In this article, we consider Western Standard Music Notation (WSMN) as a normative communication system that, through representing certain cultural frameworks, may pose obstacles to musical learning, particularly in general music education.To focus this examination, we discuss different critical aspects of what we call the "notation argument": Because the skills of decoding WSMN are useful in learning certain kinds of music, they are useful in learning any musical tradition.Against this, we claim that, like any symbolic system, WSMN can have a variety of functions, not all of which may be pedagogically meaningful in given teaching-learning situations.WSMN may especially limit the musical learning of students who have difficulties in musical perception when working with written graphic symbolic representations.Emphasizing the development of literary notation skills in music education may thus hinder the progress of some learners, excluding them from curricular contexts where developing musical skills should arguably be deemed a right for everyone.We suggest shifting the theoretical focus from the pedagogical justification of applying WSMN and other notation systems to how social justice can be realized in music education through teaching accommodation guided by context-sensitive pedagogical tact.
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