Report on Sound Education in North America: A Gathering of Voices

Abstract

Until fairly recently, the voice of R. Murray Schafer calling upon music educators to explore sound and investigate the acoustic ecology or our world as components of North American music education was barely audible in school policy and curriculum documents. There were sporadic bursts of sound education in schools, post-secondary arts coursework and teacher education programs, usually initiated by energetic individuals. Primarily, however, the norms for music education were constructed around instrumental and/or vocal performance skills. Any programs that were sustained were found, for the most part, in post-secondary institutions with innovative arts programs or departments. Recently, there seems to be a dynamic change in which sound as a component of music education is being heard in a widening context. In this brief report, I will look at some of these offerings in schools and post-secondary institutions in North America. Since the publication of Schafer’s music education books (beginning with Ear Cleaning in 1969), the influence of this Canadian composer and music educator has been felt around the world. In North America, his ideas about sound exploration and acoustic ecology have found their way into the academy (as part of the training of musicians, architects and other professionals) and more recently have begun to emerge in school education documents. The influence of people like Schafer, Barry Truax, Hildegard Westerkamp and Gary Ferrington among others, is beginning to be reflected in music experiences of many school children through school curricula and artist/school partnerships in the arts. Not surprisingly, in North America, their influence has been most strongly felt in Canada as all four are Canadian or Canadian educated. So too, is Tadahiko Imada, whose translation of Schafer’s book, A Little Sound Education (1996), and his use of soundscape and sound education methods in music education (2006), have had an influence on music education in Japan.