1 ‘Rhythmic Music ’ in Danish music education

The aim of this paper is to introduce and discuss the Danish concept “rytmisk music ” (“rhythmic music”); what is the meaning of this concept, what has been the context of it, and which role has it been playing in the Danish education system from its emergence in the early 1930s and to the present agendas of music teaching and music education in Denmark? Denmark is a small Scandinavian social-liberal welfare society, today with a population of 5 mio people, with a tradition of including music as part of the curricula at all levels of the publicly financed school system, from primary to upper secondary level. It has been widely accepted since the 1920s that both individuals and culture benefit from art subjects, creative activities etc. Teaching music and including it in education has been considered a public matter and financing it a public task. Impulses for the developing of music as a subject, however, have been occurring from outside the system. The concept of “folkelig music”, which played an important role in the school system from the 1920s and for half a century, is an example. It originated in the folk high school movement. The concept of “rytmisk music”, which is the main issue of my paper, is another. In the Danish education system teachers for the primary and lover secondary level