Imagine standing on a precipice, looking out over a humble village resting in the valley below. In this valley, many aspects of life are seen. Forms of transportation are visible, as are place of employment, and homes of various shapes and sizes. The person viewing this village may focus on the various functions of the parts of the village. Broadening this vision to include a sense of overall aesthetic value of village live and how that life is interrelated to other villages is to change the perspective to a holistic one. A holistic view of music education is one that focuses on the artistic and aesthetic experience of music, not simply on the elements of music. According to John Blacking, "Music education can only be successful when people are touched by the aesthetic force of music and can transcend its social and cultural analogues" (1985, p. 22). A holistic approach to music education focuses on the development of the whole musical child by fostering a sense of connectedness with oneself and others through the musical experience.

In a time when problems associated with human fragmentation and alienation are permeating the media, a focus on highlighting the positive potential of the child and creating a sense of community for that child seems a most important focus. Musical experiences can be a vehicle for this sense of connectedness. In the Venda society of Africa, each person is considered a musician, an important part of musical and social events. Blacking found that music for the Venda was about creative expression of individual human beings in community, about the sharing of feelings and ideas (1985, p. 17). This creative expression and sharing of one's unique nature is possible in all societies. The sense of community that is generated is also possible and certainly a necessary goal for music educators. Music education can and should bring out the musicality of each individual in community. The shared connectedness that is experienced can then counter the consequences of complacency regarding human fragmentation and alienation. As John Blacking so beautifully states:

Problems in human societies begin when people learn less about love, because love is the basis of our existence as human beings…The hard task is to love, and music is a skill that prepares man for this most difficult task (1973, p. 103).

Educational reform has recently drawn the attention of more professionals as the future of the world’s children seems more at risk. Sociologists, psychologists, and government agencies are just a few examples of those who are bringing curricular ideas under close scrutiny. Many theories of music curriculum have focused on the skills required to understand or participate in music. Whereas the understanding and appreciation of music can be enhanced by developing musical skills and there is a realization that skills make musical communication more efficient, with a holistic focus on music education, a broader and more encompassing view is adopted. According to Blacking, music is “…not a game of rules and required skills but a discovery of self and others through the language of emotions which is fundamental to our daily communication and understanding of the world” (1985, p. 8).

Key Focuses of Holistic Music Education

Holism is based on the principle that all things are part of an indivisible unity or whole. Adapted from the book The Holistic Curriculum (Miller, 1993), which lists the five key points of holism, are the five key points of holism from a musical perspective. These points are woven in and out of the ensuing discussion of holistic music education. Each of these points is listed below and is followed by a related quote by John Blacking:

1.Interconnectedness of all people and the fundamental unifying nature of music.

“Music can transcend time and culture” (1973, p. 108).

2.Connection between an individual’s inner, emotional self and the musical self.

“Musical structure both evoke and spring from ‘feelings’ and especially the feelings associated with internal body movements” (1985, p. 22).

3.The teacher’s responsibility in cultivating aesthetic musical experiences.

“…should emphasize human variety and ingenuity….It is the business of music educators to induce in all their pupils new artistic experiences, which may or may not generate new social experiences” (1985, p. 19).

4.The value in the realization of music’s unifying nature and its effect upon positive values.

“…through music-making that there is a larger social world outside and a richer world of experience inside of each individual..” (1985, p. 19)

5. The realization that music as a means of sharing humanity creates greater feelings of responsibilities to others.

“…music-making…can also help people to transcend narrow cultural boundaries and political interests and to act in ways that are in the interests of their fellow human beings and the self-actualization” (1985, p. 1).

Holistic Music Curriculum in Action

As visions of a holistic music curriculum are embraced, certain activities are seen as central to the expansion of the child’s musical self. John Blacking states a central belief regarding music education in this quote from an interview which took place four months before his death:

My interests in music education….If human beings are innately musical, and if in some societies these innate capacities are nurtured in early childhood, it has always seemed to me that we must do more in modern industrial society to place artistic experience and musical practice at the center of education (1991, p. 55).

The ability to communicate musical ideas related to artistic experiences or musical practices requires a common language. To develop this common language, early musical encounters are crucial in the development of a frame of reference of musical schema. From the earliest moment, children should be afforded opportunities for musical exploration and experience. John Blacking found that Venda children’s musical memories and their sense of belonging may have been enhanced as young children by the fact that they were taken to performances of adult music (1985, p. 10). Blacking also states that “…a perception of sonic order, whether it be innate or learned, or both, must be in the mind before it emerges in music” (1973, p. 11). Venda children were surrounded with culturally significant sounds and bodily movements from the earliest moments of life. To develop their language, the Venda children “listened” with their entire beings.

“Listening To It”

John Blacking himself was an accomplished musician who often spoke from personal experience as it related to his understandings of the innate musical capabilities of human beings. He once said “…if I want to understand and appreciate music, my best course is to get on with listening to it and performing it” (1987, p. 126). In the Venda society, he found that listening to music was part of social activities which help develop greater personal identity. In a developing holistic musical classroom, students would be given opportunities to experience, listen, and move to music in a culturally or socially significant way. According to Blacking:

Education authorities must ensure that schools have visits and workshops by highly skilled performers and compositions and genres that have been developed all over the world. These performers can demonstrate the individuality and transcendental universality of the arts (1985, p. 19).

In this instance, Blacking is suggesting that students be given the opportunity to deeply listen to superior examples of diverse talent in a live setting. Furthermore, it was Blacking’s belief that recorded music could provide great opportunities for reflection. These recordings can lead to better understandings of music and a deeper cultivation of people’s musicality (1987, p. 124). Listening to absorb musical significance is a most important element in the holistic approach to music education.

