Plato's Views on Three Modes of Music Education Praxis: Composing, Performing, and Listening

Some ancient Greek perspectives on three praxial musical activities: composing, performing, and listening. Early founders of modern Western thought created boundaries and hierarchies among these three activities, in addition to the scientific study of music. Under the dualistic conception of reality, or "truth," original musical works became objects. Plato stipulated the use of "good" songs, reserved composition for a select few, and believed that "goodness" in music could be determined objectively by society's leaders, a form of universal "truth" represented in artistic products. The praxis of music performing, regarded as a "practiced habit" and given lower status than composing, was deemed an appropriate leisure-time activity for gentlemen. Virtuoso music performance was to be left to non-citizens, leaving citizens free for more intellectual pursuits. . . . [I]t is no surprising that subsequent educators taught music primarily through theoretical means. . . .