A Study on Teaching Methods for High School Music Criticism: Focused on Criticism of Musical Works

Objectives The purpose of this paper is to provide teaching methods for guiding music criticism in Music Appreciation and Criticism, one of the High School Music Career-related Subjects. Methods The authors have reconstructed Stolnitz's art criticism and presented three musical criticisms, contextual criticism, intrinsic criticism, and impressionist criticism; we have applied Feldman's four critical stages, description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation to the three types of musical criticism. We have also presented a model of what should be included in each stage so that students can actually write criticism of musical works. Results In the first stage, explanation, students can obtain some information on the composer's biography and background of the work from textbooks and introductory books, and describe musical surface such as tonality, beat, rhythm, etc. When guiding students on the second stage, analysis, let them identify the components of the music and the characteristics of the piece. In the next stage, interpretation, students are asked to find musical meaning based on the analysis, describe the work in a social or historical context, or contextually reveal their subjective feelings about the work. In the final stage, evaluation, the teacher makes students judge the meaning and value of the piece. Conclusions This study is significant in that it systematizes and presents a framework for writing in high school music criticism classes. Through this study, we hope that discussions on music criticism will be actively conducted and contribute to school music education.