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MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Music Education as/for Artistic Citizenship


Author(s): David J. Elliott
Source: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 99, No. 1 (September 2012), pp. 21-27
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of MENC: The National Association for
Music Education
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Another Perspective

Music Education as/for Artistic Citizenship


by David J. Elliott

anchor and drive our decisions about


full potential in the twenty-first cen- FIGURE 1 what and how to teach and learn in the
If fulltury,
tury,thenmusicwe may
potential
need tothenrethink
education
our we may in the is need going twenty-first to rethink to meet cen- our its Anything can be seen and music classroom and beyond are open
assumptions about the central values of to multiple interpretations. Depending
interpreted in many ways.
school music. In other words, I am less on the perspectives that a teacher uses to
concerned at the moment with what envision music education, his or her view
and how we teach - by means of, say, of aims, values, teaching strategies, cur-
bands, choirs, iPad orchestras, Orff, jazz riculum, assessment, and so forth may be
ensembles, Suzuki, composing, listening, well-informed, reasonable, broad, deep,
improvising, world musics, Standards, or not. Which perspective is best? This is
and so forth - and more concerned with for each one of us to decide, revisit, and
revisiting why we do, or should do, any re-decide based on our critically reflec-
of these things. tive considerations of what we know,
Please do not misunderstand me. I what we think we know, and most impor-
fully support all effective, educative, and tant, what is most educative and ethical
ethical ways of teaching and learning for our students, which brings me back to
music, as well students' critically reflec- my main concern.
tive and democratic engagement with a Regardless of the ways we choose to
reasonable diversity of musical styles and interpret the what and how of music edu-
pieces, as I explain in Music Matters and cation, the logically prior question we
elsewhere.1 What I am suggesting here, or a swimmer's head in the water. If you must always keep asking ourselves is why
however, is that we may have unreal-play golf, you might look down and see are we doing the things we do? There is a
ized opportunities and responsibilities atolarge golf green (or a sand trap) with a wide range of options. Some teachers may
integrate traditional means and ends - ball
to on the surface. Many interpretations answer by saying that we teach music to
integrate musical processes, products,are possible. motivate students' love of creative music-
experiences, and outcomes - in the ser- Whatever your answer(s), the more making and listening, or deepen students'
vice of additional or alternative aims. illusive question this diagram fails to musical-affective experiences, or win state
Let me elaborate my point from
answer is why? Why do you interpret festivals, or raise students' math scores and
another angle. Anything in the world, this image in the ways you do? The short future salary prospects, or prepare stu-
including worthy endeavors like music answer is that perceptions are simultane- dents for lifelong musical learning. I will
education, can be seen and interpreted ously
in cognitive, emotional, social, cul- not debate these options here, but suggest
many ways. Look at the image shown tural,
in political, embodied, and so on. In a another answer, which teachers may or
Figure l.2 nutshell, what we see or believe is largely may not wish to consider when they envi-
Perhaps you see this image as a duck, a matter of what we have learned to see sion the aims and values of music and edu-
a rabbit, a dog, or something else. Perhaps or believe as a result of all our informal cation. The term I use to label my answer
you see it from a top-down perspective, and formal life experiences. and to indicate where I am heading is
as if you are flying overhead in a helicop- What does this mean for music educa- music education as/for artistic citizen-
ter. If so, the image might look like a lake tion? For one thing, it means that all the ship. Please note that when I use artistic ,
with small rivers at the side and a boat important beliefs and assumptions that I mean all forms of music-making and

Copyright © 2012 National Association


for Music Education
DOI: 10.1177/0027432112452999 David J. Elliott is a professor and the director of music education at New York University. He can be contacted at
http://mej.sagepub.com david.elliott@nyu.edu.

