B20 Education Directorate Zurich makes a categorical decision
If it is left to the teachers whether they want to convey the Christian symbolism and the ethical content of the Western harmony - as the Education Directorate Zurich recently told the author - essential understanding questions may remain unanswered. Here are some examples:
The prim is a contradiction in itself, a contradictio in eo ipso. The name stands for a musical interval, but it has the size zero. Name and amount do not match. So what is it about: a distance or no distance? The mathematically inclined Greeks did not know it, because they defined an interval as the distance between two unequal tones - the pre-Christian Romans as well, since they used the Greek technical terms.
The consonance of the Prim is a theological construct of the third century, since the early Christians were not simply ready to take over the cultural heritage of their tormentors, whose polytheism they abhorred. However, when the Church Father Aurelius Augustinus concluded in his treatise on music that nothing was as similar to each other as the 1 of 1 - and for that very reason it was the epitome of total fusion and love - he was factually wrong , because the 3 is 100% consistent with the 3, more is not possible. Simply everything compared to itself is identical.
The fact that 5 whole-tone and 2 semi-tone steps lead to the octave, even though 5 whole and 2 half results in 6, is just as much a mathematical absurdity. Furthermore, the introduction of interval terms such as "minor seconds", literally "small two", and "major third", literally "big three", so that the symbol reference, the count to 8, could be maintained. The name octave (epitome of consonance: hence the homonymity with the prim) stands for both the resurrection on the 8th day (calendar congruence according to biblical census) and for the 8 bliss (sermon on the mount).
An analogue can be found in the visual realm, where the light stands for Christ, who said of himself, "I am the light of the world." This is evidenced by the Gothic cathedrals with their light-flooded windows. Both are about immaterial manifestations and their spiritual interpretation. Almost idle to add that the Greeks did not use the number word oκτάβα, since they knew that 6 whole-tone steps are even a little bit larger than what we still call octave today.
To convey such hair-raising illogical things without questioning their origin is a pedagogical catastrophe and a reason for the widespread disgust for the theory of harmony. Such impositions can not be understood simply by good will - only learned by heart - and then for the completed subjugation of the intellect also notes are awarded! Certainly nobody will be blamed who has not been aware of these relatively recent research findings by the author. However, intentionally withholding them from the pupils because they do not seem to approve of the own ideas, or because they need training, should not be accepted without comment, or dismissed with "no matter".
With such an attitude you do not even need to develop any syllabi. In addition, the achievements of the Enlightenment were fought too hard, schools are too expensive facilities and the responsibility to the growing generation has too great a weight.
With the decision of the Education Directorate not even having to address these contents, the foundations and interconnections of European culture would be reduced to dust and not only the access to the church modes, the Gregorian chorales or to J.S. Bach's art of the fugue would be obstructed. It would remain unrecognized, how it could come to the discovery of equal temperament tuning, without which there would be no classical piano music in this form and more. How do you experience a cathedral, which in turn was proportioned in the step sequence of a church key, a key of joy to express the jubilation of the resurrection? (Exsultet: it's exulting!) Developing understanding is different.
In comparison, the total destruction of Notre Dame de Paris would be a painful but acceptable loss, because symbolism and analogy are the source material for the interdisciplinary linking of the arts and ethics to the key to intercultural understanding. Understanding harmony enables synergetic and empathic action. We have the core substance of the much-vaunted Occidental-Christian values before us: The opening syllables of the John Hymn (John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus) do not by chance form the basis of solmization: "Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La and Si" - the musical Jacob's Ladder to bliss. Of course, it is in ascending order - unlike the ancient Greek scales. It has its theological counterpart in the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: fear of God, piety, charity, bravery, mercy, love of the enemy and wisdom.
In both cases the goal is God's nearness and everlasting peace through the coincidence of all opposites - the dissolution of all dissonances - in God. The physical phenomenon of consonance, which is able to evoke the sense of beauty and emotional well-being through calming (freedom from interferences) and agreement, proved to be an excellent acoustic explanatory model for this.
Numerous encyclopedia articles and textbooks are now to supplement concerning this important aspect, which includes nothing less than the meaning of the whole. Certainly it will take a while until the consciousness matures with which cultural-historical find we have to do here. Although it was open to everyone's eyes, it was not recognized because of the lack of polydisciplinary access.
Therefore, it can not be overstated that it is necessary to look at cultural heritage from the educational perspective of its origin. It would be a fatal fallacy to assume that our ancestors were not able tot hink in a networked way. On the contrary, we can learn a lot from them in this regard. The observation that research results usually take about 15 years to be translated into general knowledge requires a special explanation in the age of communication, because it only takes a few days for an advertising slogan.
