Music Educaton as Compostable Culture

Dan Shevock

Music Educaton as Compostable Culture

2019

Poster Presented at PMEA/ NAfME Eastern Division Conference. Pittsburgh, PA. April 4, 2019....Read more

Music Educa*on as Compostable Culture Daniel J. Shevock, Penn State Altoona and State College Friends School, NAfME Eastern Division 2019 BACKGROUND • Musics comprise many ecological aspects (e.g., soundscape, birdsongs, whalesongs); and are connected to material nature (Shevock 2017) • Climate change is the 21 st Century’s deﬁning challenge • The guiding ques*on is: How might redesigning music educa*on around permaculture ethics sustain and regenerate culture and nature? • This essay incorporates permaculture ethics—earth care, people care, and fair share—into praxial music educa*on Praxial Philosophy • As a praxial music educator, what ethical ideas can guide my aVempts to live sustainably and regenera*vely through music teaching and learning? • Praxialism: Music is something people do (see Goble, 2010) • Goble suggests praxial musical educators “understand [other human cultures] on their own terms” (p. 279) • Goble’s theory doesn’t push understanding the other to nonhuman sounds. Engaging diverse human prac*ces on their own terms is no easy feat, especially within long unjust, industrial socie*es. • Bates (2013) has long suggested music educators adopt downtoearth agrarian values; and these have focused praxialists’ aVen*on onto environmental issues Permaculture • Culture: Cultus was prac*ced in medieval Europe through religious fes*vals, and is related to words habita*on, *lling, reﬁnement, and worship. Musics were one part of the cultus • Permaculture aims to ﬁnd “permanent” “culture,” that is, cultural prac*ces that are sustainable and regenera*ve Earth Care • People are living beings within nature (part of nature) • Permaculturalists look to the “longestlas*ng civiliza*ons” (Powers, 2017, p. 2) for models • Mother Nature: An interconnected systems understanding can guide our prac*ces at the microlevel and the macro. • Micro teachers can give up power to allow the whole to exceed the parts in ways we can never expect or lesson plan for • Macro we can bring students into diverse ecologies, including local parks, and invite material nature and nonhuman beings into our music pedagogy—truly dissolving the walls separa*ng school from both society and the natural world People Care • “People care starts with the self, but it expands in widening circles to include our families, neighbours, local and wider communi*es. In this sense it follows the paVern of almost all tradi*onal (tribal) ethical systems” (Holmgren, 2002, p. 7) Fair Share • Fair share calls into ques*on those of us in the Global North, the socalled ﬁrst world, the global consumers • Use doesn’t have to mean destruc*on and waste • What do we do in music educa*on when we have abundance? Conclusions • “In a na*on that has grown fat and rich by consuming and expor*ng consump*on to the rest of the world, sustainable musicking for sustainable living may be a diﬃcult ‘sell’” (Koza, 2006, p. 35) • Culture can be made more permanent in music educa*on by incorpora*ng earth care, people care, and fair share References • Bates, V. C. (2013). Music educa*on unplugged. Ac3on, Cri3cism, and Theory for Music Educa3on, 12(2): 7590. • Goble, J. S. (2010). What’s so important about music educa*on? Routledge: New York. • Holmgren, D. (2002). Permaculture: Principles & pathways beyond sustainability. Holmgren Design Services: Hepburn. • Koza, J. E. (2006). “Save the music”? Toward culturally relevant, joyful, and sustainable school music. Philosophy of Music Educa3on Review, 14(1): 2338. • Powers, M. The permaculture student 2: A collec*on of regenera*ve solu*ons. PowersPermaculture123. • Shevock, D. J. (2017). Ecoliterate music pedagogy. Routledge: New York. Link: hVps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Compost.jpg EcoLiterate Music Pedagogy • Teachers are able to teach music to increase student’s ecological literacy, important for many local, state, and na3onal curriculum objec3ves (Shevock, 2017)

Music Educa*on as Compostable Culture Daniel J. Shevock, Penn State Altoona and State College Friends School, NAfME Eastern Division 2019 BACKGROUND • Musics comprise many ecological aspects (e.g., soundscape, birdsongs, whalesongs); and are connected to material nature (Shevock 2017) • Climate change is the 21st Century’s deﬁning challenge • The guiding ques*on is: How might redesigning music educa*on around permaculture ethics sustain and regenerate culture and nature? • This essay incorporates permaculture ethics—earth care, people care, and fair share—into praxial music educa*on Praxial Philosophy • As a praxial music educator, what ethical ideas can guide my aVempts to live sustainably and regenera*vely through music teaching and learning? • Praxialism: Music is something people do (see Goble, 2010) • Goble suggests praxial musical educators “understand [other human cultures] on their own terms” (p. 279) • Goble’s theory doesn’t push understanding the other to non-‐human sounds. Engaging diverse human prac*ces on their own terms is no easy feat, especially within long unjust, industrial socie*es. • Bates (2013) has long suggested music educators adopt down-‐to-‐earth agrarian values; and these have focused praxialists’ aVen*on onto environmental issues Permaculture • • Culture: Cultus was prac*ced in medieval Europe through religious fes*vals, and is related to words habita*on, *lling, reﬁnement, and worship. Musics were one part of the cultus Permaculture aims to ﬁnd “permanent” “culture,” that is, cultural prac*ces that are sustainable and regenera*ve Earth Care • People are living beings within nature (part of nature) • Permaculturalists look to the “longest-‐las*ng civiliza*ons” (Powers, 2017, p. 2) for models • Mother Nature: An interconnected systems understanding can guide our prac*ces at the micro-‐level and the macro-‐. • Micro-‐ teachers can give up power to allow the whole to exceed the parts in ways we can never expect or lesson plan for • Macro-‐ we can bring students into diverse ecologies, including local parks, and invite material nature and non-‐human beings into our music pedagogy—truly dissolving the walls separa*ng school from both society and the natural world Eco-‐Literate Music Pedagogy • Teachers are able to teach music to increase student’s ecological literacy, important for many local, state, and na3onal curriculum objec3ves (Shevock, 2017) Link: hVps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Compost.jpg People Care • “People care starts with the self, but it expands in widening circles to include our families, neighbours, local and wider communi*es. In this sense it follows the paVern of almost all tradi*onal (tribal) ethical systems” (Holmgren, 2002, p. 7) Fair Share • Fair share calls into ques*on those of us in the Global North, the so-‐called ﬁrst-‐ world, the global consumers • Use doesn’t have to mean destruc*on and waste • What do we do in music educa*on when we have abundance? Conclusions • “In a na*on that has grown fat and rich by consuming and expor*ng consump*on to the rest of the world, sustainable musicking for sustainable living may be a diﬃcult ‘sell’” (Koza, 2006, p. 35) • Culture can be made more permanent in music educa*on by incorpora*ng earth care, people care, and fair share References • • • • • • Bates, V. C. (2013). Music educa*on unplugged. Ac3on, Cri3cism, and Theory for Music Educa3on, 12(2): 75-‐90. Goble, J. S. (2010). What’s so important about music educa*on? Routledge: New York. Holmgren, D. (2002). Permaculture: Principles & pathways beyond sustainability. Holmgren Design Services: Hepburn. Koza, J. E. (2006). “Save the music”? Toward culturally relevant, joyful, and sustainable school music. Philosophy of Music Educa3on Review, 14(1): 23-‐38. Powers, M. The permaculture student 2: A collec*on of regenera*ve solu*ons. PowersPermaculture123. Shevock, D. J. (2017). Eco-‐literate music pedagogy. Routledge: New York.

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Music Educaton as Compostable Culture