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listening and all types of formal and infor- When music education is ethically However, and notwithstanding the
mal musical interactions at all levels in guided - when we teach not only in profound values of learning, experiencing,
schools and communities. More specifi- music (i.e., to do music) and about music and producing musical beauty of all kinds,
cally, music education as/for artistic citi- but also (and crucially) through music - let me be provocative for a moment and
zenship includes three related themes: we empower people to pursue what ask the question that Miles Davis made
many philosophers throughout history famous on his album Kind of Blue : "So
1. Music-making for intrinsic musical
consider to be the highest human val- what?" Viewed in the context of today's
experiences is a key aim of music
ues: a virtuous life well lived, a life of profound social problems, how is music
education, but it is not enough. We
well-being, flourishing, fulfillment, and education making a significant difference?
should also prepare students to "put
constructive happiness for the benefit Many forms of music education seem
their music to work" for the bet-
of oneself and others. In other words, rather insular and narrow. Music and music
terment of other people's lives and
praxial music education includes but goes education are often set on a pedestal, out
social well-being.
beyond the preparation of students for of touch with real-world problems. Is this
2. Music educators should help students lifelong engagement in amateur music- a good thing? I think not. And I am not
conceive and practice "music-making making and listening of all kinds. Praxial alone. For example, in addition to arguing
as ethical action" for social justice. music education is guided by an informed against a simplistic split between means
3. We should aim to infuse school music and ethical disposition to act musically and ends, John Dewey was opposed to the
with an "ethic of care" - care for one- and educatively with continuous concern separation of art and life.3 A central tenet
self and for the health of our social for improving human well-being in as of Dewey's philosophy was to "recover
communities. many ways as possible - artistic, social, the continuity" between the arts and the
cultural, ethical, political, and so forth. processes, products, and needs of people's
Where do these themes originate? For Although these themes may seem everyday lives.4 Are there ways we can add
me and many other writers, the themes of impractical to some, the fact is that more social and ethical weight to some of the
artistic citizenship derive primarily from and more school and community music things we do? Yes, but doing so involves
the concept of "praxis," which originated educators are, in fact, succeeding in their several steps, which include unpacking
with the Greeks in general and Aristotle efforts to teach music in relation to the the words artistic and citizenship.
in particular. Many other philosophers themes that underpin the nature and val-
(e.g., Martin Heidegger, William James, ues of praxis, praxial music education, and
John Dewey, Joseph Dunne, Richard music education as/for artistic citizenship.
Artistic Citizenship?
Bernstein, and Paulo Freire) have refined At first glance, artistic citizenship may
and expanded the concept. Thus, com- seem like a contradiction in terms.5 Why?
mon translations of praxis as "to do" or
The Big Picture
First, artistic often conjures up roman-
"to make" are partly correct, but simplis- Consider the vast spectrum of local, tic and sanitized images of musicians as
tic. Fully understood, praxis combines national, and world problems: violence, unique, isolated, and mysterious individ-
several integrated themes: (1) active poverty, starvation, disease, environmen- uals. From this perspective, all musicians,
reflection and critically reflective action tal disasters, gender and racial discrimi- including music students, may seem more
dedicated to (2) human well-being and nation, and so forth. How do school and or less "odd" to laypeople. We are often
flourishing, (3) the ethical care of others, community music programs help stu- perceived as having magical gifts that
and (4) the positive empowerment and dents, families, and communities address allow us to perform, improvise, compose,
transformation of people and their every- and deal with these fundamental human and otherwise make sounds that move
day lives. problems? Can creative music-making people in deep and exceptional ways.
Thus, praxial music education and teaching make a contribution? This is true to a point, but most popular
conceives the musical actions we carry In general, we focus our energy on portrayals of musicians are naive.
out and teach - performing, improvising, empowering students to make and listen Second, people often use artistic
composing, arranging, listening, lead- to music for their personal satisfaction. We narrowly to mean extraordinary levels
ing, conducting, recording, moving, and teach musical skills and understandings of musical expertise, or classical master-
dancing (when applicable) - in two inte- using many different methods, musics, pieces, or complex musical structures.
grated ways: (1) as actions embedded and technologies, which we continuously From this viewpoint, any values outside
in and creatively responsive to both the refine and update. Music teacher educa- "the music itself" are merely social or
traditional and the ever-changing musi- tion programs prepare students to teach extramusical and, therefore, not to be
cal-cultural values of musical pieces and bands, choirs, orchestras, pop and rock taken seriously. However, the counter-
processes and (2) as actions that should music, new computer music technologies, argument made by most of today's lead-
be conceived, taught, guided, and applied and so on. When these efforts are carried ing musical scholars is that since all music,
ethically for the positive transformation of out in educative and ethical ways, they including classical music, is made by peo-
students' individual and community lives. are entirely worthy of support. ple, with people, and for people who

