Mozart and the Creation of Mind in a Teacher Educator

• In Event: Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Eisner in Perspective: An Eclectic Imagination for Contemporary Education

Abstract

This paper functions as a piece of art criticism. By closely examining four moments from the second movement of Mozart’s 40th symphony, the author argues that engagement with Mozart’s music – and engagement with the arts, more generally – can help teacher educators to cultivate empathy for the experience of student teachers. The author argues that the way in which Mozart presents conflicting ideas through music corresponds to what is known about the emotionally turbulent experience of learning to teach. The author links these insights to Eisner’s arguments regarding what the arts teach: specifically, the perception of rightness of fit, the appreciation of flexible purposing, and the unique nature of aesthetic perception.

Author

• Aaron Samuel Zimmerman, Michigan State University