Dr. Lukas Bugiel 

Media of Music Education - A Philosophical Approach in Music Education Research

Although the terms “musical teaching” and “musical learning” are common used, concrete definitions are difficult to find, especially if one wants to know what is special about these kinds of activities. When we speak of "teaching" or "learning" music, we mean specific types of actions that can be successful under certain conditions. This is the starting point of my research project, in which I try to explain these basic concepts of scientific music education. I do this by describing their forms of action, which I call "media." I argue that showing should be understood as a medium of music teaching, and practicing as a medium of musical learning: Our common understanding of what it means to teach music, in the case of early-childhood education, usually includes singing something that the child will be able to imitate. If the child then imitates what it hears and reflects back properties that we deem relevant, then we could say the child has learned to listen.

This research will result in (1) a subchapter of my habilitation on the media of education more generally and (2) a lecture in which I will reflect on this approach as a form of Analytic Philosophy. This lecture will take place at the conference “Philosophy of Music Education,” which I will plan together with Prof. Dr. Lars Oberhaus at the HWK.