Technology, Cultural Devaluation, and Music Education

Music education today is deformed by two framing conditions: the dominance of technology and the devaluation of culture. This shapes how music is taught, understood, valued and experienced in ways that undermine music’s essential nature. In response, this thesis proposes reorienting music education through an understanding of music’s defining qualities. I argue for a humanistic, listening-centred, and artistically uncompromising approach through teaching that unapologetically excludes extrinsic agendas and creates authentic participation. This approach has the potential to create the preconditions for music education to enrich the inner lives of both student-apprentices and teacher-artists, nurturing attentiveness, imagination, and dialogue.