In this article Leon Mones expresses his deep interest in the functional role of music in Western culture and particularly in the system of public education that has been designed to assure the survival and advancement of Western culture and the people who will live within it. In other words, he is interested in music as a dynamic experience in…

Music education should be conceived as aesthetic education which is devoted to the systematic development of musicality. Music education curricula should incorporate contemporary psychological methods which encourage creativity while focusing on the nature of music meaning and expression and the development of the capacity for musical response.…

The job of college music programs is not only to teach the classics but also to teach and encourage appreciation of the relative merits of all forms and periods of music, and to teach methods of evaluating musical quality. (MSE)

The author reviews the problems of providing a comprehensive music literature program to general music students and suggests objectives and activities for such a program at the elementary and secondary grade levels. (SJL)

Presents arguments for and against teaching music reading skills. Opponents say that students rarely use music reading skills after high school and that this music reading objective has never been successful. Proponents claim that a major objective of music programs is to produce musically independent students. (AM)

Music study should be construed primarily as an experience of its feeling content. Taught so, it can reach for the inner core of the early adolescent, to pierce that sometimes hard outer surface that protects the vulnerable inner life. Attempts to intellectualize music with young teens are doomed. (Author/SJL)

Inclusion of music in public school programs was originally justified on the utilitarian grounds that it fostered social and academic skills. Later an aesthetic rationale emphasized an intrinsic value of music in childrens' development. The position of music education will be precarious until educators provide strong evidence for their positions.…

Reviews the history and state of general music education for K-12 students. Points out that the goals of the Music Educators National Conference were to have music education available to all students and to have all schools and universities require music by 1990. Examines the present situation to determine whether these goals have been attained.…

Maintains that music educators have struggled for decades with issues related to a "multimusical culture." Contends that balancing the musical traditions of Western civilization and honoring the varieties of music of cultural subgroups is a major issue in contemporary music education. (CFR)

Contends that music educators must develop a stronger rationale for music education in the face of economic pressures and questions about the value of aesthetic education. Argues that music educators must stress both the utilitarian and aesthetic objectives of music. Includes six basic rationale statements for music education. (CFR)