XV Colloquium: June 10 - 12, 2004:
The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
"Music for Life: Re-visioning Music Education as a Part of General/Comprehensive Schooling"

A Theoretical Foundation for Revisioning Musical Education
[at the Beginning of the 21st Century]
John Tierney

I hope, in this paper, to provoke action; 1] action that leads to a revisioning of musical education and the articulation of that vision in ways that are accessible by practioners; 2] action that leads to the instantiation of that vision in a pragmatic pedagogy that nurtures "good results; 3] action that ultimately "makes a difference" in the lifeworld of people. I begin with an overview of how I got to where I am; my personal experience: dissonance and consonance, that which is meaningful, and that which is "full of meaning" for me. (I hope this will provide a framework for readers to make connections to their own experience.) And then, to describe where I want to go, in Part II, I talk a bit about "good results." Following that, I describe in Part III what will inform my journey, an overview of a variety of theoretical notions, drawn from diverse fields and domains including: educational psychology, mathematics, language acquisition, expert-novice, cultural anthropology, motivation, transfer, assessment and evaluation, et al. And then, in Part IV, how I will plan for the trip, I offer a discussion of and commentary on action, action models, and action ideals. Finally, (perhaps) I describe what I propose to use to get to where I want to go, a learning design for the adult general learner at the beginning of the 21st Century. Attached to the paper are: curriculum-in-progress: Living Musically - A New Course; An Ancient Journey; and, a Themematic Vorrelation to MayDay Group Authors and Contributors.