TOPICS
for
Music Education Praxis
2015:01
http://topics.maydaygroup.org
ISSN: 2469-4681
Article URL: http://topics.maydaygroup.org/2015/Shevock15.pdf
© 2015, Daniel Shevock
The
Possibility
of
Eco-‐Literate
Music
Pedagogy
Daniel
J.
Shevock
Penn
State
Altoona
ABSTRACT
Facing
the
prospect
of
global
ecological
crises,
how
can
music
education
matter?
With
the
advent
of
ecomusicology,
the
connection
between
music
and
environment
raises
many
new
challenges.
Ecological
literacy
has
become
an
important
topic
in
educational
philosophy,
but
it
is
largely
missing
from
music
education
literature.
The
question
guiding
this
inquiry
is:
What
might
music
education
for
ecological
literacy
be
like?
To
answer
this
question,
I
consider
some
possible
ecological
theories—including
ecological
literacy,
ecomusicology,
indigenous
knowledge,
and
spirituality—that
can
provide
a
stable
starting
point
and
framework
of
music
education
for
ecological
literacy.
Keywords:
music
education
philosophy,
ecological
literacy,
environment,
ecomusicology,
deep
ecology,
spirituality
Introduction
A
Vignette:1
On
a
warm
April
morning,
I
walk
through
Tudek
Park
in
Pennsylvania
(USA)
with
my
eight-‐month-‐old
son.
We
begin
our
walk,
and
the
primary
sounds
we
hear
are
those
of
children
singing
their
joyous,
rhythmic
songs;
songs
of
excited
sliding
and
swinging
on
playground
equipment,
and
sounds
of
playing
soccer;
children
running
and
kicking
the
black
and
white
ball
into
a
small
net.
The
pieces
of
play
equipment
have
their
own
sounds—squeaking
and
swishing.
There
are
also
the
sounds
of
adults
talking;
a
family
has
a
reunion
under
a
pavilion’s
wall-‐less
rooftop.
Adult
conversation
and
childish
shouts
intermingle.
The
rumble
of
cars
and
the
singing
of
birds
underlie
these
sounds,
but
are
present
nonetheless.
My
aim
lies
deeper
in
the
park,
since
my
child
is
too
young
to
use
the
playground.
As
we
walk
down
the
hill,
the
sounds
of
birds
and
squirrels
become
more
prominent,
while
human
sounds
fade.
Dogs
are
barking
further
into
the
park,
and
we
sit,
shoeless,
in
the
grass
under
a
newly
budding
tulip
tree,
somewhat
(but
not
completely)
away
from
human
sounds.
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
2
Photo
by
Daniel
J.
Shevock
Here
we
listen
to
the
music
of
the
park,
and
I
try
to
sing
some
of
the
sounds
I
hear,
and
my
son
also
sings
in
a
low
monotone.
We
touch
the
dirt,
grass,
the
tree’s
trunk,
branches
and
the
buds
emerging
from
this
tree
as
we
crawl
on
the
ground
and
sing.
It’s
possible
that
many
people
walking
by
would
not
call
our
songs
music,
though
everybody
(mostly
dog
walkers)
stops
to
say
“hi”
to
my
son,
and
he
sings
back
his
low
droning
song
(“da,
ah,
ah,
da”),
often
crescendoing
at
the
end
for
emphasis.
The
experience
of
nature’s
music
is
a
learning
experience—for
me
and
my
son—where
my
aim
is
to
cultivate
ecological
consciousness—feeling
a
sense
of
place,
of
the
environment,
of
non-‐human
life
(the
ecology
of
where
we
live).
Nature
regularly
exhibits
an
abundance
of
musicing,
from
the
songs
of
birds,
to
the
rustling
leaves,
to
the
cicadas’
recurring
summer
song.
Educationally,
children
benefit
when
this
sonic
soundscape
becomes
a
prominent
part
of
their
learning.
Teachers
and
students
benefit
by
being
connected
to
the
places
they
live.
As
Seneca
famously
said,
all
art
is
but
imitation
of
nature.
The
music
of
nature
is
an
immeasurable
source
of
inspiration
for
musicing
of
all
kinds.
The
alternative
to
a
music
education
that
considers
nature’s
musicing,
where
people
(teachers
and
students)
do
not
consider
the
sonic
environments
of
the
places
where
they
stand,
seems
to
be
missing
something
essential.
A
Curiosity:
At
the
start
of
this
paper,
a
curiosity
arose:
facing
global
ecological
crises,2
can
music
education3
matter?
This
is
an
ethical
question:
one
that
is
motivated
by
music
education
philosopher,
David
Elliott’s
(Elliott
&
Silverman
2015)
challenging
title
Music
Matters.
One
reason
Elliott’s
book
was
influential
for
me
as
a
music
teacher
was
that
he
contested
our
field’s
aesthetic
assumptions
about
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
3
the
goodness
of
music.
“But
what
could
these
goods
or
values
be?
Good
for
what
and
whom?
And
when
and
how?”
(4).
For
music
education
to
matter,
I
believe
it
must
be
good
for
human
and
non-‐human
life
on
the
planet.
As
music
education
philosopher,
Wayne
Bowman
(2007)
suggests,
music
is
inherently
an
ethical
activity,4
and
that
theorizing
must
begin
with
“music
as
a
social
act
and
social
fact”
(109).
Recent
concerns
with
global
ecological
crises
are
inherently
social
issues
that
I
argue
can
and
should
be
addressed
in
music
classrooms.
Does
music
education
matter5
if
it
cannot
be
harnessed
to
tackle
one
of
the
greatest
issue
humans
face?
Does
music
education
matter
if
teachers
of
all
subjects
stand
by
while
our
environment
is
destroyed
and,
as
a
result,
our
own
lives
and
those
of
children
we
teach?
Why
music
education?6
Music7
adds
uniquely
to
the
ecological
experience
I
described
in
my
initial
vignette.
The
experience
represents
what
I
call
learning,
but
not
necessarily
music
education.
I
argue
for
the
possibility
that
music
education
has
a
unique
opportunity
to
cultivate
ecological
consciousness,8
and
music
education
for
ecological
literacy9
is
an
underdeveloped
theme
or
concern,
but
an
essential
end
for
our
pedagogy
and
curriculum.10
I
also
urge
that
music
education
for
ecological
ends
are
not
only
possible,
but
can
be
essential
and
meaningful.
Moreover,
I
suspect
that
many
music
teachers
have
perhaps
unwittingly
developed
ecological
music
lessons.11
Ecological
Literacy:
Ecological
literacy
(Orr
1992)
has
become
an
important
concern
in
educational
philosophy,
but
is
largely
missing
from
music
education
literature.
Why
is
ecological
literacy
missing
in
music
education
discourse?
