Musical Citizen

Authors : Martin STOKES

Pages : 95-109

View : 27 | Download : 11

Publication Date : 2018-09-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Many if not most societies believe that good music produces good citi- zens. In the Western tradition, we have been familiar with the idea since the time of Plato. The idea is an enduring one, certainly very much alive today. Many societies, over history, and across the world, have also believed that good music needs to be in the hands of the right people, because the dangers of bad music are obvious to them. Music can lead people astray; it can upset the natural order of things. Whose job is it to appoint the musicians, though? Who is to regulate what they do? The picture Plato paints is, as many have noted, an authoritarian one (Nussbaum 2003). It relies on the intellectual elites, and strong rulers. It relies the willingness of these elites, of these rulers, to purge the republic of its artistic troublemakers, and to censor those who displease them.
Keywords : etnomüzikoloji, müzik, yurttaşlık