Instrumental practice to shape character: Educational possibilities from a perspective of musical craftsmanship

Abstract

Music has been present in education for centuries, expressed differently in societies in different times and places, among which it is worth mentioning Classical Greece. Some of its philosophers and pedagogues emphasised the positive effect of musical education on human character. The objective of this article is to demonstrate the educational potential of music, as well as the relationship that exists between learning to play an instrument and character education. Based on the analysis of two key works from the Aristotelian corpus, the Politics and the Nicomachean Ethics, a viable virtue ethic can be created that focuses on craftsmanship. The idea of the craftsman proposed by Richard Sennett provides a guide for finding a method for musical practice where instrumental proficiency is at the heart of learning and the educational process. This shows how music education, in general, and learning to play an instrument, in particular, share a goal with character education: the comprehensive education of human beings. Learning music has the capacity to influence character by creating and reinforcing habits and virtues with a view to excellence and human flourishing. Through a concept of music practice based on craftsmanship, music and education can be used to influence the individual positively. In this way, certain practices and behaviours present in the Western tradition of music education can be redirected. Despite the fact that there are numerous ways to experience music, instrumental practice is recommended as the main one given the organological condition of music. As Aristotle’s practical philosophy emphasises praxis and music is essentially a human activity, it can be concluded that music education using instrumental practice has an influence on the multiple dimensions of an individual’s education and in constructing a community that shares the ultimate goal: flourishing.