Aesthetic Music Educatin and the Influence of Bennett Reimer

An explicit concept since the late 1950s, aesthetic education first developed to provide a strong philosophical foundation for music education and continues to evolve as a solid theoretical orientation for current effective practices. Bennett Reimer has contributed much to the discussion and development of the value of aesthetic education for the teaching and learning of music. Others in music education also support and promote these ideals and focus on developing an improved understanding for music educators. Some scholars oppose the principles of an aesthetic education, recently demonstrated by David Elliott who favors a praxial philosophy of music education centered on musical performance. The work of Reimer shows an influence of these†¦show more content†¦Only with that awareness can the teacher adequately portray a genuine representation of the artistic values of music to students. Reimer describes aesthetic education as â€Å"the development of a sensitivity to the aesthetic qualities of things.† He consciously avoids using the term â€Å"definition† yet provides a much-appreciated explanation that achieves that function. Reimer further illustrates that MEAE should encourage our ability to perceive and respond to conditions of musical relationships (e.g. tension-release, expectation-deviation) in perceptible objects and events. Musical works may possess various qualities (such as functional ones), but the primary significance of music should lie in its aesthetic value. If we abandon this unique characterization of music and emphasize its societal role, we risk degrading ourselves as well as our work. As teachers, we mediate the interactions between our students and aesthetic objects and should seek to improve these relationships with different experiences. Yet, we must first ensure that students have the ability to perceive expressive conditions as well as the ability to respond to them. Reimer distinguishes that effective MEAE cultivates a person’s â€Å"ability to yield meanings from (a work of art’s) structures of interrelated sounds and to transform words, images, ideas, emotions, and any other socially