General Information

Tanglewood II: Charting the Future

A Symposium on Music Learning for the 21st Century

Meeting Dates
25-29 June 2007 — Followed by two days of documentation by the Symposium Members

Location
The Symposium will be held at Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, a 30-minute drive from the original site and approximately two and a half hours drive from Boston and New York.

Purpose of Tanglewood I
The Tanglewood I Symposium, composed of 34 members, was held in 1967 at Tanglewood in the Massachusetts Berkshires, and examined music in American society.  The 5-1/2 day meeting was addressed by 17 guests and selected members spent 2-1/2 days producing the Report and recommendations for future action.

Document report
Program

Purpose of Tanglewood II
Since the original Tanglewood, much has been learned about how the human community processes music, what values it attaches to music experience, and, most importantly, how people learn music.  This is the subject of Tanglewood II, a duplication of Tanglewood I in spirit, but decidedly and substantially of the 21st century.  Moreover, global perspectives have since become a paramount issue in its effects on musical styles, value transfer across cultures, fusions and amalgamations. 

An international group of 32 music educators and distinguished scholars germane to the field, selected by invitation, will meet to take up the challenges posed by the new century.  In addition to a handful of administrators, there will be observers selected by application. 

To aid in deliberations, the Symposium will be addressed by outstanding persons in a variety of fields through major lectures and panel discussions on selected topics.

The more specific goals would be to cultivate a new understanding of music learning, to examine values of music in culture and its effect on transmission processes, and how schools, public and private at all levels, can meet the decades ahead with a deeper understanding of the role they can play in supporting a musical future.

Impetus to Tanglewood II

Tanglewood I, possibly the watershed event following World War II, has been a part of the Boston University consciousness for the last several decades. When the Music Education Department was reconstituted with new faculty in 2001, discussions naturally centered on the mission of the department. Inevitably, Tanglewood and the legacy of music education at Boston University arose in conversation. Should the school, known for its important contributions to music education via its outstanding graduates and programs, not be an impetus to examining music learning once again? The changes in the intervening four decades were considerable and have had and will continue to impact music learning that yet needs to be examined through a conscious and focused approach. Presently, there are numerous conferences and meetings that address various issues in the field. Tanglewood II does not aim to duplicate these; rather, the purpose is to utilize the information now available and to project a future that will act as a guide for music learning, both within and outside of formal programs. One way of gathering the information necessary for an in-depth examination is to hold several pre-symposium events with specific purposes and foci. These are contained in the area of the website under Pre-Symposium Events. We invite you to follow the progress of Tanglewood II and to take part through the Roundtable on our website. We need everyone’s ideas, particularly from the grassroots, those in the white-hot relationship between learner and student. We welcome your participation.

Documentation

Complete documentation is planned via digital video, stills, digital recording of written documents, podcasts and verbal presentations. These records will be made available on an official website and also in printed form.

In addition, the Symposium will take advantage of Boston University’s graduate online program by developing two courses pertinent to the Symposium deliberations: 1) the major events such as Tanglewood I and others following World War II; 2) the substance of Tanglewood II with some podcasting of the presentations.