. Contemporary commodification, commercialization, and consumerism, however, have created a chasm between conceptualizations of music making and numerous realities in our world. From a broad range of perspectives and approaches, this handbook explores avocational involvement with music as an integral part of the human condition. The chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Music Making and Leisure present myriad ways for reconsidering and refocusing attention back on the rich, exciting, and emotionally charged ways in which people of all ages make time for making music. The contexts discussed are broadly Western, including an eclectic variety of voices from scholars across fields and disciplines, framing complex and multifaceted phenomena that may be helpfully, enlighteningly, and perhaps provocatively framed as music making and leisure. This volume may be viewed as an attempt to reclaim music making and leisure as a serious concern for, amongst others, policy makers, scholars, and educators who perhaps risk eliding some or even most of the ways in which music - a vital part of human existence - is integrated into the everyday lives of people. As such, this handbook looks beyond the obvious, asking readers to consider anew, "What might we see when we think of music making as leisure?"

Roger Mantie

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