In education, awareness has grown in recent years about the importance of cultivating competency (quality and ability) in addition to content (knowledge and skills). Accordingly, there is increased emphasis on a competency-based—rather than content-based—curriculum for all subjects. Competency here consists of generic competencies as well as subject-specific competencies. The present study aimed to clarify differences in the music curriculum of a number of countries with a focus on the content with respect to appraising and listening to music. The targeted countries were Japan, Germany (Hamburg), England, and the United States. This study attempted to define the subject-specific competencies in school music education in those places and examine whether they had content-based or competency-based music curricula.
The curriculum in England includes many subject-specific competencies with respect to school music education. However, the curriculum does not include generic competencies. The school music curriculum in Germany includes subject-specific competencies. Some of those competencies are also connected to generic competencies. The music curriculum in the United States includes many generic competencies. Music knowledge is included among the content- based elements of the US curriculum, but there is no evidence of skill-related content. Japan has mainly a content-based music curriculum: there are no subject-specific or generic competencies in school music education.