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live in specific historical-cultural times
and places, musical sounds are always
inherently multidimensional social, cul-
tural, political, gendered, and economic
constructions.6
This does not mean that we cannot
or should not listen to pieces or perfor-
mances for the beauty of their musical
structures and expressive details. It means
that in addition to learning to make, inter-
pret, and listen to formal and expressive
features, the concept of "artistic" can and
should apply more broadly to the music
that all people (students, amateurs, and
professionals) listen to, perform, impro-
vise, compose, arrange, conduct, and
record for a wide range of human pur-
poses across cultures, as the majority of
today's "new musicologists," theorists,
and music philosophers maintain.
The paradoxical nature of artistic
citizenship comes into sharper focus
when we examine the basic meanings
of citizenship , which contrast sharply
with conventional meanings of artistic.
As Richard Schechner explains, citizen-ical, and emotional dynamics and com- that a citizen could deliberately choose
ship emphasizes that a person is not anmitments that ebb and flow as a person's to engage in acts of "bad citizenship" to
isolated individual.7 A citizen is part of aand a nation's circumstances change.9improve the conditions of his or her social
larger community. The idea of "being a Also, citizenship is infused with images, group, including injustices of race and
citizen" originally developed around the symbols, metaphors, longings, memories, gender discrimination, poverty, abuse,
need to unite people with varying beliefs myths, heroes and heroines, anthems, bullying, violence, and so on.
to protect shared values and motivate marches, slogans, and stock characters, Fredrick Douglas, Henry David
beneficial community actions. So when for example, the warrior, the hardwork- Thoreau, and Albert Einstein supported
someone says, "I am an American citi- ing immigrant, the dangerous alien, andactions of bad citizenship to various
zen," it means that he or she has a degree the nomad. Thus, citizenship is an ambig- degrees, if and when needed. Thoreau
of commitment to a constituted group uous and fluid phenomenon, especially originated the concept and practice of
when citizens interact to create multi- civil disobedience, which he viewed as
of people, or what we call "a nation." Of
course, this does not mean that all citi- ple citizenships or "subcitizenships" - acting as an "oppositional" citizen for the
zens share exactly the same beliefs. Citi-local, regional, institutional, national, betterment of the larger citizenry.10 That
zens must agree on only two things: "thatinternational, and professional. is, and ideally, civil disobedience draws
the polity is worth preserving, and that What citizenships do you hold and attention to and moves the majority to
preserving it requires participating in its practice? In addition to your American or perceive how bad specific conditions
governance."8 In return, citizens receive Canadian citizenship (or whatever), you really are. By suffering the inevitable
the advantages and responsibilities ofare also a citizen of your local commu- consequences, "good-bad" citizens can
being part of something much larger thannity, school, and faculty, as well as the often spotlight, pressure, subvert, attack,
domain called music education. In each and overturn unjust laws, policies, and
themselves - a homeland - that many are
willing to die for. This is the first and most case, you have privileges and responsi- politicians, among other things. Martin
straightforward meaning of citizenship,bilities that you may or may not choose Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi led
but there is much more tov consider. to accept. millions in courageous, masterful, and
successful "performances" of resistance,
Bad Citizenship or bad citizenship (in the context of pre-
Citizenship Expanded
vailing norms), that changed their nations
In reality, citizenship is a multidimen-An expanded concept of citizenship is not and the world. By courage and example,
sional concept. It includes personal, only more realistic; it also opens a range Rosa Parks sparked a key event in the
social, cultural, historical, embodied, eth- of possibilities, including the possibility U.S. civil rights movement. Consider what

