Symposium Paper presented by

Jusamara Souza at a History Standing Committee Symposium entitled

The Various Histories of Music Education in Brazil: A Dialogue across Cultures
Tuesday, 22 July 2014
(Gordon Cox Chair and Session Organiser)
31st ISME World Conference on Music Education
Porto Alegre, Brazil

1. Introduction

Writing a history of music education is a complex task. As Peter Burke has pointed out, we
can no longer regard History in the singular form and capitalized" but "as multiple histories
(BURKE, 2005, p. 15). The history of music education in Brazil is consequently not just one, but
various histories.
This paper was written for the 31st ISME World Conference on Music Education (Porto
Alegre, Brazil) and its main objective was to focus on the plurality of versions that constitute the
histories of music education, while taking an inventory of possible themes for a further collaborative
investigation.
An important aspect to be considered is the debate about possible origins of music
education in Brazil. For example, in the state of Amazonas, the first records date from the
seventeenth century, whilst in Bahia, it was the arrival of Jesuit priests during the General
Government in 1549 that was influential. In Rio de Janeiro the origins of music education are found
in the colonial period when the native Indians were indoctrinated by the Jesuits, and in Roraima, the
expeditions and early European contact remain as the oldest evidence. Some authors correlate this
beginning with economic and cultural events such as the rubber boom in Amazonas or the mining
boom and the presence of an artistic/musical movement in Gois during the eighteenth century.
Considering the different contexts and forms of music education in Brazil, it is difficult to
determine how the subject has developed nationwide. When the historiographic production of music
education in the last decades in Brazil is analyzed, it is important to mention the role played by the
graduate courses, especially at the doctorate and master's degree levels. In Brazil, the first
graduate degrees in music were established in the late 1980s and they were offered by only a few
universities. Currently, at least 15 courses (out of 16) allow for a specialization in music education.
Although these programs offer some opportunities to focus on research in this area, the history of
music education cannot be characterized as a sub-field of a continuous research endeavour. In
addition, the graduate programs include few specific courses for the training of researchers.
Referring to Briton's study (1989) and comparing it to the situation in Brazil, Garbosa claims
that "the thought and actions of some music teachers" reflect the "absence of yesterday, omit and

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despise the past as a consequence of the lack of a historical-musical-educational formation
[training] and the shortage of investigations addressed to the subject." (GARBOSA, 2002, p.145)
A decade later, this situation was reinvigorated in that historical studies in music education
were given more attention from the Brazilian researchers, despite some theoretical-methodological
difficulties. When analyzing the theoretical and analytical approaches employed in the Brazilian
historiographical studies in music education, one can also observe their plurality, given different
interpretive frameworks such as cultural history, microhistory, new cultural history or a Marxist
perspective, resulting in theoretical matrices that have a tenuous bond between one another and
yet a few things in common.

2. How can a history of music education be told?

There is common agreement in this area that the mediums through which we build our
musical knowledge are many: in stage shows, in the streets, in schools, in orchestras, in social
projects, in vocal and instrumental groups and in many others. Thus, the perception of the so-called
formal, informal and non-formal avenues for music education is wide-reaching. But, how do we map
the pedagogical-muscial practices that may be ephemeral, flowing, or unplanned?
In Brazil our experience with research in this area is still limited. Therefore, it is
understandable that various authors interpret music education history by applying the research
principles and practices of musicology, ethnomusicology, music sociology, or even more broadly, of
education and history. That is, the history of music education is seen through the lens of other
histories as represented in the exemplary studies in such areas as education or national history.
The fact that some authors use these broader frameworks may indicate that music
education in Brazil still needs to further investigate its own history by developing and applying its
own theories and methodologies to allow appropriate analysis of primary sources. This, obviously,
does not prevent the possibility of a theoretical dialogue and a discussion of paradigms from other
areas. We should not become tenants of pedagogy and musicology", or even "sub-tenants of other
subjects, warns the pedagogue Heinz Antholz quoted by Kraemer (2000, p. 63).
To promote research and to educate researchers with the methodological and interpretive
approaches that are appropriate to music education may be useful for the understanding of this
area as an autonomous one that "comfortably installed in its own dwelling" (KRAEMER, 2000, p.
63). Kraemer explains that autonomy can defined as being any other science that not only has its
own possibilities and limits, but also has special tasks and structures in the conjunction of sciences
(KRAEMER, 2000, p. 53).