Two
possibilities
come
to
mind:
1)
that
music
provides
no
meaningful
insight
into
ecological
crises;
or
2)
that
music
education
is
capable
of
being
for
ecological
literacy
in
some
way,
but
that
scholarly
music
education
literature
has
been
limited
by
what
Mantie
and
Talbot
(2015)
call,
“the
habits
of
the
status
quo,”
which
“serve
…
to
blind
us
from
alternatives”
(131).
In
part
of
this
paper12
I
will
demonstrate
that
the
first
possibility
is
unlikely,
and
the
second
possibility
is
pregnant
with
possibilities.
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
4
Our
planet
is
said
by
many
to
be
at
a
crossroads
and
faces
ecological
crises.
Eco-‐criticism
has
also
found
a
place
in
musicological
circles
through
the
advent
of
ecomusicology
(e.g.,
Allen,
2011;
Watkins,
2011);
more
detail
into
ecomusicology
follows
later
in
this
paper.
Religious
historian
and
ecotheologian,
Thomas
Berry
(1999)
writes,
“The
deepest
cause
of
the
present
devastation
is
found
in
a
mode
of
consciousness
that
has
established
a
radical
discontinuity
between
the
human
and
other
modes
of
being
and
the
bestowal
of
all
rights
on
humans”
(4).
It
may
be
to
the
wellness
of
human
life
that
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
draws
from
ecomusicology
and
spiritual
conceptions
of
connectedness.
What
Berry
called
radical
discontinuity
I
have
previously
labeled
disconnection
from
nature.
My
recent
research
into
a
neglected
historical
music
education
figure,
Satis
Coleman,
is
pertinent
to
the
current
question
(Shevock
2015).
Her
teaching
reveals
a
spiritual
philosophy
empowering
students
to
experience
silence
in
nature.13
In
that
paper,
I
write
against
schooling
that
disconnects
students
from
nature
and
propose
that
classroom
music
“can
connect
students
to
the
world
around
them
through
musical
experiences
and
for
broader
goals
such
as
developing
ecological
consciousness,
stewardship
of
the
environment,
learning
about
their
local
community,
empathizing
with
the
other,
or
understanding
their
family
histories”
(59).
Because
“cultivating
ecological
consciousness
is
a
process
of
learning
to
appreciate
silence
and
solitude
and
rediscovering
how
to
listen”
(Devall
&
Sessions,
1985,
8),
music
education
might
sometimes
leave
the
physical
space
of
the
classroom
and
rediscover
how
to
listen
to
the
music
of
nature
that,
in
fact,
fills
that
silence
and
solitude.
An
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
might,
in
this
way,
be
connecting.
Purpose
Morton
(2012)
suggests
that
music
education
philosophy
“includes
and
embraces
social
and
ecological
justice”
(487).
The
current
paper
embodies
this
need
and
the
MayDay
group’s
Action
Ideal
II:
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
5
Since
social,
cultural
and
political
contexts
of
musical
actions
are
integrally
tied
to
the
nature
and
values
of
all
human
activity,
a
secure
theoretical
foundation
that
unites
the
actions
of
music
with
the
various
contexts
and
meaning
of
those
actions
is
essential
to
music
education
in
both
research
and
practice.
(http://www.maydaygroup.org/about-‐us/action-‐for-‐change-‐in-‐
music-‐education)
One
way
human
activity
can
be
embodied
as
social,
cultural,
and
political
praxis
is
in
relation
to
ecological
crises.
These
can
be
expressed
as
variously
as
the
pastoral
sounds
of
many
classical
pieces,
or
the
direct
ecological
activism
of
many
songs
in
the
Joe
Hill
tradition
(see
Pedelty
2012).
The
current
argument
is
guided
by
the
question:
What
might
music
education
for
ecological
literacy
be
like?14
Ecological
philosophies
emerge
from
the
fields
of
ecological
literacy,
ecomusicology,
spirituality,
indigenous
knowledge,
and
deep
ecology.
In
Philosophy
on
Soil,
Ivan
Illich
(1990)
declared:
As
philosophers,
we
search
below
our
feet
because
our
generation
has
lost
its
grounding
in
both
soil
and
virtue.
By
virtue,
we
mean
that
shape,
order
and
direction
of
action
informed
by
tradition,
bounded
by
place,
and
qualified
by
choices
made
within
the
habitual
reach
of
the
actor;
we
mean
practice
mutually
recognized
as
being
good
within
a
shared
local
culture
that
enhances
the
memories
of
a
place;
…
we
issue
a
call
for
a
philosophy
of
soil:
a
clear,
disciplined
analysis
of
that
experience
and
memory
of
soil
without
which
neither
virtue
nor
some
new
kind
of
substance
can
be.
(1)
At
the
intersection
of
soil,
virtue,
action,
and
culture
the
need
for
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
could
be
made.
Since
Illich
connects
philosophy
of
soil
to
grounding,
local
culture,
and
memories
of
a
place,
it
seems
logical
that
such
a
music
education
philosophy
would
seem
to
need
to
be
placed,
in
both
aims
and
means.
That
is,
rather
than
aiming
to
create
mobile
world-‐citizens
who
perform
interchangeable
musics
(genres,
ensembles,
and
repertoire),
the
aim
might
be
to
create
virtuous,
local
citizens,
grounded
in
their
local
cultures
and
enact
local
musics
in
school
and
community.
There
are
difficulties
inherent
in
trying
to
implement
Illich’s
declaration.
As
an
example
of
the
difficulties
between
the
way
we
music
educate
and
such
a
placed
conception
of
virtue,
music
educator
Vincent
Bates
(2011)
suggests,
“Students
who
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
6
are
poor
and
rural,
then,
must
not
only
suppress
and
replace
cultural
identities,
but
also
are
usually
required
to
leave
cherished
people
and
places”
(112).
Elsewhere,
Bates
(2013)
argues
rural
ideals,
including
community
and
ecological
sustainability,
can
counter
industrialization
by
promoting
Theobald’s
(1997)
concept,
intradependence,15
which
“adds
the
element
of
place
in
the
sense
that
quality
of
life
is
inextricably
linked
to
preserving,
sustaining,
and
beautifying
local
environments”
(Bates
2013,
35-‐36).
However,
if
the
places
where
people
live
are
largely
undervalued
(as
Bates’s
statement
on
the
rural
poor
needing
to
leave
cherished
people
and
places
suggests)
therein
resonates
a
challenge
to
constructing
an
effective
(enacted)
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy:
we
in
industrial
societies
do
not
value
place
or
soil.
However,
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
would
not
benefit
only
students
living
in
rural
areas.
While
I
was
unable
to
find
music
education
scholarship
explicitly
connecting
living
in
cities
to
ecological
sustainability,
it
seems,
in
relation
to
cultivating
Illich’s
philosophy
of
soil
and
Bates’s
rural
ideals,
city
people
also
experience
devalued
places
that
might
be
cherished
by
music
education.
Gaztambide-‐Fernández
(2011)
described
cities
as
places
of
“proximity
in
which
bodies
are
brought
into
close
contact
with
each
other
through
agglomeration”
(18),
spaces
that
are
“unequally
distributed”
(19).