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should we follow? Can we be perfectly
law-abiding with regard to our nations,
communities, and profession and also be
bad citizens of, for, and through music and
music education? Yes. To start with a very
simple example, some people (e.g., some
benefactors of symphony orchestras)
might argue that composers, conductors,
and performers of radical new musics are
bad musical citizens because they inten-
tionally challenge the status quo of the
"great music" establishment. Composers
and performers of protest music are often
seen in the same light. And in what ways
is it possible or appropriate to be a bad
citizen of "the state" called music educa-
tion? I leave it to you to reflect critically
and/or act on possibilities.

Moving toward Answers


The mysteries of musical ability and the
intrinsic values of music do not prevent
or excuse us from teaching all forms of
music-making for the betterment of our
social communities. We can have the best
of both. In fact, many music makers -
students, teachers, amateurs, and profes-
sionals - already make music in Henry
Thoreau-type ways, meaning that they
apply their musical abilities, and the emo-
tional powers of music, to resist or sub-
vert the harmful conventions and politics
of their locations, or create various forms
and degrees of musical-civil disobedi-
ence and "musical-ethical spectacles."
There are many examples. Think of Pete
Seeger's protest songs and performances,
which were intended to alert, inform, and
move listeners - to move listeners emo-
tionally and to move them to act against
the oppressions of American social and
political policies of the time. The West-
East Divan Orchestra, founded by Daniel
Barenboim and Edward Said, is a youth
orchestra that unites young musicians in
politically and religiously opposed coun-
is happening now in Egypt, Libya, Syria, specific kind of citizenship that applies tries of the Middle East. To Barenboim,
and other nations - thousands of good- to musicians and music educators? Or do "music has an intimate life with politics.
bad citizens are fighting and dying for the our mysterious talents and the artistic val- It is unthinkable that a political project
betterment of their families, communities, ues of music exempt us from the respon- would be influential and resonant with-
and homelands. sibilities embedded in citizenship and the out the legitimacy and power of music
These thoughts lead to yet another social-political-ethical potentials of music and the arts."11

concept of citizenship, which I will intro- and music education? If not, what respon- Before offering more examples, let me
duce with several questions: Is there a sibilities do we have and what practices reemphasize some key points. I am not

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saying we should replace any viable and
ethical way of teaching music that is aimed
at lifelong musical participation and per-
sonal fulfillment. I am suggesting that we
should aim to make additional contribu-
tions to and changes in society. This means
expanding our vision of musical means
and ends and heightening our students'
understandings of why, what, and how to
implement the powers of music and music
education as/for artistic citizenship.
Again, I am not alone in making these
suggestions. John Dewey, Richard Shus-
terman, Wayne Bowman, Thomas Regel-
ski, Tia DeNora, and many other scholars
and musicians argue that music and the
other arts should not be placed on an
aesthetic pedestal, above the everyday
world, isolated for contemplation and
consumption in concert halls and muse-
ums. This statement is not a rejection
of classical music, or masterworks, or
concert hall performances, or musical
organizations that embrace all or some
of these mainstays. Rather, my statement
is intended to mean that the powers and
values of music and the other arts include
and exceed conventional notions of art.
To Dewey, the values of music (poetry,
painting, dance, and so on) do not reside
solely in what Westerners typically con-
ceive as "art objects." Rather, the values of
music and other artistic pursuits are to be
found in the dynamic social-experiential
activities through and in which music is
made, experienced, and put to work for
a variety of overlapping and interweav-
ing human purposes and benefits -
practical, democratic, social, cultural,
ethical, and so forth. Viewed from this
perspective, music and music education
gain even more value and significance.
By integrating music and music education
with all aspects of social life and commu-
nity, we do not forfeit music's greatness
and profundity; we fortify and increase it.
If this seems Utopian, be aware that
music educators around the world are black people in the early 1800s. Because of"Particip-action"
their visionary thinking, slavery was offi-
already practicing artistic citizenship. And
consider the words of the eminent educa- cially abolished sixty years later, an eventWhat needs emphasis now is that raising
that continues to fuel many movementspeople's consciousness about bad laws,
tor and social activist Jean Anyon: "The
Utopian thinking of yesteryear becomes for social change in the United States andcorruption, poverty, disease, oppression,
the common sense of today."12 Utopian around the world. Far from being useless,and other societal injustices through
dreams of freedom were in the minds, visionary thinking is a necessary prelude intellectualizing, reading, dialogue, and
hearts, actions, and music of enslaved to the transformation of people's lives. talk is not enough. As sociologist Doug