3. Various histories

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 In Brazil, the research work on this history of music education undertaken by music
educators reveals a great diversity of topics that have been addressed within several chronological
periods and that utilise different theoretical-methodological frameworks, mostly based on North
American and European perspectives.
This aspect of the historiographic production in the field has been reported in some texts
that have aimed to describe "the state of the art" in relation to historical knowledge in music
education. One example is the article by Luciane Wilke Freitas Garbosa entitled, Historical
Research in Music Education: 20 years of research on Music, published in 2002. In this study, the
author aims to analyze the situation of historical research in music education "through the weighing
of theses and dissertations produced between 1981 and 2000 in Courses of Music, Education, and
Communication and Semiotics." The purpose is to identify the studies that are being developed in
Brazil on the subject". (GARBOSA, 2002, pp. 141-142). Despite the growing number of research
studies being conducted in graduate courses, the author claims that only a few studies are carried
out in Music courses"e.g. 14 out of 169 studies analyzed (2002, p. 152).
Garbosa proposes the following categorization for the studies conducted during that period:
biographical, institutional, geographical and other studies (2002, p.6). This categorization includes
the studies undertaken over a period of 20 years of graduate courses. Moreover, as the author
highlights, "the suggested classification does not intend to be complete, infallible or hermetic", but it
should "be adapted as the studies are being conducted." (GARBOSA, 2002, p.6)
In the last decade, several investigations were undertaken into the state of the art in order
to analyze current trends, topic choices, theoretical and methodological underpinnings, and
emergence of new knowledge resulting from music education research (FERNANDES, 2000;
2007). Generally, these investigations provided a positive evaluation by answering two questions:
(1) how are the multiple dimensions of pedagogical-musical knowledge being investigated? and (2)
which analytical perspectives have been utilised by researchers?
The book edited by Alda de Oliveira and Regina Cajazeira entitled Music Education in
Brazil, published in 2007 is worth mentioning due to its historiographical approach. As the title
indicates, the book comprises a set of texts that describe music education of all Brazilian states and
territories. These texts were written by authors representing each location. The chapters of this
book necessarily focus on specific geographic locations due to Brazil being such a large country
with many cultural and geographical differences. The authors describe and report features that they
observed and experienced. The chapters are written from a person point of view; however, their
perspectives do not include everything about each state or region. Of the 57 chapters that form the
book, 32 chapters refer to historical studies.
The following topics comprise some current investigations into the history of music
education in Brazil: institutions and developments in music pedagogy (such as the history of the
singing society movement in Brazil); undergraduate courses in music education; music teaching
and its institutionalization [formal educational settings]; teaching music through the participation in

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choirs and orchestras; music teaching in informal settings; music education associations (such as
the Brazilian Association of Music Education [ABEM]), and school music textbooks. These different
perspectives reveal histories about the modes and models of music teaching and their
implementation, the ways in which we are producing knowledge and how it could constitute a music
pedagogy discipline, how we choose the repertoire for and evaluate music class performance, and
the teaching materials that are being used and produced.
a) History of institutions: Many authors consider the institutionalization of music teaching as
a means of identifying that the historical chronology has been always been random (FUKS, 2007;
SOUZA, 2007a). The various histories of music teaching institutions are linked to the memories of
these institutions' physical spaces. The physical spaces of schools and universities that move to
different locations, the policies of these institutions administrations reveal the networks that were
established with the authorities in the host cities (MILON, 2007). Another common topic is the
search for formal degree courses, such as that offered by the Conservatory of Music of Sergipe,
where a music teaching specialism is recognized by local public authorities (RIBEIRO and
MOREIRA, 2007).
b) History of choral singing in Brazil: The music education history in Brazil from the 1930's,
1940's and 1950's has been the focus of several studies (FUKS, 1991; SOUZA, 1993, 1999;
PAOLIELLO, 2006). Many music institutions were founded after 1945; examples include the Music
and Choral Singing Institute of Sergipe which was established by the law N.840 on November 28,
1945 (RIBEIRO and MOREIRA, 2007), and the practice of teaching choral singing in schools during
the 1950's, in Gois (CRUVINEL, 2007).
c) History of undergraduate music courses in Brazil: The oldest undergraduate course in
Brazil is located in Rio de Janeiro. Today the universities offer over 120 music courses and a history
of each one of them could be written (see VEIGA, 2007; ARECIPPO, 2007). The origins of
undergraduate music courses in Brazil are strongly related to the histories of conservatories or
institutions that have been isolated from music teaching, as shown by the research of Gonalves
(1993; 2007). Referring to the implementation of the Music Course at the Amazonas State
University (Universidade do Estado do Amazonas) in 2001, Milon (2007) described the ways and
means of establishing an undergraduate course in music in a city where the relationship between
the Conservatory of Music and the Federal University of Amazonas was considered essential for
the graduate teaching of music in the region. Other sources of information for documenting the
history of music teaching in universities are records associated with curricular reforms or politically-
initiated pedagogical projects that are reshaping institutions, such as is occurring with the Music
School of the Rio Grande do Norte Federal University (MOSCA, 2007). An important chapter of this
history is music teaching linked to a university extension program, an aspect that has been
addressed by many authors.
d) History of school music education: Another common aspect in several studies is the
concern with the inclusion and mandating of music education programs in schools. After the