Whether
that
proximity
is
noted
as
a
place
of
culture
and
privilege,
or
“a
place
of
decay,
poverty,
and
danger”
(19),
eco-‐
literate
music
teachers
might
cultivate
a
philosophy
of
soil.
Squirrels
and
house
sparrows
sing
their
songs,
winds
blow,
and
seasons
change
even
in
the
densest
population
centers.
The
purpose
of
this
paper
is
to
provide
a
starting
point
for
dialogue
and
praxis
for
music
education
for
ecological
literacy.
My
goals
are
to
provide
theory
that
is
approachable,16
so
that,
through
the
work
of
scholars
and
teacher-‐
intellectuals
(who
enact
pedagogy),
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
might
be
envisioned,
modified,
revised,
and
embedded
in
the
aims
of
music
education
to
mend
a
world
facing
ecological
crises.
This
paper
is
organized
to,
first,
introduce
the
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
7
concept
of
ecological
literacy,
and
then
to
begin
with
what
is
available
in
music
education
scholarship,
then
more
broadly
in
musicology.
Next,
music
education
for
ecological
literacy
will
be
deepened
culturally
(e.g.,
including
indigenous
knowledge)
and
spiritually,17
both
of
which
might
provide
context
for
an
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy.
The
decision
in
the
present
paper
is
to
choose
breadth
over
depth.
Ecological
Literacy
Ecological
literacy
theorist,
David
Orr
(1992)
suggests
humanity
faces
three
crises
that
need
to
be
addressed
through
education.
These
crises
are
the
food
crisis,
the
fuel
crisis,
and
climate
change.
The
food
crisis
derives
from
soil
loss,
and
is
connected
to
our
farming
practices
and
rapidly
rising
world
population.
The
era
of
cheap
energy
has
driven
us
toward
fossil
fuel
exhaustion.
The
crisis
of
climate
change
“has
to
do
with
ecological
thresholds
and
the
limits
of
natural
systems”
(3).
Orr
continues
that
ecological
literacy
has
become
difficult
today,
“because
there
is
less
opportunity
for
the
direct
experience
of
[nature]”
(89).
The
three
crises
require
interdisciplinary
approaches
to
ecological
literacy,
and
all
subjects,
even
music
education,
must
address
the
ecological
crises
and
provide
insight
into,
and
direct
experience
of
nature.
“To
become
a
significant
force
for
a
sustainable
and
human
world,
[ecological
literacy]
must
be
woven
throughout
the
entire
curriculum
and
through
all
of
the
operations
of
the
institutions,
and
not
confined
to
a
few
scattered
courses”
(152).
Music
education
can,
in
the
spirit
of
ecological
literacy,
teach
students
about
the
three
crises,
and
lead
students
to
directly
experience
nature.
Such
an
integrative
approach
to
music
education
might
follow
any
art
integration
style.
Though
a
full
clarification
of
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
through
arts
integration
theory
is
beyond
the
scope
of
the
current
paper,
in
Bresler’s
(1995)
theory,
these
are
the
subservient,
co-‐equal,
affective,
and
social
integration
styles.
In
the
subservient
style,
music
is
used
to
teach
another
subject
(like
biology,
ecology,
climate
science,
or
chemistry).
In
the
co-‐equal
style,
the
music
teacher
and
science
teacher
might
work
together
to
construct
and
implement
lessons.
In
the
affective
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
8
style,
teachers
use
music’s
emotional
attributes.
In
the
social-‐integration
style,
school-‐wide
events
such
as
assemblies
might
be
used
to
explore
environmental
issues.
Each
of
these
styles
(and
possibly
others)
would
come
into
play
in
eco-‐
literate
music
pedagogy.
“All
My
Relations”
In
music
education
philosophy,
Charlene
Morton
(2012)
began
the
work
of
constructing
a
rationale
for
an
ecological
music
education—important
when
music
education
is
dominated
by
“a
subject
specific
view”
(473)
of
our
field.
Music
education
needs
to
be
for
the
future,
that
is,
we
want
a
future
living
on
a
healthy
planet
that
sustains
human
and
non-‐human
life.
Using
John
Dewey
and
other
philosophers,
Morton
connected
environmental
education
to
“Aboriginal18
educators’
commitments
to
nurturing
a
sense
of
wonder
and
appreciation
for
the
social,
economic,
and
environmental
interdependence
of
‘all
my
relations’”
(478).
And
then19
she
asks,
“What
is
music
education
for?”
(483),
and
concludes
that
our
field
needs
to
be
oriented
to
social
and
ecological
justice.
With
Morton’s
paper
in
mind
(along
with
David
Orr’s
ecological
literacy,
and
Ivan
Illich’s
call
for
a
philosophy
of
soil)
to
fulfill
the
call
for
ecological
justice,
music
education
must
cultivate
ecological
literacy,
which
is
rooted
in
soil,
and
is
attained
through
increasing
ecological
consciousness.
How
can
music
be
used
for
the
increase
of
ecological
consciousness?
In
the
next
section,
I
discuss
the
field
of
ecomusicology,
and
how
its
findings
can
be
pertinent
to
music
education.
Ecomusicology
Taijo’s
Vignette:
Taijo
teaches
secondary
choir
(c.
13-‐18)
in
the
U.S.
and
is
preparing
a
patriotic
show
for
a
Memorial
Day
performance
in
the
town
center.
He
chooses
to
use
arrangements
of
America
the
Beautiful
(arr.
La
Rocca),
written
by
Katharine
Lee
Bates,
Irving
Berlin’s
God
Bless
America
(arr.
Crocker
&
Lavender),
and
Woody
Guthrie’s
This
Land
is
Your
Land
(arr.
DeCormier).
These
songs
provide
the
choir
with
opportunities
to
discuss
the
intersection
of
many
social
issues,
such
as
Bates’s
sexual
orientation,
Berlin’s
robust-‐patriotism,
leaning
toward
jingoism
during
WWII,
and
Guthrie’s
response
to
Berlin’s
song,
including
Guthrie’s
socialist
political
affiliations.
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
9
Each
song
also
provides
Taijo’s
students
with
an
opportunity
to
consider
three
different
visions
of
the
way
people
relate
to
the
environment.
In
America
the
Beautiful,
blessed
by
heaven,
Americans
fit
amicably
into
the
pastoral
landscape.
God
Bless
America
is
rather
like
a
prayer,
and
portrays
the
environment
as
belonging,
anthropocentrically,
to
Americans.
As
such,
the
song
serves
to
reify
Manifest
Destiny.
In
This
Land
is
Your
Land,
rather
than
a
collective,
patriotic
“we,”
it
is
“you
and
I”
to
whom
the
land
“belongs.”
Taijo
introduces
students
to
the
protest
verses
and
allows
students
to
deliberate
on
what
Guthrie’s
vision
for
the
land,
his
stance
against
private
ownership,
might
mean
for
the
environment.
