Sociology for Music Teachers : Perspectives for Practice

For upper level undergraduate and introductory graduate and doctoral courses in music education.

Outlining the basic aspects, constructs and concepts relevant to understanding music teaching and learning from a sociological perspective, this volume introduces students to the discipline as a tool in understanding their own work.

The text shows how certain academics in music, sociology and education have thought about the relationship of music to education, schooling and society and examines the consequences of such thinking for making instructional choices in teaching methods and repertoire selection.

School music teaching is imbedded in two major societal traditions: (1) the tradition of music making, listening, and responding; and (2) the tradition of education as a societal mandate. The first tradition holds firmly to music artistry and musicological scholarship, the latter of which includes music sociology. The second tradition, that of education as a field of study, relies mostly on pedagogical principles rooted equally in psychology and sociology.

Hildegard Froehlich bases the book upon the premise that a music teacher's work is equally shaped by both traditions. The more music teachers become aware of how societal structures shape their own lives as well as the lives of their students, colleagues, and superiors; the more "reality-based" their teaching will become. Society is a composite of communities in which different social classes, groups, and reference groups co-exist-to varying degrees of compatibility due to real or perceived differences in norms and values as well as hierarchies of power. Informed or intuitive choices made by an individual indicate allegiances to particular groups, how those groups are structured hierarchically; and where and how each individual fits into those hierarchies.

This is true for the music world as it is true for the world of education.