Culture, Philosophy, Pedagogy: Wind Band Education in Japan and the United States (2010)

Undergraduate: Austin Ramsey

Faculty Advisor: Evan Feldman
Department: Music

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Japanese wind bands have consistently been held in high regard by the American educational community. In “Japanese Bands: What Makes Them So Good?”, printed in a 1986 edition of Music Educators Journal, Tim Willson declared, “Many high school concert bands and an amazing number of junior high school bands in Japan are performing on a level equal to America's college bands.” This perception of Japanese ensembles lies side by side with the perception that Japanese students are technically adept, but that they are somehow unable to express emotion in music. As Morley and Robins stated in their cultural study of Japan, the attitude many take is that Japanese culture is “cold, impersonal and machine-like, an authoritarian culture lacking emotional connection to the rest of the world.” This study sought to understand these perceptions by delving broadly into Japanese culture and philosophy. It seeks to analyze how cultural and philosophical practices in Japan affect wind band teaching methods and student learning. Additionally, it juxtaposes the Japanese system of wind band education with the American system to provide relevance and context. Analysis of the two systems is primarily gleaned from playing tests and surveys of both Japanese and America students, interviews with music educators, and data from extensive observation periods in Japanese middle and high schools. I sought to expand on the relatively small body of literature in this area, and further research will focus on expanding quantitative analysis of music learning in the two nations.