Hand on the heart! Who in his schooldays ever heard that our sound system has an early Christian imprint and can't be understood without reading the Bible? Understanding it also means to identify a significant example of how manipulation works. From the third century to the time of J.S.Bachs, the divine origin of music was a prescribed doctrine - and even today people are baptized at a time when they could not even develop their conception of the associated world view. Does this mean freedom or the continuation of a patronage taking advantage of the learning-sensitive phase of man (coinage), whereby the church tax associated with the confession should not go unmentioned.
Those who noted 450 years ago that the Bible does not even mention a baby baptism (sola scriptura) were burnt alive. Who wants to say "culture" today? From a church-critical perspective, too, it would be a serious defect not to have any knowledge of the theological instrumentalization of the former Greek sound system. Therefore, it is one of the Enlightenment's obligations to convey the substance, because unlimited information is the necessary basis of free and critical thinking.
With the decision to hand over the decision to the teachers, the Zurich Education Directorate has thrown two new balls into play: one of marginalization, because a cultural asset of European size is what it is. If we consider the distribution of the keyboard, we can even speak of a World Heritage. Why, should European identity be kept so small and stunted to arbitrariness? Because it makes so much work to change a syllabus or "due to the times heated by religious politics," as the editors of a well-known German weekly newspaper revealed to the author?
In the first case it would be convenience, in the second case self-censorship! Or is there even a strategic calculation behind not granting the arts a higher value? If educational content and ethical values are in danger, caution is advised! There are diametrically different values and goals behind material and intellectual consumption, and the interests of the economy are known to extend beyond politics to the schools.
The harmony is in opposition to any strategic advantage and therefore knows no winners. No orchestra and no family would be viable without adherence to their principles. Through music education, a code of conduct is trained. It includes listening to one another, self-critical examination of one's own actions, consideration because of insight, compassion, the observance of quiet voices and synergetic interaction. A successful orchestral work proves the feasibility of the whole. Of course, it is about transferring the learned with developed social behavior to other areas. No less than the functioning of society and the preservation of our living conditions depend on it. The decision of the Education Directorate does not recognize a special appreciation of these contents - which carry the germ cells of the global civilizational progress.
On the other hand, it is about the dependency of opinion as such. What enables teachers in comparision with parents to make such a decision at their own discretion? Why is not the Swiss electorate questioned? This would only be about who would have the right to determine and so the science is waiting eagerly to see who makes soon what rules.
The historical sciences are fundamentally against the spirit of the times and thus fulfill their mission, because who wants to progress must know where it comes from. It is a matter of course for this assignment to put even uncomfortable truths on the table - and certainly not to sweep them under the table. It is simply embarrassing to have to remember such basics at all. If the grotesque case occurs that one day a society would be called to vote over the acceptance of its own history, nonsense would be perfect. According to the Education Directorate, the music educators are allowed to rehearse this in their own department today.
It seems as if the public discussion is needed to integrate this cultural-historical in the right place - of course age-appropriate - into the canon of education. In the end, everyone should be aware of these facts because they are part of the foundations of general education, such as the calendar starting with the birth of Christ.
Yes, it is to consider with shock that it was once possible to implement a world view transnationally and forcibly suppress the free thinking - because basically everything was seen as part of the creation and had to be integrated into a roughly made thought building - the petite passionflower as well as the clearly conceived sound system of the Greeks.
The deformations of the mathematical rules shown above speak for themselves: what did not fit was made suitable. Such a practice of power up to the divine right created the Protestantism, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution almost inevitably. Not be willing to know anything of it today would be nothing but careless, because it does not lead to what can be described as a learning curve. But therein lies the meaning of the suffering of previous generations. But therein lies the meaning of the suffering of previous generations. Self-criticism has never been very popular, but does this give the right to the democratic power to abolish it for lack of majority? The result would be a society that could be manipulated by mood and would lose any form of consideration. The handling of the natural resources can be used as an index for the determination of the actual state.
Nothing to gloss over and to lay the cards open on the table is one of the most important requirements both for one's own development and for a functioning intercultural dialogue. With this, music educators know how to deal with and will find didactically impressive solutions. Only it would be helpful if they had not always to jusify "their personal decision", because a superior authority did not have the courage - or just simply did not feel like to stand for its own cultural heritage.
© 2019 Aurelius Belz