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McAdam says, "people's personal iden- There is absolutely no doubt that bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) choral
tities transform as they become socially individual and group music-making and work focused on commissioning and per-
active , and actions for social justice listening comfort, sustain, and inspire forming original works aimed at empow-
create new categories of participants people and transform individual lives. ering high school students and members
and political action groups: identities But in larger terms, I am moved to sug- of the adult community to understand
modify in the course of social interac- gest that many school and community and practice artistic citizenship musically
tion."13 People - including music stu- music programs are capable of much for the welfare and liberation of GLBT
dents and music educators - develop a more. Again, we cannot forfeit what we citizens locally and nationally. These
social-political identity and commitment do so well. I fell in love with music andworks included, for example, "A Great
from walking, marching, singing, or music education through my school and Generation," by Eric Lane Barnes, which
otherwise working musically with oth- community music-making programs and is a dramatic musical expression of GLBT
ers toward effective and ethical social experiences, and through my interactions issues related to the military, AIDS, and
change. Note, too, that young peoplewith thoughtful, democratic, and inspir- loneliness.
are often at the heart of many success-ing teachers. I've spent my academic The GLBT musical repertoire has
ful social movements. For example, in career trying to improve and protect such benefited enormously from contribu-
the ranks of protestors in the civil rightsprograms, and I will continue to do so. tions by many composers and performers
movement were many young men and But what I see in the world prompts me since the 1970s. As artistic citizens, pop,
women, including college students. to question music programs that fail to rock, and hip-hop composers/perform-
Thousands of protesters in the Middle include ways of empowering students to ers (e.g., James Taylor, U2, Elton John,
East today are young people who com- practice lifelong music-making for both Madonna, Tori Amos) took a major role in
bine many forms of culture and media -musical and social transformation. supporting AIDS victims when AIDS was
music, visual art, dance, and social a "socially unacceptable disease." Con-
media - in fighting oppression. temporary classical composers have pro-
Artistic Citizenship
As music educators, we are fortunate duced many compositions motivated by
to work with energetic young people, Examples of music education as/for artis- GLBT themes (e.g., John Corigliano's Sym-
and all of us work with music's powers oftic citizenship stretch from Africa to the phony No. 1, Meredith Monk's New York
emotional arousal and expression, which,Arctic, from Estonia to Ireland to the Requiem , Pauline Oliveros's Epigraphs in
in turn, can fire the engines of social United States and beyond. Allow me to the Time of AIDS, and Lawrence Axelrod's
arousal and expression. But what do webegin with the work of two of my former Common Threads ), and band composers
do with these potential powers? Often,students, Mary Piercey and Casey Hayes. (e.g., Mark Camphouse and Frank Ticheli)
we focus our efforts on preparing stu- After graduating from the University have created several works on themes of
dents to perform "Lincolnshire Posey," orof Toronto in the 1990s, Mary Piercey social justice. To some members of the
identify musical elements, or work demo-chose to teach in Arviat, a small Inuit public, these musicians might qualify as
cratically in classroom garage bands, orcommunity on the shore of Hudson Bay bad musical citizens because they chose
sight-read accurately, or improvise jazzin the Canadian region of Nunavut. After to "compromise" the so-called purity of
creatively. Taught and learned artistically,decades of neglect and oppression by their art by infusing their compositions
contextually, and ethically, these are wor-the Canadian government, Arviat was a with "socially disturbing" material. This
thy endeavors, of course, but they are notlargely underserved and culturally mar- is an all-too-common but logically, ethi-
enough. On another level, some teacherginalized community. To make a very cally, and artistically indefensible attitude.
education programs engage students inlong story short, and because of Piercey's Sheila Woodward's DIME project -
dialogues about Freire, Marx, Foucault,continuous efforts to activate music and Diversion Into Music Education - began
Derrida, and so on. Dialogues are impor-music education in the service of social in Cape Town, South Africa. Later, she
tant, as far as they go, but they don't go farjustice, negotiation, and group transfor- linked her Florida music education pro-
enough. As Miles Davis asks, "So what?" mation, both the people and the tradi- gram to her Cape Town university pro-
Where are the other values of music, andtional culture of Arviat have blossomed gram. DIME focuses on gaining judicial
where are the musical-social actions and in numerous ways, as I detail elsewhere.14 approval to liberate juvenile offenders
musical-ethical particip-actions? Where Casey Hayes, an esteemed band and from prison on the condition that they
is the development of students' sense of choral teacher for twenty years, was fired engage actively in and benefit personally
musical/social/civil/ethical responsibil-from his school music position in 2002 and socially from participating in DIME'S
ity? What do the excellent artistic-musicalwhen his colleagues discovered he was marimba programs. Research docu-
achievements of school music programsgay. After coming to New York Univer- mentation suggests that DIME has been
do for students, their families, and oth-sity (NYU) for his doctoral work, Hayes extremely effective in transforming the
ers who face debilitating local, national,performed and conducted with the New social, emotional, ethical, and economic
and international social problems andYork City Gay Men's Chorus and founded lives of the participants, their families,
injustices? the Ambassador Chorus. His gay, lesbian, and their communities.15

