Sociomusicology: Ethical Uses of Patriotic Music

4/27/12

Ethical Uses of Patriotic Music

At the upcoming meeting of the Royal Musical Association’s Music and Philosophy Study Group (King’s College, London, July 20-21, 2012) I will present a paper entitled "On the Ethical Dimensions of Patriotic Music". Below is a summary of the paper presentation.

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http://www.musicandphilosophy.ac.uk/conference-2012/

Individual Paper Presentation, Second Annual Conference of the Royal Musical Association Music and Philosophy Study Group; King’s College, London (July 19-21, 2012).

On the Ethical Dimensions of Patriotic Music

In this paper presentation, I offer critical discussion of ethical issues associated with how patriotic music is used as ideological indoctrination to ensure the sustainability of geographically-defined allegiances in contemporary industrialized societies. While it is widely regarded as naïve and disrespectful for young people to question the legitimacy and enduring importance of both aural and visual patriotic symbols, it cannot be denied that patriotic music is frequently used to inculcate ideologies largely based on selective remembrances that verge on the mythological, and it thereby plays a prominent role in forms of propaganda that enable militarism to flourish even in the 21^st century. Although musical sounds may lack the power to directly manipulate behaviors, it is clear that patriotic music is often effectively harnessed by those who seek to inspire in others the willingness to fight in unnecessary wars. This raises an important question that has yet received scant attention in music philosophy: At what point do the uses of patriotic music become ethically suspect? To what extent should patriotic music be welcomed in the public sector, and how far should musicians and music educators bow toward pressures to increasingly create, perform, and teach patriotic music during wartime and other periods of national unrest? While honoring arguments that advocate the need to respectfully memorialize victims of war and preserve cultural heritage, my critique produces a reasoned normative position regarding limited public uses of patriotic music.

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Welcome to Sociomusicology

For over 15 years (since 2007), this website has offered musings on contemporary society and its music by David G. Hebert, PhD. He is a sociomusicologist specializing in global music education who has held academic positions with universities on five continents. Dr. Hebert is now a tenured full Professor with Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen. There he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research group and manages the multinational government-funded Nordic Network for Music Education, which organizes annual intensive Master courses and exchange of teachers and students across eight countries. He is also an Affiliated Professor with University of the Faroe Islands and an Honorary Professor in China with the Education University of Hong Kong.

Professor Hebert's research applies an international-comparative perspective to issues of pluralism, identity, and cultural relevance in music education, as well as processes by which new music traditions emerge and change - both sonically and socially - as they are adopted into institutions. Born in the 1970s, he is among the most widely-published and globally-active music scholars of his generation (h-index:20; i10-index:30), with professional activities in an average of 8 countries per year across the past decade (2008-2020).