A Historical Overview of Iranian Music Pedagogy (1905-2014)

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine

This article examines the recent developments and changes in Iranian music education from the constitutional revolution of 1905 to 2014, focusing on five major chronological pedagogical events: Nationalism, Modernism, Conservatism, Neo-Traditionalism (Shirin-navazi), and Revivalism of the Traditions. It outlines how these trends align with twentieth-century cultural and socio-political shifts, and highlights current research challenges. The work also addresses gaps in existing literature regarding connections between historical events and contemporary Iranian music pedagogy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The gap in the existing literature

Nationalism

Modernization of Iranian music education

A historical overview of Iranian music pedagogy (1905-2014) Arya Bastaninezhad Tehran Music School, Iran; Monash University, Australia Abstract This article examines the recent developments and changes concerning Iranian music education from the constitutional revolution of 1905 to 2014. This concentrates on the five major chronological events referred to as Nationalism, Modernism, Conservatism, Neo-Traditionalism (Shirin-navazi) and Revivalism of the Traditions. This provides a source of basic information necessary for better understanding of the current challenges confronting research into Iranian music education. Key words: Iranian music education; Iranian instrumental music teaching; pedagogical trends. Australian Journal of Music Education 2014:2,5-22 Introduction To understand recent developments concerning Iranian music education in the twentieth century, a social, cultural and musical overview of the past is necessary. This research investigates the development of Iranian instrumental music teaching and learning from the pre-revolutionary period, specifically the Iranian constitutional revolution (1905), to the present (2014) . It discusses the five main chronological trends: Nationalism, Modernism, Conservatism, NeoTraditionalism (Shirin-navazi) and Revivalism of the Traditions. The chronological order of the pedagogical trends is linked to and aligned with the cultural and socio-political events during the twentieth century. The significance of this information is to pursue the critical changes in Iranian music pedagogy and the interconnectedness between the mainstream pedagogical trends from those introduced by international musicians in the mid 1950s to the hybridized education system introduced by Iranian modernist Vaziri (1887-1979), and more recently by Iranian universities to teach tertiary music students. The gap in the existing literature Despite the need for a comprehensive investigation into Iranian instrumental music pedagogy, there has been a dearth of literature that focus on vocal and instrumental pedagogy (Farhat, 1998) . Most of the literature pertaining to Iranian music education, such as the Gharavi (1979), although providing useful information, generally concentrates on a specific period of time, such as the Pahlavi era (1925-1979), and does not make pedagogical connections between the key historical events and their impact on current events in Iran. There is almost no research on post-revolutionary Iranian music pedagogy, from 1979 to 2010, even though this period has brought massive change. Despite the growing importance of music education methods, nothing has been written about this Iranian pedagogical history. In particular, the great musical training and activity that is taking place in Tehran and other Iranian cities in the promotion of Iranian pedagogy in the postrevolutionary (1979) era appears to have totally escaped the attention of scholars. Nationalism Iran underwent five major events in the twentieth century: a constitutional revolution (1905); the Mossadeq (1882-1967) project; the insurrection of the fifth of June 1973; the Islamic Revolution of 1979; and recently the post-election challenges of June 2009. The constitutional revolution is characterized as the turning point among these events. Despite the defeat of the Qajar dynasty which ushered in relative social freedoms, the constitutional revolution of 1905 could also be considered as marking the onset of Western influence on nearly all aspects of life – sociological, political and philosophical – including ideologies such as those of Hegel and Marx (Lotfi, 2009; Hojati, 1997). Following the revolution of 1905, anti-Westernization movements were undertaken in the music field by traditionalists such as Aref Ghazvini (1882-1934), a noted Iranian lyricist, musician and poet. Aref wrote many pro-revolutionary and political songs that largely contributed to the formation of a political-patriotic genre know

FAQs

Which five chronological trends structure the article’s overview of Iranian music education?

The article organizes the history around Nationalism, Modernism, Conservatism, Neo-Traditionalism (Shirin-navazi), and Revivalism of the Traditions.

What is the time span the article covers for Iranian music pedagogy?

It examines developments from the constitutional revolution of 1905 through 2014.

What gap in the literature does the article emphasize?

It highlights a shortage of research that connects key historical events to their impact on current Iranian music education, especially for the post-revolutionary period from 1979 to 2010.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine