ROGER MANTIE
Following appointments at Boston University and Arizona State University, Roger Mantie is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at University of Toronto Scarborough. His teaching and scholarship, informed by his fourteen years as a school music educator, emphasizes connections between learning and participation, with a focus on lifelong engagement in and with music and the arts. A widely published author, he is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music Making and Leisure and the Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education.
|
Play That Artful Funky Music, MayDay!
I provide in this paper a brief historical examination of the play and playground movements of
the early twentieth century. My aim is not to suggest it as a cure-all to the problems of the
National Core Arts Standards, but rather, to remind the contemporary music educator of its
importance—symbolically, culturally, and pedagogically—as a way of pushing back against the
dominant discourse of “work” in education. I conclude with a discussion of play and work in
education, ultimately arguing that the current National Arts Standards may be overlooking a
crucial aspect of what makes the arts educationally valuable.
the early twentieth century. My aim is not to suggest it as a cure-all to the problems of the
National Core Arts Standards, but rather, to remind the contemporary music educator of its
importance—symbolically, culturally, and pedagogically—as a way of pushing back against the
dominant discourse of “work” in education. I conclude with a discussion of play and work in
education, ultimately arguing that the current National Arts Standards may be overlooking a
crucial aspect of what makes the arts educationally valuable.