Musical Aesthetics in Music Education Discourse from 1907 to 1958

297 Pages·2017·1.49 MB·English

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Educational Policy Studies Dissertations Department of Educational Policy Studies
Summer 8-11-2011
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Jeremy M. Kopkas
Georgia State University
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss
Part of the Education Commons, and the Education Policy Commons
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Kopkas, Jeremy M., "Soundings: Musical Aesthetics in Music Education Discourse from 1907 to 1958."
Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2011.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/2088836
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Educational Policy Studies at
ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Policy Studies
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ACCEPTANCE

This dissertation, SOUNDINGS: MUSICAL AESTHETICS IN MUSIC EDUCATION
DISCOURSE FROM 1907 TO 1958, by JEREMY M. KOPKAS, was prepared under the
direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the
committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of
Philosophy in the College of Education, Georgia State University.

The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chair, as
representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of
excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. The Dean of the College of
Education concurs.

_______________________________ ______________________________
Deron Boyles, Ph.D. Philo Hutcheson, Ph.D.
Committee Chair Committee Member

_______________________________ ______________________________
Jodi Kaufmann, Ph.D. David Myers, Ph.D.
Committee Member Committee Member

_______________________________
Date

_______________________________
Sheryl A. Gowen, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Educational Policy Studies

_______________________________
R.W. Kamphaus, Ph.D.
Dean and Distinguished Research Professor
College of Education
AUTHOR’S STATEMENT

By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State
University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its
regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy
from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose
direction it was written, by the College of Education’s director of graduate studies and
research, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly
purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying
from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be
allowed without my written permission.

__________________________________________
Jeremy M. Kopkas
NOTICE TO BORROWERS

All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in
accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The
author of this dissertation is:

Jeremy M. Kopkas
3408 Turtle Lake Club Drive
Marietta, GA 30067

The director of this dissertation is:

Dr. Deron Boyles
Department of Educational Policy Studies
College of Education
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
ABSTRACT

SOUNDINGS: MUSICAL AESTHETICS IN
MUSIC EDUCATION DISCOURSE
FROM 1907 TO 1958
by
Jeremy M. Kopkas

In this dissertation I examine the discourse of music educators as it relates to
musical aesthetics in the United States from the creation of the Music Supervisors’
Conference in 1907 to the year of the publication of Basic Concepts of Music Education:
The Fifty-Seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 1 in
1958. The purpose of this dissertation is to show that philosophical discussion, especially
in relation to musical aesthetics, was much more comprehensive than previously
acknowledged. The conventional view that the arguments supporting music education
were primarily utilitarian is a limited interpretation of the discourse prior to 1958. In
actuality, arguments about music extended beyond its practical social, economic, and
political utility. Additional aesthetic theories guided the field and girded ideas of musical
understanding and informed instruction. A better understanding of the discourse of this
period contributes to more informed conversations about musical aesthetics and its
relation to music education. Utilizing philosophical analysis and archival research, I
argue in this dissertation that the philosophical discourse relating to musical aesthetics
was rich, varied, insightful, and pervasive. The evidence in this dissertation refutes the
standard interpretation which eschews the possibility of discourse on aesthetics taking
place prior to 1958. I show that there was deeper philosophical analysis than what is
currently acknowledged by those who presently make the claim that what was intended to
happen generally in the field of music education and during instruction was solely guided
by utilitarian philosophy. In other words, it expands the current understanding of
philosophical discourse relating to musical aesthetics in music education before the
Music Education as Aesthetic Education movement that is argued to begin with the
publication of Basic Concepts.
SOUNDINGS: MUSICAL AESTHETICS IN
MUSIC EDUCATION DISCOURSE
FROM 1907 TO 1958
by
Jeremy M. Kopkas

A Dissertation

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the
Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Educational Policy Studies
in
the Department of Educational Policy Studies
in
the College of Education
Georgia State University

Atlanta, Georgia
2011
Copyright by
Jeremy M. Kopkas
2011
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing, much like the disciplines of philosophy and history, is a process which
incorporates numerous perspectives and is often the result of thought over time. Rarely
are large works written in one sitting, and while there may be the occasional genius who
is able to sequester himself/herself and produce works of brilliance, I am not one of them.
Instead I am indebted to many individuals and unnamed forces that have influenced my
thinking and this dissertation. In particular those who have endured the challenges of
interacting with me during this process deserve special mention. It is because of them
this project has taken its present form.
The guidance, thoughtful advice, and personal attention I received from members
of my dissertation committee were integral to my own thought process and to this work.
On several occasions my committee chair, Deron Boyles, took more time away from his
busy schedule than he could spare. Had he not given this dissertation the attention he did
it would be a much more scattered and longer study. His profound influence on me has
helped to guide my thinking about knowledge issues in education. Philo Hutcheson
provided important historical insights from the time I began to struggle with the topic,
which was almost at the beginning of the doctoral program. The guilt I felt by asking
him to read so many long iterations of ideas contained within this larger work runs deep,
yet he read my papers with great attention and care each and every time. I was also
privileged to work with David Myers, whose knowledge and experience in the field of
music education were indispensible. It is with his help, over the course of several
individual meetings, that this topic took its final form. Even while he was hundreds, and
sometimes thousands of miles away, he continued to assist me in this research. Jodi
Kaufmann, a last moment addition to the team, was willing to pitch in and participate as
an important member of the committee. Each of you has bought to this dissertation
important insights from your areas of expertise making it a more thorough and substantial
study. Finally, I am thankful to the members of the Southeastern Philosophy of
Education Society and Southern History of Education Society who helped critique
aspects of this paper.
There are many others who have helped me through the program and with this
dissertation. Tom McIntyre is largely responsible for recommending that I pursue a
doctorate and, understanding my interests, nudged me toward the Educational Policy
Studies program at Georgia State University. John and Marcia Robinson, my parents and
musicians in the truest sense, taught me many important lessons, of which music was a
bigger part than they are aware. Their invaluable perspectives as music educators and
their stories of their own training as musicians and scholars helped me to think of this
project as something that could be managed.
Finally, it is with the utmost sincerity and heartfelt emotion that I thank my family
for putting up with me for the past five and one-half years. Grace and Charlie have been
patient beyond what should be required of any six and two-year-old while I wrote this
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“blah, blah, blah” book. Most of all, I thank Diane, my dear and loving wife, for whom
none of this would have been possible. She read countless papers over the course of the
program and many drafts of this dissertation to ensure that I submitted work that had
proper comma placement and grammatical structure – no small matter since my topics
and writing style can be considered less than dynamic. Hers was truly a labor of love.
She held the family together and was an exceptional parent, wife, and teacher, while I
took on a project that was far more selfish and far less formidable than anything she was
doing. She is the most remarkable intellectual I have ever encountered, and it is to her
that this project is dedicated.

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