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In addition to teaching community widely distributed in Ireland and beyond 2. John Jastrow, "The Mind's Eye,"
music courses at NYU that emphasize that they were able to spread their mes- Popular Science Monthly 54 (1899):
312. This image is in the public
and exemplify ways of infusing music sages of peace and unification effectively,
domain in the United States. Many
education with artistic citizenship and produce moving recordings, and seed different versions have been pub-
social justice, I teach a graduate course similar programs.16 lished since 1899.

called "Teaching Composition in Jun- An extraordinary example of artis- 3. John Dewey, Artas Experience (New
ior High and Secondary Schools." Some tic citizenship is detailed in the film The York: Perigee Books, 1934), 16.
background may help in understanding Singing Revolution ,17 This documen- 4. Ibid.
the means and ends of this course, which tary chronicles how tens of thousands 5. Randy Martin, "Artistic Citizenship:
includes the why, what, and how of com- of Estonians participated in ending the Introduction," in Artistic Citizenship:
position teaching and composing as/for Soviet occupation of their nation in A Public Voice for the Arts, ed.
artistic citizenship. I began teaching com- 1991 through the power of mass-singing Mary Schmidt Campbell and
Randy Martin (New York: Routledge,
position in 1973 in my secondary school's events that began in 1989. Of course, the
2006), 1.
general music courses. Since then, I powerful musical-social activism of the
6. See the writings of Susan McClary,
have continuously refined the scope and Estonian population was anchored in
Kathleen Marie Higgins, Tia DeNora,
sequence of the curriculum models I've deep traditions of Estonian music-mak- Noëll Carroll, Jenefer Robinson,
developed to make composing accessible, ing and music teaching, as well as the Richard Shusterman, Patrik Juslin,
achievable, and meaningful for a wide long-standing devotion of hundreds of Ian Cross, Wayne Bowman, and
range of students with varying interests dedicated and highly skilled school and Thomas Regelski.
and abilities. community music teachers. 7. Richard Schechner, "A Polity of Its
Own Called Art," in Artistic Citizenship,
My NYU students learn to teach com-
33-41.
position by composing themselves and
Music's Potential 8. Ibid.
by teaching each other in relation to the
curriculum models I've generated and I could mention many other instances of 9. Martin, "Artistic Citizenship," 10.
the models they generate themselves. artistic citizenship in schools and com- 10. As explained in Schechner,
Basically, I engage the students in com- munities. Some are modest in scope, oth- "A Polity," 34.
posing across a progressive range of ers are large scale. Nonetheless, they all 11. Adel Iskandar and Hakem Rustom, eds.,
musical styles beginning with twenty-first- Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation
count as important examples of efforts to
and Representation (Berkeley: University
