We’re pleased to announce the final presenter for the 2011-12 academic year in the Music History/Theory Workshop on May 29, at 4:30pm, in the library seminar room, JRL 264. Melanie Zeck, graduate student in music history and theory at the University of Chicago will present work in progress from her dissertation, “The Platonic Ideal and the Valuation of Musics in the United States, 1810-1914.” A link to her pre-circulated writing, which includes both introductory information and dissertation chapter is available below.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the impact of Plato’s teachings on America’s musical life between 1810 and 1914. The term “Platonic Ideal” encompasses both Plato’s emphasis on music’s interrelationship with morality and the role of “choric expertise” in achieving exemplary human behavior and interaction. Followers of the Platonic Ideal, including Dartmouth President Francis Brown, utopian visionary Robert Owen, and Bostonian music educator Lowell Mason, felt thatexposure to music and systematic music instruction for all Americans would eventually lead to an orderly, dignified, and productive society. They advocated for the infusion of American education with Plato’s teachings in a structure modeled after that which was established by Jean-Jacques
Rousseau and popularized by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. I argue that the collective philosophical thrust of their work served as the most persuasive doctrine in reshaping and refining America’s musical identity between 1810 and 1914.

Beginning with the 1810 printing of Francis Brown’s landmark call for reform in music
education, this timeframe is divided into three periods—from 1810 to 1838 (the year of Lowell Mason’s successful incorporation of music in Boston’s public schools), from 1839 to 1865 (the end of the Civil War), and from 1866 to 1914 (the outbreak of WWI). For each period, I conduct case studies in which I investigate at least one major manifestation or application of the values encompassed by the Platonic Ideal and its impact on music making in the United States.

Evidence from the case studies suggests that while the Platonic Ideal withstood the nation’s expansion, educational innovations, and technological advancements, American musics were largely considered inappropriate in the educational domain. Reformers between 1810 and 1914 did, indeed, reshape and refine America’s musical identity, but did so by excluding American musics. This dissertation will demonstrate that the music education in the United States during this time was based on the practice of European art music rather than drawn from the plethora of American musical resources. I conclude by considering the longitudinal implications of the Platonic Ideal for an American musical ethos.

Download the pre-circulated material here.

Email marycaldwell@uchicago.edu or  aasheehy@uchicago.edu for the password.

Those needing additional assistance to attend this event should contact one of the graduate coordinators, Mary Caldwell (marycaldwell@uchicago.edu) or August Sheehy (aasheehy@uchicago.edu)