 "The best resource for the contemporary music educator!" | 2005-05-18 |
| - Reviewed By jnoble39 |
Music Matters is a truly revolutionary book. David Elliott was the first person to challenge the "good 'ole boy" status quo developed by Bennett Reimer. The book is blunt and serious, while maintaining the positive, constructivist attitude that is necessary to promote change in our failing music education programs across the country.
I bought Music Matters during my second year of public school teaching in the urban schools of Miami. David Elliott's book single-handedly prevented early music teacher burnout in me. The book revived my damaged and jaded view of the current state of music education in the public schools and provided hope for positive change in the future.
The book is not "easy reading" by any means, but Elliott places discussion questions at the end of each chapter, and the central "praxial" ideas (meaning "to-do") connect each chapter throughout the book. I recommend that the reader take notes and write down critical questions while reading each chapter. It also helps to go back and re-read sections as you mature and develop more insight into your own personal philosophy of music education.
I HIGHLY recommend this book as a first step toward developing and cultivating a post-modern philosophy of music education. Band, Orchestra, Choral, and General Music teachers can all benefit from the ideas presented in this book. One of the great things about Elliott is that he encourages critical, scholarly debate of his ideas. That is something that Reimer and his indoctrinated cohorts have never liked! The idea that musics beyond Western-Classical tradition can be used as a viable curriculum in the classroom is another reason to keep this book handy at all times. Furthermore, Elliott's ideas for apprenticeship and developing a reflective-practice musical curriculum are essential reading to any music educator. I truly believe the ideas Elliott espouses are crucial to the rebuilding and reinforcement of music education programs across the world.
A 5-star rating for a 5-star book and 5-star pedagogue! |
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| "brilliant and bold" | 2004-07-29 |
| - Reviewed By ms626ms |
| This is not a book simply for educators in music. It is a book for all music thinkers (listeners, performers, composers, teachers). Elliott tackles all aspects of music. He joins both philosophical and practical matters succinctly and because of this, Music Matters is a must for all involved in music. Elliott's expansive thinking and all-encompassing philosophy is much in need -- especially now. It is really a shame that writers such as Swanwick and Reimer have not caught on. |
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| "Elliott's philosophy is still the BEST!!" | 2004-01-26 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| I just saw a review here by someone who claims that Elliott's praxial philosophy is 'old' now that Reimer has published his third edition. But this person makes several false statements in his review. First, Elliott's philosophy states that all students should learn ALL forms of music making and listening. Elliott does NOT advocate a performance-only philosophy. This 'performance-only' claim against Elliott is pure rubbish; it is dis-information by Reimer and his un-thinking clones. Second, Reimer says nothing new in his third edition; his philosphy still rests squarely on Langer's old philosophy, which has been rejected by 95% of the world's leading music philosophers, including Kivy, Davies and others. |
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 "Elliott's "Old" philosophy of music education" | 2003-11-07 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Since the publication of Bennett Reimer's third edition of A Philosophy of Music Education: Advancing the Vision, (2003) Elliott's book becomes passe. While Elliott single-mindedly advances music education as performance education, Reimer is inclusive of all the ways people enjoy music, and proposes a music education that is inclusive of the way music really is in our world. His is a brand "new philosophy" of music education, while Elliott's now seems dated and tired indeed. The reviews and ratings of Reimer's book are of the previous edition. Everyone who reads the third edition will find it revelatory -- a new way to conceive what music education has been and needs to be. |
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| "A new paradigm" | 2002-11-10 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Elliott 's book is a major and brilliant achievement. Never has our field seen anything close to this kind of superb thinking, writing, and scholarship. Elliott sets a new standard, far above the weak mush Reimer has always churned out. Still, Elliott gives full credit to Reimer in Music Matters (chp. 2) for Reimer's earlier work in music education philosophy. Elliott's critics conveniently overlook the fact that Elliott gives this credit, let alone how graciously he does it. Elliott's critics also fail to understand what philosophy is: to do Philosophy is to reflect critically on the efforts of other thinkers, past and present. This is exactly what Elliott does on the way to providing a fine alternative to Reimer's restricted aesthetic view; and Elliott does this brilliantly, with excellent logic and clear explanations. In addition, Elliott never attacks Reimer as a person (whereas Reimer is fond of attacking Elliott personally in his MEJ tirades and elswhere). |
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 "Brilliant, but needs interpersonal and editing skills." | 2002-11-04 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| David Elliot certainly has done much to help those of us in music education embrace the kinds of "musicing" that were absent from the traditional American music curriculum. Approaching music as a verb rather than a noun changes our process dramatically and for the better. However, the book would be more effective if it were better edited. It reads as if Elliot simply transcribed audio recordings of lectures in his doctoral level philosophy classes. The work contains many long elaborate lists, invented words, and sentences with confusing syntax which at best confuse and at worst insult the reader. (A particular glaring example from the first chapter: "When discussing music education, twelve things immediately come to mind. We will discuss four of them. ") In addition to this need for editing, Elliot seems to be carrying a very large chip on his shoulder for his former graduate advisor and apparent nemesis, Bennett Reimer. Many readers, myself included, may find his confrontational tone counter-productive to his professed cause of furthering the profession. Readers may also take issue with his refusal to acknowledge the fact that no thought, however radical and new, is created in a vacuum, but rather is built upon the foundation of the thought from which it precedes. It is certain that Elliot would vehemently deny any influence of Reimer's philosophical though on his own work, but the facts of time and circumstance point otherwise. His work would have been impossible to create had it not been for the philosophical foundations laid by Reimer. |
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