ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how discourses influence both the structural and agential aspects of music pedagogy. The idea of competing pedagogic discourses appears in the music education literature. Disciplinary pedagogies prioritise the development of musical skills and techniques, with students' repertoire expanded alongside an understanding of musical genres. Therapeutic pedagogies assume that engaging with music is a fundamental way to meet a universal, human need to develop and flourish and that music education aims primarily to provide opportunities for engaging with, and understanding, music and the self. Critical pedagogies focus on ensuring students understand the political significance of music and the way in which different ages and cultures have developed particular musical genres. Responding to different pedagogies, students might come to see themselves as, for instance, possessing the characteristics of particular types of musicians, potential employees, spiritual and social beings, or social critics.
