TFoundations of Ottoman-Turkish music education in Walter Feldman's scholarship

Abstract

Walter Feldman is one of the leading scholars on the historical development, repertoire formation, modal system (makam), and court music traditions of Ottoman-Turkish music. Although his work has been extensively examined from a musicological perspective, it has not previously been analysed comprehensively within the framework of music education and pedagogy. This study aims to identify the pedagogical and institutional foundations of Ottoman-Turkish music education reflected in Feldman's scholarship. Using document analysis as the research method, the study found that Feldman's views on Ottoman-Turkish music education can be organised into four major themes, namely pedagogical, institutional, social, and historical dimensions, comprising a total of seventeen sub-themes. The findings demonstrate that Feldman conceptualises Ottoman-Turkish music education not merely as a technical process of transmitting musical compositions but as a multilayered system integrating the meşk tradition, master-apprentice relationships, auditory memory, repertoire transmission, performance experience, social networks, institutional structures, and systems of patronage. The study also examines the educational functions of the Enderun School, Mevlevi lodges (Mevlevihanes), and the Ottoman court in the training of musicians, together with the impact of the institutional transformations that emerged from the nineteenth century onward on music education. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that Feldman's historical and musicological analyses make significant theoretical contributions not only to the history of Ottoman-Turkish music but also to the history of music education. The findings are expected to provide a conceptual framework for future historical, pedagogical, and comparative studies on Ottoman-Turkish music education.