Sostenibilità del ‘classico’ nell’educazione musicale scolastica

Abstract

The use of the term ‘classical’ has very ancient origins and is rooted in the field of schooling, pedagogy and didactics. It derives from the Latin classis, meaning ‘class’. In musical literature, the adjective ‘classical’ (from the Latin classici auctores) was consolidated in the syntagm ‘classical authors’, retaining a strong pedagogical imprint: by ‘classical’ we mean that which, by virtue of its qualitative excellence, guarantees the transmission of the correct grammar of composition, and which, by virtue of its timeless validity, is independent of the style of the moment. Subsequently, the musical use of the term ‘classical’ takes on a different semantic nuance, crystallising in the popular expression ‘classical music’. This locution is both generic in terms of stylistic evaluation and specific in designating a series of compositions from the past that are still alive in the public memory. The paper explores the possible relationship between this founding idea of Western school culture and a contemporary and global concept that is very much in vogue today, that of ‘sustainability’: how much, and in what way, is ‘classical music’ sustainable in music education in schools?