Music is supremely a manifestation of thought and perceptual judgement. Yet – and in spite of the good intentions of the National Curriculum - because the importance of these qualities is not generally acknowledged, musical education is in danger of being marginalized. Drawing on the work of W.E. Johnson and F.N. Sibley in logic and aesthetics, the author formulates a hierarchy of musical perception corresponding to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of basic human needs and suggests that the future status of musical education could depend upon the extent to which teaching can be focused at a level of perception where musk as thought is most evident.
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John Paynter (1997) studied this question.