Abstracts Education

Hogaku; a brief study in ethnological historiography proposing the merits of and methods for presenting Japanese music in the music curriculum of the secondary schools in the United States

by Janet Burch

This thesis, Hogaku, concerns its writings with the methods and value of using Japanese Music in the Secondary Classroom in the United States. The thesis is in two parts. Part 1 is brief ethnological historiography. Modern research authorities in the area of Japanese music point out that Japan today supports two musical cultures, one relating to traditional music, and one reflecting Western music. The music that is uniquely Japanese is termed Hogaku. Ethnology is the study of music of culture other than ones own while historiography may be defined as a process of interpreting assembled data. Part II, therefore consists of collected material on Japan???s musical history. Eastern music history is as extensive as our Western musical history therefore the need for selectivity is evident. Correspondence with Shigeo Kishibe of the International Institute of Comparative Music Studies at the University of Tokyo has guided the investigator to a paper compiled by the Society of Research in Asiatic Music for the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO. The guidelines in this paper, entitled The Present Conditions of Studies in Asiatic Music in Japan have provided the structure upon which the research of Part 1 was written. Part II presents detailed lesson units of classroom implementation of the material in Part I plus ten selected Japanese folk songs provided in ten plates in the appendices. The implementation is not for enrichment classes but follows the current trend of inter-cultural studies. Teachers must adapt rather than adopt. The elementary school expectancies necessary for background of the students are simply those stated in the 1971 California State Music Framework. The taxonomies in the current educative thinking are identified by behavior objectives with each lesson plan. Pre-test, post-test and evaluation suggestions are offered for those who teach with the current Planned Program Budgets System. Correlated tape and transparencies accompany the scores of the folk songs in the appendices. The tape is prepared by a native Japanese youth as an instructional aide. The transparencies reproduce the score plates thus their projection enables classroom instruction to be precisely focused as the native sonority sounds from the tape. The implementation offers procedure choice that considers individual differences so it is meant to be complete and practical .An extensive bibliography is provided for the reader for greater in-depth interest.