ISME History Standing Committee

The History Standing Committee of the International Society for Music Education is one of four Committees charged with directly supporting the organization’s executive leadership. Its mission is to “identify and create opportunities to celebrate and showcase the history of the Society and music education internationally.”

The work of the ISME History Standing Committee includes such activities as producing historical materials, coordinating archival contributions, recommending policies for historical documentation, planning of history sessions for world conferences, and developing closer ties with other relevant organizations. For several years the committee has been led by professor Marie McCarthy.   

It is a pleasure to report that I have now been appointed Chair of the History Standing Committee during an important period in which ISME is planning for its 70th and 75th anniversaries. 

In music, like other subject areas, those in the field of education often underappreciate the value of historical studies, which offer unique insights into how ideas and practices develop and spread, as well as how social and institutional conditions impact all aspects of the conditions in which teaching and learning occur. I am confident that through the work of the History Standing Committee we will be able to draw renewed attention to what can be learned about the present and future through careful examination of the past. In particular, I am interested in supporting revisionist approaches that call for a more comprehensive inclusion of all people, genres, pedagogies, and forms of informal learning that take place in diverse communities--in interaction with schools--through our documentation of the global history of music education.   

 

 

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