The
choir’s
conversations
are
further
complicated
when
Taijo
introduces
that
This
Land
is
Your
Land
was
written
as
a
socialist
anthem
and,
more
recently,
a
uniting
anthem
for
the
protesters
of
the
2010
BP
oil
spill
in
the
Gulf
of
Mexico.
Part
of
each
rehearsal
is
dedicated
to
conversation,
and
the
students
decide
to
present
the
Memorial
Day
concert
as
an
informance,
informing
their
community
about
the
eco-‐musical
and
political
aspects
of
each
song.
Taijo’s
vignette
was
inspired
by
the
writings
of
Ecomusicologist,
Mark
Pedelty
(2012,
49—54,
58).
The
field
of
ecomusicology
emerged
from
musicology
and
ethnomusicology,
and
presumes
that
understanding
the
environment
helps
us
understand
music,
and
understanding
music
helps
us
understand
the
environment.
Pedelty
(2012)
suggests,
“ecological
synthesis
is
not
just
important
for
achieving
more
sustainable
musics
but
also
for
understanding
music
more
holistically
and,
therefore,
better
understanding
what
music
is”
(12).
He
continues,
“music
contains
a
reaffirming
energy
and
the
capacity
to
reconnect
us
to
the
living
world”
(12).
Ecomusicology
may
be
gaining
acceptance
as
a
scholarly
pursuit;
and
the
summer
issue
2011
of
the
Journal
of
the
American
Musicological
Society
was
a
special
issue
dedicated
to
ecomusicology.
In
that
issue,
Allen
(2011)
described
ecomusicology
as
considering,
“the
relationships
of
music,
culture,
and
nature;
i.e.,
it
is
the
study
of
musical
and
sonic
issues,
both
textual
and
performative,
as
they
relate
to
ecology
and
the
environment”
(392).
Music
educators
informed
by
this
description
might
challenge
students
to
explore
how
music,
culture,
and
nature
relate
to
place
and
to
global
environmental
crises.
Ecomusicology
has
also
informed
our
understanding
of
place,
expanding
it
to
include
virtual
spaces
created
by
the
sonic
environments
of
music.
As
Watkins
(2011)
stated,
“Treating
music
as
a
virtual
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
10
environment
has
the
potential
to
inform
ecomusicological
studies
of
how
music
negotiates
the
conceptual
and
material
nexus
where
nature
and
culture
meet”
(407).
Watkins
is
interested
in
how
virtual
environments
relate
to
actual
environments,
such
as
“Bedrich
Smetana’s
Ma
Vlast
(My
Country)
[and]
John
Denver’s
‘Take
me
Home,
Country
Roads,”’
in
which
musicians
create
“narratives
of
locality”
(an
idea
she
borrows
from
Andy
Bennett)
“using
manifold
poetic
and
musical
means”
(405).
Ecomusicology
suggests
that
an
ecological
approach
to
understanding
music
has
the
ability
to
deepen
our
understanding
of
music
and
the
environment,
it
helps
us
understand
how
music,
culture
and
nature
relate,
and
can
help
us
understand
place
(virtual,
such
as
described
above,
and
their
corresponding
physical
places).
Most
people
today
are
surrounded
by
the
sounds
and
ecologies
of
popular
music
via
technology
(a
virtual
environment).
Pedelty
(2012)
writes,
“As
distant
places
become
more
familiar,
local
spaces
can
become
less
so”
(9).
I
believe
this
can
become
problematic,
and
music
educators
are
able
to
familiarize
students
with
their
local
places.
As
deep
ecology
philosophers
Bill
Devall
and
George
Sessions
(1985)
suggested,
“Our
bioregion
is
the
best
place
to
begin
cultivating
ecological
consciousness”
(21).
In
the
next
section
I
will
share
a
pedagogy
rooted
in
the
local
sounds
for
ecological
literacy.
Natural
Sounds
Inspiring
Pedagogy
Sheena’s
Vignette:
An
elementary
school
music
teacher,
“Sheena,”
takes
her
music
class
(c.
6-‐11)
on
an
afternoon
field
trip
to
a
local
park.
Sheena
gives
students
the
task
of
listening
to
nature,
meditating,
labeling
all
of
the
sounds
they
hear
(as
nouns
and/or
adjectives),
representing
what
they
hear
through
creative
music
notation,
and
considering
how
they
might
compose
music
that
captures
natures’
expressive
potential.
Upon
returning
to
the
classroom,
Sheena
guides
her
students
to
consider
the
sounds
they
heard—natural
sounds,
human
and
industrial
sounds
affecting
the
ecology
of
their
local
park.
From
this
activity
arises
a
conversation
about
non-‐human
life,
about
nature,
and
humankind’s
impact
on
the
ecological
health
of
this
park
and
the
global
environment.
Incorporating
sounds
of
nature,
humans,
and
industrial
things
(the
clanking
of
factories,
the
buzzing
of
power
lines,
the
honking
of
cars),
the
students
compose
music
that
expresses,
musically,
their
impression
of
the
ecology
of
their
local
park.
Finally,
considering
the
ecological
crises
faced
by
humankind,
the
students
give
their
compositions
titles,
which
are
codified
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
11
into
themes
for
classroom
dialogue
about
ecological
issues
throughout
the
semester.
In
this
vignette,
Sheena
is
providing
an
opportunity
for
her
students
to
compose
music
by
drawing
from
the
abundance
of
musics
nature
unveils.
In
particular,
the
students
are
learning
both
how
music
is
constructed
and
why.
As
Regelski
(2004)
wrote,
“When
students
compose,
they
not
only
learn
how
music
is
put
together
but
also
why
it
is
created
in
the
first
place—that
is,
what
music
is
‘good
for’”
(109,
emphasis
in
original).
He
points
that
“sound
becomes
‘music’
when
it
is
organized
for
particular
human
uses,
such
as
listening,
dancing,
celebrating,
worshipping”
(112,
emphasis
in
original).
It
may
also
be
beneficial
for
music
teachers
to
take
an
ecocentric
(ecology
centered)
view
of
music:
that
these
sounds
are
organized
for
human
uses
and
for
non-‐human
uses,
such
as
the
mating
rituals
of
birds,
and
pollination
for
plant-‐life.
The
role,
then,
of
the
teacher
and
students
in
this
vignette
is
the
role
of
humans
as
nature’s
reflective
beings
(Berry
1999).
Such
an
understanding
does
not
lessen
the
importance
of
humans
in
nature’s
meaning-‐
construction
process
(of
music),
but
provides
an
additional,
non-‐anthropocentric
(non-‐human
centered),
way
of
reflection.
Another
important
aspect
of
the
previous
vignette
is
the
rootedness
of
place
(a
local
park)
to
Sheena’s
music
pedagogy.
Her
pedagogy
begins
in,
and
is
rooted
in
place,
and
from
that
experience
with
place
her
students
create
music
that
is
inspired
by
(the
sound
ecology
in
their
community)
and
for
an
understanding
of
local
and
global
issues
through
dialogue.
