The purpose of this study is to argue the implications of John Dewey's aesthetic experience for music education in accordance with the necessity of studying about aesthetic experience which is emphasized in music education.
As a completer of pragmatis...
The purpose of this study is to argue the implications of John Dewey's aesthetic experience for music education in accordance with the necessity of studying about aesthetic experience which is emphasized in music education.
As a completer of pragmatism, John Dewey developed his unique naturalistic empiricism in many quarters of philosophy, logic, ethics, psychology, social education philosophy etc. But coming to the later period of his philosophy, he discussed his philosophy as ‘aesthetic experience’. It was an attempt to solve the main objects in philosophy as 'aesthetic experience'. For that reason, to Dewey, art is not regarded as a simple means of enjoyment, but as a philosophical object that puts all organism, the world, and the metaphysical action together. But the most remarkable thing is that Dewey regards real art not as a physical product but as an experience itself which is an immediate meeting with the product. Namely, real art is made possible as a work of art, not as an art product. This Dewey's purview, in the other side, takes on the character of deconstructionism refusing the existing musical concepts and bodies of knowledge, but it provides implications of new aesthetic views and contents that make lots of aesthetic experience for music education. Thus, Dewey's aesthetic experience comes to the main object of inquiry for not only the philosophical matter of music education but also the immediacy of music, and the practice of music education.
The basic concepts of Dewey's aesthetic experience, as far as possible, the category of his metaphysical naturalism, are organic vitality, qualitativeness, and transaction, etc. Organic vitality as revealing aliveness is a matrix of the occurrence of music, and an agent of making the growth of organism possible at the same time. Qualitativeness as the basic and pervasive quality that reveals the property of natural world, makes music possible, and is an agent that allows qualitative thinking engaging with situation, intuition, and association. And transaction reveals the traits of natural world as ‘a affair of affairs’ causing the change in the process that reveals stability and precariousness which are characteristics of the natural world. These basic concepts make music ontological orientation that is ‘music as experience’
possible.
Music as aesthetic experience in John Dewey's purview is distinguished like the following.
First, the generation of the meaning of music is only accomplished by an immediate meeting with qualitativeness of the music world. This shows that music is not an music product that serves as a certain object, but a work of music that an music product acts in experience. Thus, music has more immediate, intense, and practical qualitative meanings. Those meanings of aesthetic music take different forms in accordance with the levels of each and every person's existing experience.
Second, aesthetic rhythm of music is what an organism gives to music by artificially manipulating the organic vital rhythm from the field of organic vital energy's interchange. As this is, namely, to expose the continuity between the stable and the precarious in nature, it is composed of continuity, conservancy, tension and expectation of the energies which occurring at the meeting between organism and world. For that reason, organism can experience aesthetic ecstasy of uniting with the order and harmony of the universe.
Third, form and substance of music are connected with formating new and clear meanings that an organism obtains in the qualitative transaction with music. Thus, form of music is the manner in which meanings are made known, and substance of music is the new and reinforced meaning itself made known by form of music. They are always engaged with each other, and their condition are the organizations of vital energies. Therefore, their meanings of form and substance of music as aesthetic experience are wider than those of calling certain structure and system of knowledge.
Fourth, the act of music expression is the process of recreation which starts from the impulsion and prepares order and unity. There is an inter-penetration of ends and means which provides an experience as a consummatory in the act of music expression. it necessarily requires the medium of expression. And the object of music expression what awakens new perceptions of the musical meanings is connected with representation and association.
Seeing from the purview above, ‘music education as aesthetic experience’ that Dewey's aesthetic experience which is working for a denotative expansion and a inner reinforcement of the meaning and the value in music education can be presented as the following.
First, musical experience means a dominant and crucial experience being revealed when the qualitative character of musical experience is constructionalized into a certain form. Thus, it reveals the traits of an experience as consummatory, situational unity, having aesthetic quality, terminational, emotional completeness and unity, having a control to lead the organization of experience, and a praxis of good. These natures of aesthetic musical experience present the practical aim and the criterion of content selection in music educational activity as the aesthetic control which is sufficient in the activity of music education.
Second, making musical experience into meaning is the dimension that human organism makes natural vital energy into order and unity. Of course, it is possible in ordinary life which is filled up to amplify organic vital force. Thus, ordinary life is the field of the significant elements of music and the execution of function to amplify organic vital energy. And the ability of human organism to acquisite and expand the meanings of music is based on the sense which organism has. Thus, the sense is an important recognizable ability that generates and reinforces the meaning of music as an immediacy of musical experience, a pervasiveness of musical situation or a primariness of musical thinking. This making aesthetic musical experience into meaning builds a foundation for musical living, and presents that a formation the kind of aesthetic meaning by sense is the first aim in music education.
Third, the organization of musical experience is the process that leads to a certain meeting between organism and music world into an aesthetic experience. It selects and constitutes what becomes the condition of an experience, and finds out the organic energies into a meaning. Thus, the organization of musical experience is the locus to make organic human amplify their vital energy and carry on their ample life qualitatively. And aesthetic emotion works as an important factor in this organization of musical experience. The stage of the organization of musical experience develops from the appearance of the first impression, into the variation by transaction, into the formation of order and unity, and into the stage of the acquirement of aesthetic rhythm. As this shows a process of the acquirement of aesthetic rhythm, it shows the guidance stages of teaching and learning for aesthetic experience.
Forth, The field of musical imagination means release from the disordered force which disturbs the development to consummatory of the significant aesthetic events as music. It is, namely, the force which sets the disordered situations into a unified whole, unifying all the components of the materials of music. The field of this musical imagination enlarges the here and now experience through music which implicates civilization from the past days, and, at the same time, it serves as the organic communication of mutual human who obtain the ample meaning in the ordinary life. It shows how the pattern, and how the work of musical imagination could be aroused in music education.
And musical growth is based on the organic traits of man developing into aesthetic impulsion, aesthetic habit, and intelligence. This is based on Dewey's unique empiricism of the reconstruction of experience, and controlled by the principle of continuity and transaction. Ultimately it pursues the integration with the nature of nature. As it reveals the value of music education as aesthetic experience, and shows that the principle aim of music education in schools is not in acquirement of musical skill for students, but in experience of aesthetic quality of music and in acquirement of aesthetic meaning.
In conclusion, John Dewey's aesthetic experience makes defining music as aesthetic experience possible, and has the axiological traits of music education as recovering of continuity between music and ordinary life. It is to experience qualitativeness and organic vital energy that music has, as an event through an immediate meeting with music; it is the naturalization of music which acquires the order and unity of the universe. Therefore, John Dewey's aesthetic experience should be the main concept in establishment of aim and in selection of content of practical method option for music education in schools, in that aesthetic experience means the experience of making the organic vitality of man a complete unity with the maximum aesthetic state of nature, and in that human organism amplify their life force and make the qualitative side of life abundant with this aesthetic experience.