Abstract

Throughout its history, American music education has exhibited a primary interest in the performance of music. But does the teaching of performance techniques contribute to the goals of music education as aesthetic education? ;The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of technique and its role in the production of music, to investigate singing as a specific kind of technique, and to examine the relationship of technique and singing technique to Reimer's explanation of music education as a process involving interacting aesthetic behaviors . ;To develop an epistemological account of the nature of technique it was necessary to examine critically a wide variety of contrasting philosophical opinions including: expressionist views; classical views; contemporary views; and psychological views. ;Based on concepts first developed by Greek philosophers and elaborated in this century by Collingwood, Langer, Sparshott and Howard, the first section of this study reconceptualized technique as craft. Craft is a practical form of intelligence or procedural knowledge wherein one's body is used in skilled ways for goal-directed purposes. Craft is making or doing something based on skill and understanding. ;To clarify the nature of craft and the relationship between craft and musical aesthetic experience, the second section investigated the multi-dimensional phenomenon of singing through a critical examination of research from voice science, psychology and voice pedagogy. It was suggested that singing is a special way of using the voice which involves its biological, spiritual, emotional and aesthetic natures. Singing craft involves the intelligent changing, controlling and manipulation of the voice to make music based on skill and understanding. ;In terms of Reimer's explanation of the behaviors involved in music education, singing as a musical craft can be understood as both a means behavior and an end behavior. As a means behavior, singing craft is a form of cognition that includes a variety of intelligent interactions including analyzing and evaluating. As an end behavior, the skilled production of the singing voice involves the singer in several levels of musical experience explained by Reimer as the sensuous, perceptual, and imaginal levels. ;The study concluded with suggestions for applying the craft concept of singing to vocal music education as aesthetic education