It Is Easier to Imagine the End of Music Education Than the End of Competition

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Theory and Philosophy in Music Education

Abstract

In this paper, I will explore the issues of competition in school music through Fisher’s concept of capitalist realism and propose an alternative with Wolff’s construct of Workers’ Self-Directed Enterprises. The rise of neoliberalism has transformed musical competition into a state-sanctioned stand-in for education. Human tendencies have morphed into an antagonistic structure—the market theoretically solves all problems and serves as a model for structuring programs. Those with privilege to analyze these contexts, but not restrained by being entangled in them directly, may provide a space for teachers to come together to discuss change and plan for action. We have enacted a regularly-meeting group of teachers at my university who are formulating plans for systemic change originating in their praxis.

Author

• Sean Powell, University of North Texas