The purpose of this study is to reflect on educational values in Hanslick’s idea of absolute music. If we define education as a process to promote to live a meaningful life by having insight for the essence of himself and the world around him, the e...
The purpose of this study is to reflect on educational values in Hanslick’s idea of absolute music. If we define education as a process to promote to live a meaningful life by having insight for the essence of himself and the world around him, the educational values in Hanslick’s
idea of absolute music implies is by no means slight. These values can be summarized into following items. First, the contemplative attitude mentioned by Hanslick, that is, listening to the form of music itself attentively, has influenced the methodology of music education. The attitude considering the object not as a tool but as a goal itself can plays a significant role as a
counterbalance in criticizing and complementing the prevailing pragmatic attitude. Second, the imagination is aroused by the beautiful leads us to contemplate on the form as an ideal and to provide penetrating insight for the inner world of the human beings. Especially, the assertion that it is possible to have a hunch for the ideal through musical experience can be only made by the idea of absolute music. Third, the beautiful in music leads us to balance the immanent human
faculties in order to be an autonomous being. This is an ideal pursued by not only the music education but also the education as a whole. The idea of absolute music shares both positive and negative aspects with other idealistic attitudes. It is necessary to keep in mind the proper
scope of application and its limitation. An ideal should not be a mean to eliminate other possibilities, but a guiding star for proper decisions. In this sense, Hanslick’s idea of absolute music is an important basis of raison d’être of music education.