As
Devall
and
Sessions
(1985)
wrote,
“Many
people
[in
environmental
groups]
cultivate
a
sense
of
place”
(31,
emphasis
in
original),
and
that
this
leads
to
ecological
consciousness.
Such
ecological
consciousness
might
lead
to
change
through
the
creation
of
coalitions,
protests,
green
politics,
spiritual
expressions,
and
questioning
technology.
Such
an
ecological
sense
of
place
can
be
cultivated,
“even
in
large
cities”
(26).
What
may
be
most
important
about
place
and
ecological
consciousness
are
the
“virtues
and
ideals
of
staying
home,
connected
to
commons;
of
caring
for
the
places
we
belong
to
and
those
that
belong
to
us”
(Prakash
&
Stuchul
2004,
62).
Returning,
then,
to
the
question,
what
might
music
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
12
education
for
ecological
literacy
be
like?:
Place,
virtue
(such
as
Illich’s
order
and
direction
of
action
informed
by
tradition,
bounded
by
place,
and
qualified
by
choices
made
within
the
habitual
reach
of
the
actor,
and
Prakash
&
Stuchul’s
virtues
and
ideals
of
staying
home),
and
connectedness
(to
place)
should
be
essential
concerns
of
music
education
for
ecological
literacy.
But
what
type
of
knowledge
cultivates
human
sense
of
place
in
an
age
of
knowledge
as
science,
which
produces
neutral
and
therefore
placeless
and
generalizable
knowledge?
Indigenous
Knowledge
Learning
from
indigenous
knowledge
can
be
the
key
to
cultivating
a
sense
of
place
through
music
education.
Semali
and
Kincheloe
(1999)
describe
indigenous
knowledge
as,
“native
ways
of
knowing
…
[I]ndigenous
knowledge
reflects
the
dynamic
way
in
which
the
residents
of
an
area
have
come
to
understand
themselves
in
relationship
to
their
natural
environment
and
how
they
organize
that
folk
knowledge
of
the
flora
and
fauna,
cultural
beliefs,
and
history
to
enhance
their
lives”
(3).
Of
particular
importance
to
music
teachers
is
the
dynamism
(of
place,
beliefs,
and
histories)
of
indigenous
knowledge
as
a
way
of
thinking.
Educational
philosopher,
Madhu
Suri
Prakash
(1999)
contrasts
science
with
indigenous
knowledge
systems:
while
science
claims
to
be
neutral,
“neutered
from
culture
or
gender,
among
other
non-‐universalizables”
(157),
indigenous
knowledge
systems
are
rooted
in
culture
and
gender.
“Ethnicity,
place,
soil
and
other
elements
localize,
confine
and
define
[indigenous
knowledge
systems]”
(158).
Postmodern
critiques
problematize
scientific
thinking
as
being
connected
to
power,
and
“is
revealed
in
the
rampant
destruction
of
indigenous
knowledge
systems
through
the
post-‐WWII
project
of
global
development”
(161).
For
Prakash
ecological
literacy
beings
by,
“recognizing
the
importance
of
the
epistemologies
of
non-‐modern
or
indigenous
peoples”
(166),
and
it
roots
knowing
to
place.
Music
education
learning
(knowing),
rooted
in
place,
then,
can
help
students
find
connections
to
culture
because
indigenous
knowledge
systems
contain
localized
understandings
that
are
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
13
often
rooted
in
musics
of
people.
Indigenous
knowledge
systems
also
include
localized
musics
(whether
folk
songs
or
commercial
music
appropriated
for
local
uses)
that
are
rooted
in
place.
Clemente
Abrokwaa
(1999)
shared
examples
of
indigenous
music
education
in
Africa,
the
aim
of
which
is
“to
impart
socio-‐cultural
knowledge
and
skills
to
the
young
of
the
community”
(198).
The
author
continues:
“Environmental
factors
…
greatly
influence
the
development
and
use
of
musical
instruments,
dance
forms,
and
song
texts”
(192),
and
he
continues
that
wars,
famine,
interactions
of
different
cultures,
and
colonialism
have
changed
indigenous
societies
in
Africa.
He
shared
three
environmental
songs
that
honor
the
earth
as
“Mother
Earth,”
(202)
and
seek
to
protect
the
environment
from
abuse.
With
Abrokwaa’s
writing
in
mind,
ethno-‐
music
educators
have
an
opportunity
to
find
indigenous
songs
used
around
the
world
in
order
to
provide
music
education
students
with
an
opportunity
to
make
connections
with
the
other
(people
of
different
cultures,
races,
religions,
etc.,
who
may
have
different
ways
of
living
than
the
students)
and
begin
to
realize
global
ecological
consciousness
through
a
more
indigenous
way
of
thinking.
Describing
another
music
tradition,
Matsunobu’s
(2009)
dissertation
about
Japanese
shakuhachi,
as
a
holistic
and
organic
(which
he
connected
to
instrument
construction)
music
praxis,
can
provide
music
teachers
with
insight;
shakuhachi
practitioners
spend
time
in
nature
and
then
craft
their
instrument
from
a
piece
of
bamboo.
According
to
the
author,
shakuhachi
musical
practices
cultivate
ecological
and
spiritual
experiences
for
practitioners.
Interestingly,
historical
music
educator,
Satis
Coleman,
seems
also
to
have
made
the
connection
between
instrument
making
and
nature
(Shevock
2015).
I
believe
that
through
making
an
instrument
from
natural
materials
children
may
connect
meaningfully
to
nature.
Students
might
also
create
instruments
from
unnatural
materials,
which
might
provide
fodder
for
discussions
about
the
place
of
people
in
nature
in
ecologically
sustaining
or
potentially
corrupting
ways.
Connecting
to
nature
through
the
act
of
instrument
making
can
be
one
answer
to
the
question,
how
can
music
education
matter.
But
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
14
does
this
mean
music
education
might
become
more
spiritual
to
develop
an
eco-‐
literate
pedagogy?
A
Spiritual
Praxis20
for
Ecological
Literacy
To
me,
it
seems
that
a
teacher
enacting
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
must
be
self-‐reflective,
conscious
of
herself
and
her
environment
and
striving
for
greater
integration,
transcendence,
and
consciousness;
and,
in
short,
a
spiritual
person.
Educator,
author,
and
activist,
Parker
Palmer
(2003)
defines
spirituality
in
teaching
as,
“the
eternal
human
yearning
to
be
connected
with
something
larger
than
our
own
egos”
(377).21
Nature
is
larger
than
our
own
egos.
A
spiritual
praxis
for
music
education,
within
context
of
this
definition,
is
about
much
more
than
a
student’s
individual
and
artistic
feeling
about
music,
or
her
experiences
isolated
in
the
practice
room.
A
spiritual
music
education
is,
rather,
an
experience
for
teachers
and
students
with
the
self,
with
mystery,22
and
with
nature
(Shevock
2015).
