Validation & a new book

Today, I found articles that support my developing ideas for this position paper. Can I call it a thesis yet? No. I am definitely circling around the ideas that for music curriculum, there are 2 dif't camps of thought: traditional v. contemporary. The article from Music Educators Journal used the word 'reconceptualized', while others have used the term "post-modernism". Hmmm...not quite sure which is the best. But I am most comfortable with the 'contemporary' term. I thought my research was going nowhere - just shooting in the dark - but today, I feel validated in my research. I have to create at least 3 argument points - I will have 4 b/c there are four areas of study within the Action Ideal posit. My argument will be for contemporary music curriculum development and the counterargument will be for traditional music curriculum development.

Today, we went to church - duh, it's Sunday. I am going more often than I used to. I go through slumps every few years where I just don't wanna go or I get wounded by some situation in the church (oh, the can of worms!). But Steve is leading youth worship at a Baptist church on Wednesdays and the contemporary worship service at a Methodist church on Sundays. I am growing to like the Methodist church - there are some definite differences btwn the Meths and the Baps! But we have a new Bible study class and everyone is just so REAL - I LOVE IT! May I just say - FINALLY! So, I like it enough to attend church on a regular basis.

We went to church and then I took Steve to his youth band rehearsal. I swung over to B&N to buy Daniel Levitin's new book, The World in Six Songs, and then took it to Cheesecake Factory to read while I ate lunch. The book is really good. His premise is very much evolution based - that much I don't really care about b/c it's not like he's gonna sway me to that side. Basically, he says that all songs or musics fit into 6 categories: Friendship, Joy, Comfort, Knowledge, Religion, Love. Human nature is searching for those parts of the spirit and self-expression takes the form of music to create them.

This is what is interesting....for years, I have heard that music education courses are in jeopardy of being cut for funding purposes. I think I take this for granted b/c of the school district that I currently teach in. Klein is very pro-fine arts, especially pro-music. Here's the interesting part....Levitin says that music has been an important part of our daily lives throughout human history. He says that music is "a core element of our identity as a species". We are a highly variable species that has created a need for music and allowed it to shape who we are as a global culture and its subgroups. Why then would anyone ever think of it being insignificant in the education of the youth of this world?