HMU126 HISTORICAL SURVEY II – ASSIGNMENT No.

Kertz-Welzel, Alexandra. “‘Kim had the same idea as Haydn: International perspectives on
classical music and education.” Philosophy of Music Education Review 28, no. 2 (2020): 239–
55. https://doi.org/10.2979/philmusieducrevi.28.2.08.

In the scholarly article “Kim Had the Same Idea as Haydn”, Alexandra Kertz-Welzel

contests the preconceived idea that the culture around western classical music is one of it’s

negative aspects. She counters this concept by “[analyzing] selected aspects of the ongoing

criticism of classical music in music education from a philosophical and sociological

perspective” (Kertz-Welzel, “‘Kim Had the Same Idea as Haydn’: International Perspectives on

Classical Music and Music Education.”). Exemplifying the problems with which the topic of

“classical music” brings into the classroom (such as women and BIPOC composers, and a lack of

inclusiveness in the classical culture), Kertz-Welzel presents to us the fact that we should

approach this discussion from a more philosophical perspective to have more equilibrium amidst

the argument.

The “Defining Classical Music” section of the article is the section in which Kertz-

Welzel gives us context as per the historical period she is referring to. Amidst this section, she

refers to periods of Western Classical Music that date back to the 1750s, around the time that the

major composers were born (eg. Beethoven, Mozart, etc.). Kertz-Welzel does not clearly indicate

who the intended readership might consist of for this article, but in reading her arguments and

further understanding her intended perspective on her topic of research, it becomes clear that

those with an interest in the western classical music field, professors and students alike, would

indubitably benefit from the lecture of this article.

 As per the general purpose of the article, it can be said that the article exists to enlighten

those who have had the same perspective on western classical music’s traditions and cultures on

a newer and more philosophically based perspective, the one that Kertz-Welzel communicates

amidst her article. The foundation of her argument and the purpose-giver of her article lies in

(the backstory of) her title, “Kim had the same idea as Haydn”, which refers to “a composition

project in a German elementary school classroom featuring texts about the creation. [in which]

Kim and her friends had similar musical ideas about the text as Haydn had in his oratorio The

Creation” (Kertz-Welzel, “‘Kim Had the Same Idea as Haydn’: International Perspectives on

Classical Music and Music Education.”).

The reasoning Kerz-Welzel utilizes in her article is as follows: The ways in which

western classical music is introduced, observed, and discussed in classrooms allow for the

students to misinterpret the culture around it, due to a lack of context and a one-way perspective

throughout the teaching of it. To support her reasonning, she makes use of several sources such

as other scholarly articles from Norwegian sholar Petter Dyndahl, who argues that “formerly

high culture such as classical music is today no longer connected with hierarchies and social

privileges”  that formerly high culture such as classical music is today no longer connected with

hierarchies and social privileges (Kertz-Welzel, “‘Kim Had the Same Idea as Haydn’:

International Perspectives on Classical Music and Music Education.”). In the paragraph in which

she speaks of the Eurocentric music tradition(s), she refers to composers outside of Europe, to

prove her point - composers such as Brazilian Hietor Villa-Lobos and American Araron

Copland.