Thomas
Berry
(1999)
suggests,
“We
have
silenced
too
many
of
those
wonderful
voices
of
the
universe
that
spoke
to
us
of
the
grand
mysteries
of
existence”
(17);
and
humans,
as
an
integral
part
of
the
living
environment,
can
be
understood
as
a
way
for
nature
(Mother
Earth23)
to
reflect
upon
herself.
Deep
ecology
provides
a
spiritual
philosophy
for
developing
bioregional
spirit
and
ecological
consciousness.
Devall
and
Sessions
(1985)
described
deep
ecology
as:
Emerging
as
a
way
of
developing
a
new
balance
and
harmony
between
individuals,
communities
and
all
of
Nature.
It
can
potentially
satisfy
our
deepest
yearnings:
faith
and
trust
in
our
most
basic
intuitions;
courage
to
take
direct
action;
joyous
confidence
to
dance
with
the
sensuous
harmonies
discovered
through
spontaneous,
playful
intercourse
with
the
rhythms
of
our
bodies,
the
rhythms
of
flowing
water,
changes
in
the
weather
and
seasons,
and
the
overall
processes
of
life
on
Earth.
(7)
This
description
of
deep
ecology
seems
to
demand
expression
in
music
education
pedagogy.
Sheena’s
vignette
can
be
modified
to
be
for
this
spiritual
experience,
as
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
15
teachers
and
students
focus
on
creative
responses
and
dialogue
about
the
rhythms
of
human
and
non-‐human
life.
Devall
and
Sessions
(1985)
recommend,
relevant
to
music
teachers,
that
we
enact
“earth
bonding
rituals,
celebrating
specific
places”
(27).
These
rituals,
according
to
the
authors,
purify
the
location
by
providing
an
outlet
for
our
emotions,
fears,
joys,
and
focusing
our
actions.
Inspired
by
deep
ecology,
after
Sheena
uses
the
students’
compositions
to
facilitate
dialogue
about
global
ecological
issues,
her
class
might
choose
to
enact
an
earth
bonding
ritual
at
their
local
park
through
musical
performance
for
the
local
community.
Such
a
ritual
has
the
opportunity
to
help
people
“recover
an
integral
relation
with
the
universe,
the
planet
Earth,
and
the
North
American
continent”
(Berry
1999,
16).
Musical
ritual,
embedded
within
a
spiritual
praxis
for
music
education,
can
enable
people
to
reconnect
to
the
ecosystem,
its
seasons,
its
non-‐human
life,
and
soil.
Upton’s
Vignette:
Upton
teaches
middle
school
(c.
12-‐14)
wind
band,
which
is
rehearsing
Michael
Oare’s
Jefferson
Forest
Sketches.
Upton
has
the
students
study
the
composition
description
on
the
J.
W.
Pepper
website
(http://www.jwpepper.com/10460930.item#.VaMejUt6McI),
“This
programmatic
work
depicts
the
beauty
and
grandeur
of
the
Jefferson
National
Forest.”
The
students
are
directed
to
discuss
on
how
or
if
the
music
evokes
the
“seemingly
endless
expanse
of
wilderness.”
Employing
deep
ecological
questioning
(see
Clark
2014,
160),
Upton
asks
the
students:
What
is
wilderness?
What
is
a
wild
animal?
Are
you
a
wild
animal?
What
does
it
mean
to
be
wild
vs.
domesticated?
The
students
then
are
assigned
homework,
to
explore
the
USDA
Forest
Service
webpage
to
identify
how
much
of
the
forest
is
“wilderness”
and
how
“wilderness”
is
defined
in
this
context
(http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/gwj/about-‐forest).
This
leads
to
conversations
about
the
impact
of
even
small
groups
of
people,
even
without
“motorized
equipment
and
mechanical
transport,”
as
well
to
the
health
of
the
eco
system
without
its
traditional
large
predators.
Jefferson
Forest
Sketches
provides
a
springboard
for
deeper
understanding
of
the
bioregion
leading
toward
ecological
literacy.
Conclusion
I
begin
this
conclusion
with
hope.
It
is
my
hope
that,
in
ten
years,
the
vision
shared
in
this
paper
will
seem
somewhat
antiquated.
I
hope
it
inspires
music
educators
to
share
the
eco-‐literate
music
work
they
already
do,
and
further
imagine
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
16
a
future
focus
on
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy.
In
other
words,
I
hope
putting
this
theory
of
ecological
literacy
into
practice
in
music
education
results
in
new
practice
contributing
to
theory.
As
such
this
discussion
has
provided
music
teachers
with
plausible
and
comprehensible
theory
in
ecological
literacy,
and
deep
ecology,
and
opened
possibilities
for
considering
and
practicing
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy.
Music
education
has
the
potential
to
provide
meaningful
insight
into
ecological
crises
facing
the
world,
especially
through
sonic
experience
and
ritualization
(such
as
Devall
&
Sessions’s
earth
bonding
rituals)
of
ecological
experiences.
According
to
Bowman
and
Frega
(2012):
“Philosophical
inquiry
does
not
so
much
solve
problems
as
transform
them
into
other
problems,
problems
that
are
more
compelling,
more
relevant
to
practice,
richer
in
implication
for
action”
(34-‐35).
Each
section
of
this
current
paper
offered
new
questions
that
were
rich
in
implication
for
action.
Further
this
paper
presents
a
challenge
for
music
education.
Ecological
literacy
requires
the
development
of
ecological
consciousness;
and
as,
through
music
and
other
means,
students
connect
to
local
spaces
and
become
aware
of
global
issues,
the
ecological
crises
can
be
addressed
(Orr
1992).
Nature
has
an
inherently
musical
aspect
that
can
be
explored
in
music
classrooms,
and,
if
music
education
will
matter
to
future
generations
of
humans
on
our
planet,
music
will
need
to
help
us
understand
the
nature
of
the
environmental
crises
and
lead
us
toward
sustainable
living:
We
need
to
see
the
Earth
in
its
sequence
of
transformations
as
so
many
movements
in
a
musical
composition.
The
sequence
of
events
that
emerge
in
time
needs
to
be
understood
simultaneously,
as
in
music:
the
earlier
notes
are
gone
when
the
later
notes
are
played,
but
the
musical
phrase,
indeed
the
entire
symphony,
needs
to
be
heard
simultaneously
…
Each
new
theme
alters
the
meaning
of
the
earlier
themes
and
the
entire
composition.
The
opening
theme
resonates
throughout
all
the
later
parts
of
the
piece.
(Berry
1999,
27)
In
response
to
this
paper’s
title,
as
an
important
possibility,
music
education
can
play
an
essential
role
in
helping
humanity
develop
ecological
consciousness.
A
Connecting
Venture:
This
paper
was
guided
by
the
question:
What
might
music
education
for
ecological
literacy
be
like?
Music
education
for
ecological
literacy
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
17
should
be
a
connecting
venture
that
has
the
opportunity
to
deepen
students’
understanding
of
the
environment
and
of
music.
