The music band of Casa dos Educandos Artífices in Maranhão (1841- 1889): from school practice to cultural practice

Abstract

This article recovers the trajectory of the Music Band of Casa dos Educandos Artífices (CEA) (1841/1889) in the Province of Maranhão, which emerges from the welcoming of destitute boys after the Revolta da Balaiada, articulating pedagogical and educational practices via professional instruction from specific
cultural practices. We analyze the progression of musical formation, mainly instrumental, as a subject that orbited the curriculum and the musician trade, beyond the classes of early literacy, Christian doctrine, notions of national grammar, and mechanic instruction focused on trade learning: mason, tailor, carpenter, blacksmith, and barrel-maker. The processes to create/implement CEA and establish/develop/peak of the music band are intercrossed with the characterization/use of the space and the extracurricular activities of apprentices in musical formation, beyond the flow of subjects and the organization of school time as units of analysis under the perspective of Norbert Elias and the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Cultural History. We approach the power relations implicit in trades and reports between presidents and public instruction inspectors, in teachers' actions, and in the laws and regulations that contribute to data triangulation to understand the nature of vocational instruction, the characteristics of musical formation, and the respective projections of school practices into cultural practices pointing out new identities.