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implementation of LDB 9394/96, music teaching in basic schooling was strongly affected by the
introduction of The Arts as a mandatory subject for all levels. The legislation was interpreted in
different ways in the various states and districts. The report of the situation in the Brazilian Federal
District conducted by Montandon, Azevedo and Silva (2007) is representative of discussion on this
topic. At the time, only a few high schools were offering Music as a subject to their students,
whereas Art and Drawing were the most prevalent arts disciplines included in the curriculum. In
addition, "the course contents were diversified: there were no documents describing the program;
each teacher did as they pleased" (ibid. p. 210). The offering of vocational music courses described
in research studies undertaken in the states of Sergipe and Rio Grande do Norte represents an
important topic to be discussed in terms of music education in Brazil. How were the other levels
affected?
Schools had to face a significant challenge after the implementation of Federal Law 11.769
of August 18, 2008 that ensures that music education is a mandatory subject in basic education.
School systems had three school years to adapt to the demands established by this law. Prior to
this, music was practically absent from most curriculums of basic education. Due to the
implementation of Arts Education (Law 5692/71), music had gradually lost its status as a subject in
the classroom. Music activities in the schools were not systematically planned, making equitable
access very difficult for all the students. The new legislation provided a comprehensive and effective
introduction of school music education for all children and teenagers.
e) History of instrumental music teaching: Another possibility for research is the history of
music performance teaching and learning that takes place in music ensemble settings such as
orchestras, choirs, instrumental and vocal groups (SCHRADER, 2007; LEITE, 2007; TOURINHO,
2007). Some of these music ensembles are commonly found in several regions of Brazile.g. small
orchestras with local people who played instruments in 1940s and 1950s, the establishing of
womens instrumental groups, such as the Female Orchestra (1959) in Gois, the varied activities
of music teachers and their involvement with schools specialist music schools, and private teaching
(GONALVES, 2007).
f) History of music education in settings outside school: This history of music education
occurred from the 1980's with informal opportunities such as music courses provided by the SESC
(Social Service of Commercea private institution established to carry out social welfare programs)
in Alagoas and future SESC Music Schools were used for teaching and learning music (FIREMAN
and BRAGA, 2007).
g) History of associations: A history that has recently been reported in several Brazilian
research studies is the history of music teaching supported by professional organizationssuch as
the Brazilian Music Education Association (Associao Brasileira de Educao Musical - ABEM)
(see SOUZA 2007b; FIGUEIREDO and OLIVEIRA, 2007)which reveal their impact on music
teachers meetings / conferences, on individual researchers and music teachers, and on the
constitutions of other music teachers associations.

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 h) History of teaching materials: Through analyses of teaching materials such as school
textbooks (teaching materials that have been and are being produced), it is possible to document
the history of music education as has described by Souza (1997), Silva (2002) and Garbosa (2003).
Despite being extremely subjective, some of these approaches to research mean that
music educators' reflections on past events are getting further away from a purely linear chronology.
This allows us to disregard the notion that describes "history as an evolution whose order and
rationality depend on a supposed final direction to where it is going (PETERSEN and LOVATO,
2013, p. 233).
In assembling an historical narrative that can situate music education in a socio-historical
context, some studies are concerned with contemporary global questions that aim to provide
answers to local issues. The park-schools, as described by Montandon, Azevedo and Silva (2007),
should also be included as an important aspect in the institutionalization of arts education in some
public schools in Braslia). The authors describe what they observe, and record what past events
are known in each of the regions, when a theoretical framework is not relevant. Many interesting
facts may be documented, but without necessarily being discussed or critiqued. In other words, the
extended topics are not always accompanied by a theoretical framework capable of sustaining the
explanatory characteristics of the historical knowledge described. Some of the difficulties with this
approach are that most foreign references have not been translated to Portuguese and that
theoretical-methodological reflection is reduced to the concepts that are in the "agenda" or are
"fashionable". These concepts merely become part of the vocabulary and not part of the theory
(PETERSEN and LOVATO, 2013).

4. Challenges and dialogues

In this paper, my main purpose has been to identify and raise questions about the plurality
of different versions of music education history in Brazil. Unlike other countries, Brazil still does not
have a systemized history of music education, although isolated segments of the overall history
have been completed (see SOUZA 1993; OLIVEIRA and CAJAZEIRA, 2007).
The major contention presented here can extend to the collective research task that we
have ahead of us. Some examples could include a systematic approach to updating of quantitative
and/or qualitative data on the provision for and extent of music in schools as well as the role and
responsibilities of music teachers.
As a result of discussions with colleagues at this symposium, we will hopefully be able to
discuss the difficulties we have in common, and hopefully identify an agenda of research topics for
further investigation.

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