ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some of the main issues that permeate the discussions of music education and instrumental pedagogy. It is concerned principally with contemporary attitudes towards music and the consequences of these on patterns of provision and consumption. The link between social and cultural trends and the demography of demand is self-evident but nonetheless important to stress. The status of a product within certain communities tends to equate with their corresponding view of the producer. The chapter highlights a few issues relevant to the training of native instrumentalists. This is a fertile area and there is still much information to be gleaned from general contemporary literature as well as specialist musical texts of the time. Music was to be harnessed for its potential improving effects on the moral health of the individual and society at large. A genre like the oratorio provided the means of satisfying devotional and musical, sacred and secular needs.
