The discourse about music: refl ections on music education

Abstract

This article offers a critical analysis of the ways music is viewed and approached within its own field. Taking as a starting point critics, musicians and educators’ outspoken discourses, it attempts to reveal the weakness of some concepts – frequently disseminated not only among the media but also among the music educational fi eld – by setting them over against other points of view. The main objective is to help educators in overcoming old beliefs, once these are made conscious. It is considered that the advance of thought in music education will be in jeopardy if we continue presenting ideas that – even though apparently innovative – are indeed based on the same old epistemological presumptions that support educational models we have argued against. Keywords: Epistemology of music. Musical sign. Artistic field.