A Praxial Approach to Musicology in the Secondary School Curriculum

Because aesthetic philosophies, which have long dominated music education, privilege music as an aesthetic object, they minimize aspects of musicology concerned with music as a cultural practice and provide too narrow a view of music itself. This has also minimized the role of musicology in the school music curriculum. First, I argue that musicological praxis is congruent with praxial philosophies of music education and that it is appropriate for inclusion in the secondary music curriculum. Second, I offer a set of criteria and recommendations for applying this philosophy and integrating musicological praxis into that curriculum. Finally, I use two brief examples by way of illustration. I hope this paper outlines at least one path for making musicology a more integral part of curriculum and instruction and that it will provide a broadly applicable philosophical framework.