Music, Leisure, Education: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives

This book explores historical and philosophical connections between music, leisure, and education.Specifically, it considers how music learning, teaching, and participation can be reconceptualized in terms of leisure.Taking as its starting point "the art of living" and the ethical question of how one should live, the book engages a wide range of scholarship to problematize the place of non-professional music-making in historical and contemporary (Western) conceptions of the good life and the common good.Part I provides a general background on music education, school music, the work ethic, leisure studies, recreation, play, and conduct.Part II focuses on two significant currents of thought and activity during the Progressive Era in the United States, the settlement movement and the recreation movement.The examination demonstrates how societal concerns over conduct (the "threat of leisure") and differing views on the purpose of music learning and teaching led to a fracturing between thos