It
requires
music
teachers
and
students
enacting
an
eco-‐literate
praxis
by:
(1)
Connecting
to
local
places.
(2)
Experiencing
music
and
nature
in
connected,
meaningful,
and
ethical
ways.
(3)
Developing
ecological
consciousness
by
ritualizing
and
creating
music
rooted
in
soil.
(4)
Connecting
to
the
planet
more
broadly
by
connecting
local
understandings
to
global
ecological
crises.
This
is
the
essence
of
music
education
cultivating
ecological
literacy.
At
the
beginning
of
the
paper
a
curiosity
arose:
facing
global
ecological
crises,
can
music
education
matter?
Illich
(1990)
tells
us,
“We
are
torn
from
the
bonds
of
soil
…
the
economy
into
which
we
have
been
absorbed
…
transforms
people
into
interchangeable
morsels
of
population,
ruled
by
the
laws
of
scarcity.”
For
music
education
to
matter,
that
is,
for
our
field
to
be
truly
viable
and
transformative
in
an
age
of
ecological
crises,
it
needs
to
reconnect
(sonically,
textually,
and
spiritually)
people
with
the
soil.
This
current
paper
has
limitations.
Because
of
the
broad
approach
taken
to
explicating
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy,
many
of
the
ideas
explored
need
to
be
more
deeply
theorized.
A
deeper
exploration
of
R.
Murray
Schafer’s
Soundscape
and
its
implications
for
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy—specifically
in
relation
to
the
cultivation
of
ecological
consciousness—is
particularly
needed.
To
accomplish
this,
the
valuing
system
of
The
Soundscape
needs
to
be
understood:
Is
The
Soundscape
for
the
benefit
of
humans
only?
Or
does
the
musicing
of
birds
(such
as
expressed
in
Messiaen’s
birdsong
transcriptions),
whales
(e.g.
Hovhaness’s
And
God
Created
Great
Whales),
and
canyons
(e.g.
Grofé’s
Grand
Canyon
Suite)
have
both
human
and
intrinsic
(to
birds,
whales,
and
canyons)
value:
do
they
music
for
their
own
purposes?
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
18
Deep
ecologist,
Arne
Naess
(1996)
asks
us
to
challenge
our
anthropocentric
(human
centered)
value
judgments
and
to
realize
the
intrinsic
values
of
non-‐human
life.
He
continues,
“human
economic
enterprise
in
the
next
centuries
may
significantly
reduce
the
richness
and
diversity
of
life
on
the
planet
and
thereby
also
reduce
evolutionary
potential
…
social
and
political
activism
are
necessary”
(1558).
Through
the
work
music
thinkers
such
as
Morton
(2012)
and
Abrokwaa
(1999),
and
my
exploration
of
the
theories
of
ecological
literacy,
ecomusicology,
indigenous
knowledge,
spirituality,
and
deep
ecology,
I
believe
the
answer
to
whether
music
education
can
matter
is
yes!—with
a
caveat.
Our
profession
as
teachers
must
take
the
ecological
crises
seriously,
and,
consequently
should
further
explore
ecological
literacy
as
an
ends
of
meaningful
and
ecologically
relevant
music
education.
Ecomusicological
literature
suggests
that
musicians
are
making
music
for
ecological
ends,
and
David
Orr
suggests
that
for
ecological
literacy
to
become
an
effective
educational
movement
it
must
be
integrated
throughout
all
fields
in
our
educational
institutions.
Future
music
education
scholarship
might
also
further
explore
what
eco-‐
literate
music
pedagogy
would
look
like
through
theorists
not
discussed
in
this
paper:
such
as
Wendell
Berry,
Gregory
Bateson,
or
through
Bates’s
(2011)
rural
ideals.
The
ecofeminism
of
Vendana
Shiva
has
also
been
influential
in
educational
philosophy,
but
was
not
explored
here.
Wherever
music
educators
are
not
generally
dictated
to
by
the
tyranny
of
standardized
tests,
music
education
has
the
space
to
be
a
meaningful
place
for
ecological
literacy
to
take
hold
in
schooling
institutions,
cultivating
in
our
students
ecological
consciousness,
and
enacting
change
in
and
for
the
sake
of
nature
and
our
future.
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
19
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Educational
Studies
Association,
36(1):
58-‐73.
Regelski,
Thomas
A.
2004.
Teaching
general
music
in
grades
4-‐8:
A
musicianship
approach.
New
York:
Oxford
University
Press.
Schafer,
Murray
R.
1977/94.
The
soundscape:
Our
sonic
environment
and
the
turning
of
the
world.
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Destiny
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Ladislaus
M.
&
Kincheloe,
Joe
L.
1999.
Introduction:
What
is
indigenous
knowledge
and
why
should
we
study
it?
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What
is
indigenous
knowledge:
Voices
from
the
academy,
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&
Kincheloe.
3-‐57.
New
York:
Falmer
Press.
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Daniel
J.
2015.
Satis
Coleman—A
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for
music
education.
Music
Educators
Journal,
102(1):
56-‐61.
DOI:
10.1177/0027432115590182.
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Paul.
1997.
Teaching
the
commons:
Place,
pride,
and
the
renewal
of
community.
Boulder:
Westview
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Watkins,
Holly
2011.
Musical
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404-‐408.
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
21
1
I
begin
this
paper
with
a
vignette
of
an
informal
ecological
music
learning
experience.
I
have
repeated
this
experience,
with
slight
variations,
many
times
as,
I
assume,
many
parents
of
8-‐month-‐olds
do.
Learning
is,
I
believe,
an
act
of
experiencing.
2
David
Orr
(1992)
labels
three
crises,
which
are
discussed
later
in
this
paper.
3
The
phrase
“music
education”
is
being
used
in
this
paper
to
describe
the
educational
field,
which
predominately
(but
not
always)
is
located
in
schools,
and
the
field
of
research
and
scholarship
institutionalized
in
journals
concerning
that
field.
It
might
also
be
called
formal
music
schooling,
when,
actually,
music
learning
may
occur
anywhere
and
does
not
always
involve
schools
or
teachers.
4
A
position
with
which
I
wholly
agree
5
I
contend
that
one
way
to
understand
if
music
“matters”
is
within
the
context
of
human
and
ecological
“viability.”
As
Berry
(1995)
wrote,
“we
need
to
provide
specific
programs
leading
toward
a
viable
human
situation
on
a
viable
planet”
(12),
and;
“Education
at
the
human
level
would
be
the
conscious
sensitizing
of
the
human
to
those
profound
communications
made
by
the
universe
about
us,
by
the
sun
and
moon
and
stars,
the
clouds
and
rain,
the
contours
of
the
earth
in
all
its
living
forms”
(15).
6
Or
as
J.
Scott
Goble
(2010)
states
the
question,
“What
is
the
societal
role
or
social
importance
of
public
school
music
education
in
the
United
States
as
a
postmodern
society?”
(249).
