Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Educational Policy Studies Dissertations Department of Educational Policy Studies Summer 8-11-2011 Soundings: Musical Aesthetics in Music Education Discourse from 1907 to 1958 Jeremy M. Kopkas Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss Part of the Education Commons, and the Education Policy Commons Recommended Citation Kopkas, Jeremy M., "Soundings: Musical Aesthetics in Music Education Discourse from 1907 to 1958." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2011. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss/81 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Educational Policy Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Policy Studies Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, SOUNDINGS: MUSICAL AESTHETICS IN MUSIC EDUCATION DISCOURSE FROM 1907 TO 1958, by JEREMY M. KOPKAS, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chair, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. The Dean of the College of Education concurs. _______________________________ ______________________________ Deron Boyles, Ph.D. Philo Hutcheson, Ph.D. Committee Chair Committee Member _______________________________ ______________________________ Jodi Kaufmann, Ph.D. David Myers, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member _______________________________ Date _______________________________ Sheryl A. Gowen, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Educational Policy Studies _______________________________ R.W. Kamphaus, Ph.D. Dean and Distinguished Research Professor College of Education AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education’s director of graduate studies and research, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission. __________________________________________ Jeremy M. Kopkas NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Jeremy M. Kopkas 3408 Turtle Lake Club Drive Marietta, GA 30067 The director of this dissertation is: Dr. Deron Boyles Department of Educational Policy Studies College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303-3083 ABSTRACT SOUNDINGS: MUSICAL AESTHETICS IN MUSIC EDUCATION DISCOURSE FROM 1907 TO 1958 by Jeremy M. Kopkas In this dissertation I examine the discourse of music educators as it relates to musical aesthetics in the United States from the creation of the Music Supervisors’ Conference in 1907 to the year of the publication of Basic Concepts of Music Education: The Fifty-Seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 1 in 1958. The purpose of this dissertation is to show that philosophical discussion, especially in relation to musical aesthetics, was much more comprehensive than previously acknowledged. The conventional view that the arguments supporting music education were primarily utilitarian is a limited interpretation of the discourse prior to 1958. In actuality, arguments about music extended beyond its practical social, economic, and political utility. Additional aesthetic theories guided the field and girded ideas of musical understanding and informed instruction. A better understanding of the discourse of this period contributes to more informed conversations about musical aesthetics and its relation to music education. Utilizing philosophical analysis and archival research, I argue in this dissertation that the philosophical discourse relating to musical aesthetics was rich, varied, insightful, and pervasive. The evidence in this dissertation refutes the standard interpretation which eschews the possibility of discourse on aesthetics taking place prior to 1958. I show that there was deeper philosophical analysis than what is currently acknowledged by those who presently make the claim that what was intended to happen generally in the field of music education and during instruction was solely guided by utilitarian philosophy. In other words, it expands the current understanding of philosophical discourse relating to musical aesthetics in music education before the Music Education as Aesthetic Education movement that is argued to begin with the publication of Basic Concepts . SOUNDINGS: MUSICAL AESTHETICS IN MUSIC EDUCATION DISCOURSE FROM 1907 TO 1958 by Jeremy M. Kopkas A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Policy Studies in the Department of Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia 2011 Copyright by Jeremy M. Kopkas 2011 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing, much like the disciplines of philosophy and history, is a process which incorporates numerous perspectives and is often the result of thought over time. Rarely are large works written in one sitting, and while there may be the occasional genius who is able to sequester himself/herself and produce works of brilliance, I am not one of them. Instead I am indebted to many individuals and unnamed forces that have influenced my thinking and this dissertation. In particular those who have endured the challenges of interacting with me during this process deserve special mention. It is because of them this project has taken its present form. The guidance, thoughtful advice, and personal attention I received from members of my dissertation committee were integral to my own thought process and to this work. On several occasions my committee chair, Deron Boyles, took more time away from his busy schedule than he could spare. Had he not given this dissertation the attention he did it would be a much more scattered and longer study. His profound influence on me has helped to guide my thinking about knowledge issues in education. Philo Hutcheson provided important historical insights from the time I began to struggle with the topic, which was almost at the beginning of the doctoral program. The guilt I felt by asking him to read so many long iterations of ideas contained within this larger work runs deep, yet he read my papers with great attention and care each and every time. I was also privileged to work with David Myers, whose knowledge and experience in the field of music education were indispensible. It is with his help, over the course of several individual meetings, that this topic took its final form. Even while he was hundreds, and sometimes thousands of miles away, he continued to assist me in this research. Jodi Kaufmann, a last moment addition to the team, was willing to pitch in and participate as an important member of the committee. Each of you has bought to this dissertation important insights from your areas of expertise making it a more thorough and substantial study. Finally, I am thankful to the members of the Southeastern Philosophy of Education Society and Southern History of Education Society who helped critique aspects of this paper. There are many others who have helped me through the program and with this dissertation. Tom McIntyre is largely responsible for recommending that I pursue a doctorate and, understanding my interests, nudged me toward the Educational Policy Studies program at Georgia State University. John and Marcia Robinson, my parents and musicians in the truest sense, taught me many important lessons, of which music was a bigger part than they are aware. Their invaluable perspectives as music educators and their stories of their own training as musicians and scholars helped me to think of this project as something that could be managed. Finally, it is with the utmost sincerity and heartfelt emotion that I thank my family for putting up with me for the past five and one-half years. Grace and Charlie have been patient beyond what should be required of any six and two-year-old while I wrote this ii “blah, blah, blah” book. Most of all, I thank Diane, my dear and loving wife, for whom none of this would have been possible. She read countless papers over the course of the program and many drafts of this dissertation to ensure that I submitted work that had proper comma placement and grammatical structure – no small matter since my topics and writing style can be considered less than dynamic. Hers was truly a labor