Conference Theme: «Music Paedeia: From Ancient Greek Philosophers
Toward Global Music Communities»

Ancient Greeks defined Music (Mousike) as any art presided over by the Muses. Therefore, Music did not refer exclusively to the art of sounds but to a general spiritual and aesthetic phenomenon in the service of human communication (e.g. the ancient Greek language had, among other things, a particular/idiomatic metric quality).

The term Paedeia refers nowadays to the process and result of the kind of education that aims at the development of enlightened minds. However, the term Paedeia is an ancient Greek word, which used to embrace -at least during the era of classical antiquity- the fields of education, culture and humanism as distinctly Greek characteristics and put forth the ideal of perfection and mental superiority.

In ancient Greek reality, the concepts of Paedeia and Music were almost identical. In other words Mousike may be said to have been the vehicle of Paedeia, since every kind of spiritual and intellectual cultivation was supposed to be of divine origin and was termed Mousike.

Additionally, both Plato and Aristotle declared unequivocally that Music can influence the formation and development of the personality of the young. The remarks of the above mentioned philosophers constitute diachronic and permanent values. The role of music in human development and in the growth of cultures has been dynamic. However, we experience nowadays an excessive interchange of musical information through new technologies. At the same time, it has often been pointed out by some thinkers that we no longer possess the means to cope with the current musical plethora.

Music pedagogues as transmitters of musical culture within the framework of teaching-learning are in need not only of practical guides and directions but also of social, scientific and aesthetic background for their work. The quality of Music Paedeia that we -as music educators- aspire to offer has to serve humankind in a way that will elevate it to higher levels of self-awareness.