Similar
to
Goble’s
conception,
my
conception
of
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
attempts
to
serve
communities,
“as
important
means
of
psychophysiological
and
psychosocial
equilibration
in
those
communities”
(279).
While
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
has
a
societal
role
and
importance,
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy
has
the
opportunity
to
also
be
ecocentric,
an
idea
best
explicated
by
Naess’s
(1986/2005)
statement,
“The
flourishing
of
human
and
non-‐human
life
on
Earth
has
inherent
value.
The
value
of
non-‐human
life-‐forms
is
independent
of
the
usefulness
of
the
non-‐human
world
for
human
purposes”
(68).
The
understandings
we
(teachers
and
students)
gain
about
our
relationships
with
each
other
(about
communities
of
people)
can
also
help
us
understand
how
we
relate
to
our
environments.
7
Understood
expansively
as
the
natural
synchronization
of
the
sounds
of
non-‐
human
life,
or
as
sonorous
patterns
humans
contribute
to
the
natural
musical
environment
8
“Ecological
consciousness”
in
this
paper
is
treated
in
the
same
way
Marx
uses
the
term
“class
consciousness,”
except
in
that
it
also
aims
to
recognize
the
inherent
solidarity
among
human,
non-‐human
animals,
and
plant
life
on
the
earth.
9
Literacy
implies
a
broader
understanding
of
ecological
concerns
than
just
consciousness,
and
includes
a
critical
reading
of
ecological
issues
at
the
local,
regional,
and
global
levels.
10
In
this
paper,
pedagogy
is
understood
as
the
work
of
a
schoolteacher:
teaching
praxis.
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
22
11
For
example,
when
I
taught
elementary
general
music
in
Pittsburgh,
each
Earth
Day
I
designed
a
lesson
around
gardening,
challenging
the
environmental
cost
of
shipping
food
from
distant
places;
this
lesson
began
by
singing
Dave
Mallett’s
Garden
Song.
The
music
became
the
basis
for
meaningful
conversation,
and
students
shared
their
experiences
with
backyard,
window,
and
potted
gardens.
12
This
part
includes
the
vignettes
(metaphorical
cases
showing
the
possibility
of
an
eco-‐literate
music
pedagogy),
the
descriptions
of
music
(as
interconnected
with
environment)
in
ecomusicology,
and
Music
Education
as
indigenous
knowledge.
A
simple
search
(in
SAGE
and
JSTOR)
of
the
contents
of
our
primary
journals
shows
this
issue
has
not
been
thoroughly
considered
in
published
music
education
scholarship.
13
Coleman’s
concept,
silence
in
nature,
is
echoed
and
innovated
in
the
work
of
R.
Murray
Schafer
(1977/94),
whose
Soundscape
concepts
are
still
relevant
to
many
music
educators
today.
Just
as
Coleman
was
concerned
with
the
noise
of
the
city,
and
recommended
finding
silence
in
nature,
Schafer’s
work
is
concerned
with
noise,
“the
sounds
we
have
learned
to
ignore”
(4),
which
led
to
an
interdisciplinary
approach
to
music
education
that
involved
such
activities
as
measuring
and
recording
the
sounds
of
the
environment,
and
studying
anti-‐noise
legislation.
The
current
pedagogy
of
eco-‐literate
music
education
can
be
understood
as
an
extension
of
Coleman’s
and
Schafer’s
work
in
“clairaudience”
(11)
beyond
its
sonic
and
individual
spiritual
implications,
to
holistically
understand
the
impact
of
people
on
the
environment
with
the
end
being
to
enact
societal
change.
14
To
answer
this
question
I
will
provide
some
philosophical
foundation
for
eco-‐
literate
music
pedagogy.
15
Bates
describes
this
as
human
relationships
interconnected
to
place.
In
contrast,
Morton
(2012)
uses
the
phrase
environmental
interdependence
to
describe
a
similar
concept.
16
As
per
its
mission
statement,
TOPICS
is
intended
to
be
relevant
to
“music
education
students,
school
music,
community
and
private
music
teachers,
and
professors
largely
engaged
with
preparing
undergraduate
and
master’s
level
music
education
students.”
I,
therefore,
view
approachability
as
an
important
stylistic
choice.
17
Jorgensen
(2010)
wrote
that
in
music
education
philosophy,
spirituality
could
be
viewed
“as
a
subset
of
aesthetic
experience,
a
discrete
and
separate
set
of
virtues
from
aesthetic
or
moral
virtues,
a
language
expressed
musically,
or
an
integrated
and
heightened
state
of
transcendence
and
level
of
consciousness”
(107).
In
this
paper,
spirituality
is
understood
as
separate
from
aesthetic
theory
and
reflects
best
an
integrated
and
heightened
state
of
transcendence
and
level
of
consciousness.
18
In
this
way,
Morton’s
writings
also
connect
to
this
current
paper’s
section
on
indigenous
knowledge.
19
She
echoes
Music
Education
philosopher
Wayne
Bowman.
20
Here
“praxis”
is
understood
as
teaching
“practice”
involving
reflection
and
action.
TOPICS for Music Education Praxis 2015:01 • Daniel Shevock
23
21
This
definition
seems
to
provide
an
appropriate
wall
to
separate
non-‐spiritual
and
spiritual
activities.
Because
it
deals
with
yearning,
it
deals
with
a
person’s
intention.
Any
activity
traditionally
not
conceived
(by
humans)
as
a
spiritual
act,
such
as
walking,
musicing,
or
sexual
intercourse,
might
be
understood,
by
the
yearning
person,
as
spiritual
if
the
aim
is
to
be
connected
with
something
larger
than
one’s
ego.
Examples
might
include
the
Buddhist
practice
of
walking
meditation,
Zen
chanting,
or
Tantric
intercourse,
but
wouldn’t
necessarily
be
limited
to
those
traditions
labeled
as
spiritual
or
religious.
22
Thomas
Berry
describes
“mystery”
in
connection
to
the
complexity
of
life
on
earth.
“The
more
a
person
thinks
of
the
infinite
number
of
interrelated
activities
that
take
place
here,
the
more
mysterious
it
all
becomes”
(13).
23
Mother
Earth
is
also
used
in
Abrokwaa’s
(1999)
paper.
About
the
Author
Daniel
J.
Shevock
is
a
lecturer
in
music
at
Penn
State
Altoona.
He
taught
in
public
schools
for
twelve
years,
in
Pennsylvania
and
Maryland.
His
experience
as
an
urban
music
teacher
awakened
a
concern
for
issues
of
creativity
and
social
justice.
Dan
musics
on
the
vibraphone
and
drums,
and
is
an
ardent
reader.
His
scholarly
interests
include
confident
music
improvising
and
social
philosophy:
especially
critical
pedagogy
and
deep
ecology.
Dan
has
degrees
from
Clarion
University
of
Pennsylvania
(B.S.Ed.),
Towson
University
(M.S.),
and
the
Pennsylvania
State
University
(Ph.D.).