century soundscape and aleatorie forms, rethink and revision dimensions of music
of California Press, 2010), 229.
followed by electroacoustic music, rap education for the betterment of oth-
12. Jean Anyon, Radical Possibilities: Public
and hip-hop, serial music, songwriting, ers' lives. I believe it is possible to enact Policy, Urban Education, and New
and more. In each musical style context, music education as/for artistic citizen- Social Movement ( New York: Routledge,
students' compositions include pieces ship. I believe it is worth the effort. Music 2005), 6.
they create to express their own musi- has much to offer the world. We should 1 3 . Doug McAdam , Dynamics of Contention
cal, emotional, and personal meanings, unleash its full potential. (New York: Cambridge University Press,
as well as a variety of social/political/ 2001), 126.
cultural themes related to (for example) 14. Elliott, "Socializing."
peace and reconciliation, race and gender
Notes
15. For verification of this research, contact
discrimination, bullying, violence, dis- 1. David J. Elliott, Music Matters: A New Sheila Woodward at scwoodwa@honors
.usf.edu.
ease, abuse, and poverty. Philosophy of Music Education (New
Another real-world example of stu- York: Oxford University Press, 1995). 16. For a commentary on and a perfor-
Chapters 2, 7, 9, 10, and 11 emphasize mance by the Omagh Community Youth
dents involved in artistic citizenship
the importance of teaching and learning Choir, see http://www.youtube.com/
relates to a horrendous Irish Republican all forms of music-making. Chapters 4, watch?v=zlohx398P7l.
Army car bomb that killed and injured 6, 8, 10, and 11 explain the natures
17. The Singing Revolution, d i rected by
more than two hundred people in the and values of music listening and musi-
James Tusty and Maureen Tusty (Tallinn,
town of Omagh, North Ireland, in 1998. cal works. See also David J. Elliott,
Estonia: New Video Group, 2009), DVD.
"'Socializing' Music Education,"
In the aftermath, Daryl Simpson, a local
Action, Criticism and Theory for Music
music teacher, formed the Omagh Youth Education 6, no. 4 (2007): 60-95 Editor's note: The views expressed in
Choir. Simpson sought to, unite Catholic (http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/
"Another Perspective" are those of the
and Protestant young people by engag- Elliott6_4.pdf); and David J. Elliott
author and may not concur with those
ing them in performing and composing and Marissa Silverman, "Why Music
of the National Association for Music
Matters: Philosophical and Cultural
pieces that centered on issues of peace, Education. The goal of this column is to
Foundations," in Music, Health, and
mutual understanding, and reconcilia- Wellbeing , ed. R. MacDonald, G. Kreutz, remind us that great minds sometimes
tion. As a result, the choir's many acts of and L. Mitchell (Oxford, UK: Oxford think differently!
artistic citizenship were so powerful and University Press, 2012), 25-39.

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