著者

筒井 はる香

出版者

日本人間教育学会

雑誌

人間教育学研究 = Journal for humanistic education (ISSN:21889228)

巻号頁・発行日

no.4, pp.135-144, 2016-12

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Abstract:The purpose of this paper is to shed light on one aspect of the introduction of the melodica into elementaryschool education in Japan, by clarifying the improvements that took place in the manufacturing process of melodicasduring the 1960s and 1970s, focusing on articles and advertisements in music education magazines. After melodicas werefirst imported from Germany around 1961, musical instrument manufacturers in Japan also began to manufacture andimprove them. Educators in elementary and junior high schools soon began using the melodica experimentally, praisingits musical possibilities but demanding improvements in quality.Musical instrument manufacturers immediately set out to improve the quality of the instrument in collaboration withelementary schools. As a result, in 1967, the melodica was approved as an educational tool by the Ministry of Education.Further, with an increase in the number of school children and the corresponding shortage of music rooms andequipment in elementary schools, when the Ministry revised its national curriculum guidelines in 1968 and stipulated thescope of" basic" education, the melodica was considered a useful instrument for the attainment of this basic education,and elementary school students throughout Japan were soon carrying their personal melodicas. This paper shows thatmusical instrument manufacturers played a large role in the process leading up to the widespread introduction of themelodica into elementary school education.