Abstract
The purpose of this study is to clarify the natures of the general music curriculum created by Bennett Reimer (1967). The curriculum was the outgrowth of a project called Development and Trial in a Junior and Senior High School of a Two-year Curriculum in General Music, and it exemplifies the theory of aesthetic music education insisted by Reimer. By analyzing the curriculum, the following three distinguishing facets were revealed: (1) The goal of this curriculum is to develop the aesthetic sensitivity consisting of the listening skill to perceive structures of music and the attitude to experience a feeling put into compositions. (2) The curriculum has three long-term steps: first step to cultivate aesthetic perspective, second step to understand the expressivity of each parts of music structure, third step to synthesize the understanding of music structure from a viewpoint of Western music history. (3) The listening supported by Call Chart is the most highlighted activity in this curriculum. And, these features have a root in the theory of aesthetic music education, that is, humans have to learn music because music is a tool for inquiry of human nature. After all, the historical value of this curriculum is the consistency in this philosophical background.
