The investigation of usability of musical iconography in secondary music courses in terms of student's behaviors and teachers' views

Human as a conceptual being tried to perceive and question his own existence for ages and used art to reveal this universe of thought. For this reason, each artist reflects his inner and outer world in his works, and gives messages to the feelings of the society. These artistic manifestations come from the understanding and culture of the person who set him forth. At this point, historians who want to get information from the past or capture the messages of the past have begun to interpret these works of art, and sometimes have even reached the details that the artist reflects without even realizing it. Art historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and theologians have benefited from the iconography discipline. In the history of music, it was known by the musicologists that the curious details of the past were hidden in visual artworks. In this context, the discipline of musical iconography, in collaboration with many other disciplines, helped musicologists to serve their research purposes. Musical iconography is a discipline in which the method can be shaped depending on the purpose for which art works are intended to be interpreted. Therefore, the usability of musical iconography in secondary music classes has been the subject of curiosity for the investigator. The study was conducted during the course with three selected high schools. The data were obtained from the interview with the teachers before and after the application in the classes, also the observation through the observation guide page marked by instructors. The students reacted positive, according to the observation. In addition, teachers stated that musical iconography was enjoyable, useful, beautiful and functional. Emphasizing the importance of visual learning, the teachers stated that they wish to use the musical iconography discipline for the Turkish music culture in schools. They also stated that they can use the musical iconography discipline in their lessons with the approval of the Ministry of National Education and the collection of the necessary materials. According to the data obtained, more extensive research on musical iconography and development of musical iconography according to the school environment are considered as some of the suggestions. Keywords: visual literacy, music culture education, musical iconography