Why Do Humans Value Music?

Symposium Why Do Humans Value Music? Bennett Reimer Northwestern University Anthony J. Palmer Boston, Massachusetts Thomas A. Regelski State University of New York, Fredonia Wayne D. Bowman Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada In 2000, theNational Association forMusic Education published Vision 2020: The HousewrightSymposium on theFuture ofMusicEducation , edited by Clifford Madsen. The publication broughttogetherseveral essaysaddressingsignificant questions intendedtoguidetheMusicEducation National Conference (MENC) through the next 20 years. The first question in the series was the one assigned to Bennett Reimer: Why do humans value music? In this symposium, Reimer describes the process in producing his answer along with his ownpersonal reaction and response to the assignment . This is followed by replies to his Vision 2020essaybyAnthonyPalmer,ThomasRegelski, and Wayne Bowman. Reflections on my Vision 2020 Assignment Bennett Reimer My immediate response when I was invited to be one ofthe six authors ofthe papers for the Vision 2020 project was extreme reluctance. I was up to my ears in writing obligations and was trying, unsuccessfully, to cut down on my work ratherthanpile it on. I knew, from many involvements withMENC overthe years, that the project would have to be carried out in light ofthe political reality in which MENC necessarily operates, the reality ofseekingbroad representation includingdiverseconstituencies , eachwith its ownstake in music education, diverse geographic locations whether or not that was relevant, views from outside the profession sometimes having little to do withwhat I and otherprofessionals understand to be central, and so forth. These are not invalid concerns, especially for an organization such as MENC, but they tend to enmesh one in matters not entirely germane to one's interests. Also,thestruggleto bridgethegapbetween die kind of scholarly work philosophers expect and are usedto andthe readily intelligible expression and condensing ofideas MENC publications must achieve is one inwhichIhave long engaged, because I believe it is essential to bridge this gap in all forms of research and scholarship. But it does take enormous effort and puts one in the tenuous position ofpossibly or evenprobably not entirely satisfying bom sides. Did I want to engage in dûs push and pull again?©Philosophy ofMusic Education Review 10, no. 1 (Spring, 2002):41-63. ...