Looking Back to Move Forward: Charles Fowler and His Reconstructionist Philosophy of Music Education

Charles Fowler (1931–1995) was an important thinker whose reconstructionist philosophy of music education represents an untold view worthy of examination in the modern context. Fowler described the philosophy in his dissertation completed in 1964, based on the reconstructionist theory of Theodore Brameld. He outlined seven major objectives stating how music education can impact students, schools, and communities, and can serve as an agent of social change. This perspective was the basis for Fowler’s pragmatic and progressive outlook throughout his 45-year career as teacher, researcher, writer, and arts advocate. His philosophy is presented here as another critical viewpoint of music teaching and learning, and for its impact on those who experience it. Following an introduction to Fowler and his connections to reconstructionism, his seven objectives for music education are presented, along with samples of writing showing his consistent philosophical beliefs over time, concluding with a review of his thinking while considering the future through a lens of the past. While prevailing viewpoints center on aesthetic, praxial, and pedagogical views, Fowler’s reconstructionist philosophy is worthy of inclusion in the history of music education as he argued for a sociological perspective that predates most viewpoints commonly read in the field today.