ABSTRACT
Tellingly he contrasts the positive attitudes of student teachers when they start to develop their teaching, with their experience two or three years later ‘when the shine has rubbed off and the system has ground their energy away’ (ibid., 102). To continue with Swanwick’s thinking, on the one hand we know that genuine musical experience has within it something of metaphorical richness containing several layers of meaning, but how can one teacher and every single school hope to encompass it? Can we guarantee that pupils receive a musically authentic experience (using and encountering ‘real’ instruments, ‘real’ music, ‘real’ musicians, and ‘real’ music-making settings)? These questions, and a search for some often elusive answers underlie my historical treatment.