“Performing It”

Listening to music is closely followed by performance in a holistic curriculum focus. This “music-making” helps the musician to develop their sense of creative and imaginative play as well as well as the sense of community. Just as there needs to be varied opportunities for listening, so must there be varied opportunities for the exploration of performance. Venda children move from listening while carried on their parents’ back to playing instruments and singing in a variety of social situations. In the holistic classroom, the listening-to-performance sequence would be appropriate and utilized at any level of ability. It is the responsibility of the holistic music educator to devise socially significant performance opportunities which spring from listening. Perhaps this is the greatest challenge for the holistic music educator: devising meaningful and developmentally appropriate musical lessons that involve and excite the whole child.

Holistic Studies of Style, Composition, and World Music:

Examples of Holistic Music Curriculum

Moving towards the goal of holistic curriculum depends on the inclusion of units of study which embrace the key focuses. The following is a discussion of several possible units which focus on the holistic approach to music education. These units would not develop levels of ability based on physical age. Each child would be given the opportunity to experience many levels of music regardless of their understanding of the world (Blacking, 1985, p. 8).

Jazz Unit

A jazz unit would include listening to various jazz artists with opportunities for playing along and improvising. In jazz studies, listening to develop jazz nuances is the most important goal of the beginning artist. Furthering this attention to listening, an inclusion of a performance by highly skilled jazz musicians would be appropriate. A program exists in Seattle that specifically highlights the holistic approach to music education (personal communication, April, 1998). Several elementary schools in the Seattle area had the privilege of receiving a grant for a special jazz workshop during the summer of 1997. During this workshop, jazz musician’s form Chicago came into the schools to present performances and practice sessions. For the practice sessions, each student was given a harmonica and taught some basic jazz language techniques. Eventually, a group performance took place. The powerful joining with the professional jazz musicians was an indispensable tool for heightening and transforming the consciousness of the elementary students (Blacking, 1985, p. 2). This type of transcendental musical experience encourages children to develop their own creative imagination and “pursue music almost as an obsession” (Blacking, 1985, p. 22).

Composition Unit

A composition unit would begin with time spent on reflection. Each student would be led through a specific thought process to bring them to their most significant musical and cultural memories, or remembered sounds (Blacking, 1967, p. 197). From here, creating, listing, and playing with musical ideas related to those significant memories would be explored. A students sensing of internal motioning (Blacking, 1995, p. 241) would be encouraged: support for safe expression of that motioning would be the teachers responsibility. A study of other composers and their cultural influences regarding their composing would be included using selected recordings. Possible structures for student composition would be explored depending upon the level of student ability. Eventual performances of student compositions would include a time for shared performance and a performance style of the composers’ choice. Throughout the exercise, discussion of social significance and aesthetic experience of the piece would encourage a return to the holistic focus on the experience.

World Music Unit

A world music unit would imitate a festival or celebration of cultural significance. One example of a holistic world music unit would be a “FolkSong” Festival. This festival would feature the music of many cultures with a focus on experiencing and joining with world cultures to develop an appreciation for the common humanity involved, yet also emphasizing “human variety and ingenuity” (Blacking, 1985, p. 20). This shared event should “…recognize the varied cultural origins of the country’s citizens and the many life-styles that co-exist, while at the same time stimulating a sense of national unity by means of the common interest in musical exploration and experience” (Blacking, 1987, p. 148).

Another example of a holistic world music unit would be to create a festival which imitates a culturally significant festival from an unfamiliar culture. The Estonian Songfest which the people of Estonia celebrate every five years is a festival dedicated to the demonstration of the strength of the Estonian people and how music is central to that strength. Modeling after this festival, students would prepare and present a “Songfest” of their own creation which would demonstrate their understanding of the people, music, and culture of any unfamiliar culture. Students would thoroughly listen to, study, and perform the music of their culture of choice. In addition, research into the human conditions of struggle and transcendence for that culture would bring a holistic focus on the appreciation of the common humanity involved and how music is a part of it.

Listening and performing would be central musical activities for both of these world music celebrations, bringing all participants to a heightening and transforming of consciousness as well as a feeling of the unifying nature of music.

Rewards of a Holistic Music Curriculum

Beyond any social or sonic experience of music, there are the relationships between the human components which create history. The artistic and aesthetic experience of music enhances these relationships, bringing about greater empathy, compassion, and sensitivity. This reward from the holistic standpoint allows for greater realization of human potential and the resultant elevation of societal functioning based on greater cooperation. The purpose of music in the schools “…is to prepare students for full participation in the social, economic, political, and artistic life of their homeland and the world at large” (Blacking, 1985, p. 21). Holistic music education is the means by which human potential and musical understanding come together to help bring about the unification of all people. Not only does music education bring out the musicality of each individual in community (Blacking, 1985, p. 1), but it also highlights the idea of music as a universal language, an idea that is much debated. John Blacking, anthropologist, musician, ethnomusicologist, and humanist may have said it best:

In a world in which authoritarian power is maintained by means of superior technology, and the superior technology is supposed to indicate a monopoly of intellect, it is necessary to show that the real sources of technology, or all culture, are to be found in the human body and in cooperative interaction between human bodies (1973, p. 116).

Music is the motioning, the dancing, and the singing which makes us whole human beings. Holistic music education based on the thoughts of John Blacking brings children into wholeness by giving them the means to experience human connectedness, perhaps the most vital of all experiences
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