The Pioneers of Soundscape in Finnish Music Education

Listening to Liisa Tenkku and Ellen Urho

Abstract

The history of soundscape education in Finland may be traced to the early 1960s and the pioneering work of Liisa Tenkku and Ellen Urho. These two pioneers, introduced in this paper, brought new and refreshing winds to the field of music education, from research in music education, psychology and the modern music of their time.

In the autumn of 1963 at Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu (the Helsinki Finnish Co-Educational School), Tenkku ́s original intention was to only prepare her pupils for listening to contemporary music. At the same time, she happened to include nearly all of the most essential working methods and ideas: sound games, movement, recording the performance and a graphic score – which was later refined with Ellen Urho. These lessons may be considered not only the origins of soundscape teach- ing in Finnish schools, but also important for music education, more generally in Finland. Now sound itself and active listening of sounds had become, in a new way, the starting point of music teaching.