Iniciação Musical: concepções e práticas pedagógicas expressas na imprensa nas décadas de 1930 e 1940 no Rio de Janeiro (Brasil)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the pedagogical ideas and practices related to Music Initiation conveyed in the Rio de Janeiro press during the 1930s and 1940s, which can now be accessed through the National Library Hemeroteca’s digital platform. The phrase ‘music initiation’ is most often used in connection with the courses taught by Liddy Chiaffarelli Mignone, Antônio de Sá Pereira and Nayde Jaguaribe de Sá Pereira. However, by relying on the evidentiary paradigm proposed by Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, we were able to find details that were overlooked by the historiography and broaden our understanding about the significance of the Music Initiation movement in Rio de Janeiro. Our main conclusion is that, during the period under analysis, the local press was an important medium to promote, record and discuss ideas about musical pedagogy for children and for those beginning to learn music at schools, and it also contributed to the legitimization of the educational work done by musicians.