Abstract
Education policy and social developments have led to divergent demands on music as a subject. Accordingly, discourses about the legitimation of music as a subject in schools are conducted in very diverse ways. The complexity of late modern societies presents our educational system with a variety of major challenges. This thesis takes up the ‘Sociology of world relations’ (Rosa, 2016) as a socio-critical approach and tries to point out its effects on the (musical) educational landscape.
The purpose of this research project is to make a contribution to the discussion about concepts of ‘music making’ as a form of music education in public schools, which are currently more and more implemented in different educational programs in Europe. Examining the perception on the practice of a music class project with string instruments in South Tyrol, a qualitative empirical study was conducted. The sample of this investigation consists of three music teachers and pupils from one Italian-speaking and two German-speaking classes in South Tyrol. The study is based on the procedural principles of the Grounded Theory Methodology in con- nection with an ethnographic approach. In order to explore educational objectives and legitimation structures, interviews were conducted with the music teachers. In addition, pupils participating in the music class project were interviewed about their experiences during the music lessons, the importance of music in their lives, and as a school subject. The complexity and divergence of perspectives are re- flected in the face of growing social, political and educational changes. The results illustrate not only the potential and the challenges of music teaching and learning in the perception of teachers and pupils, but also the role and significance of music education in late modern societies.
The core category learning music to live – living music to learn encapsulates the tension between an analytical-systematic approach to music that focuses on the instrumental-technical and music-theoretical aspects of music teaching and an emotional-intuitive approach to music, centered on aesthetic-sensorial aspects. The formation of musical world relations (musikalische Weltbeziehungsbildung) is based on the relationship and tension between these two modes and therefore suggests a vision of musical education in which learning and living music are not opposing concepts but related to each other.