A Brief Historical Overview of Music Education in Portugal

The first documents related to the development of music in the general school curriculum appeared in 1878, when the discipline of “canto coral”¹ was introduced in the early years of primary education. Until then, music in Portugal was learned only at the so- called Conservatorio Real in Lisbon, currently Conservatorio Nacional, founded in 1835 by the Portuguese writer Almeida Garrett. Later, with the beginning of the dictatorship in 1986, “canto coral,” besides maintaining its place as a subject of the curriculum, developed also into a space to exalt the country and strengthen pupils’ national sense. Anyway, and despite its political purposes, this discipline always had a small place in the curricula focusing mainly on musical theory and some singing. Besides, “canto coral” was taught by teachers with no professional training in education, and that were not prepared to significantly involve their pupils in the activities implemented in the classroom.

In the late 1960s, music education was marked by a new and vigorous stream: inspired by the international emphasis on art education and by the visit of several music educators philosophically related to the ideas of Dalcroze, Orff, or Willlems, the Portuguese music education community emphasized that pupils should be involved in several musical practices. The focus was no longer on music theory (which should be introduced later) but on the ways children could actively engage music. This was also the beginning of a period devoted to reflection about the goals, practices, and values of music education in schools. Institutions such as Associa^ao Portuguesa de Educa^ao Musical (APEM), or Calouste Goulbenkian Foundation, organized several seminars, conferences, and workshops, spreading a new philosophy for music education and inviting innovative and inspiring music educators and musicians such as John Paynter or Murray Schaffer (Mota, 2001).

In 1974, Portugal underwent a series of major political, social, and economic changes as a consequence of the democratic revolution that took place on April 25, signaling the end of the dictatorship and colonial regime. Since that date, and according with our constitution, Portugal is a democratic state based on the rule of law, the sovereignty of people, the pluralism of democratic expression and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms of all citizens. The revolution re-established the fundamental rights and liberties for all, which are now documented in the constitution of the Portuguese Republic. During this period, music education was not a major concern of the political agenda. However, at that time, music became a way of expressing the novel ideas of a democratic country; young people saw many of their feelings and thoughts disclosed in this “political engaged music” (Mota, 2001, p. 152), that slowly also became a part of many activities inside the music classroom.

After 1974, there was also an emergence of pop/rock bands and musicians who composed their own songs without having any formal knowledge about music education. They composed and played by ear (as they do nowadays), incorporating styles and rhythms from Portugal’s past African colonies in their songs. This also had an impact on music education. As stated by Mota, “Some young teachers have begun incorporating this music and its powerful rhythms in their music classrooms which is a total new direction to the Portuguese music” (Mota, 2001, pp. 152-153). Later, these pop/rock bands were also influenced by UK and American counterparts and by the lifestyle of diverse musicians living in these countries.

In 1983 took place what we might consider to be the first major reform of artistic education in Portugal, explicit in law 310/83. This law defines, among other things, universities and polytechnic institutes as the higher education institutions for the graduation of musicians and music teachers. Within this system, the training of professional musicians and teachers of specialized music education—which started to be concentrated in universities and music colleges—was differentiated from the training of music education teachers in general education, which became essentially assigned to the new colleges of education.

Thus, if until then, music teachers were trained only at the conservatory, specializing in instrument, composition, or singing, from 1983 onward, the training of music teachers started to have not only the musical component but also the entire pedagogical component connected to educational sciences. This aspect was extremely important for the development of music education in our country, since, for the first time, teachers were educated to develop a critical and reflective perspective on the pedagogical and didactic issues related to music education (Mota, 2014 and 2015).