2016 Volume 46 Issue 1 Pages 13-24
In this article, I examine the characteristics of Hisao Kitamura’s “guidance on musical life” from a curriculum theory perspective. He was a music teacher in an elementary school in the Taisho and early Showa periods. According to him, “guidance on musical life” was a theory on educational methods. This was based on the concept of “musical life” according to which children create value in their life by following their individual musical interests. Kitamura’s concept of a curriculum for music switched from a conventional curriculum to a dynamic one that was reconstructed continually by recognizing children’s particular musical interests and dramatically increasing their musical ability by developing those interests. In addition, he proposed that the beginning of a child’s “musical life,” which develops over the course of life, was seen in the primitive form of music performed in infancy. This understanding was based on the theory of the origin of music. From the above, I suggest a reconsideration of the educational practice in elementary schools by music teachers of the Taisho and early Showa periods.
