Resumo

This paper presents the first approaches of a research project inserted in the field of the History of School Subjects. The main objective of this project is to map and analyze the curricular selection for music education at elementary schools in Brazil over time, taking as sources textbooks produced for teaching Art/Music since the creation of the Pedro II College (1938). Within the limits of this paper, we present the analysis of the book "Artistic Education - body, musical and plastic expression", written by Gilberto Cotrim, published in 1977 and adopted at that time in several Brazilian schools. The analysis considers the selection of content for music education proposed by the author in his book, locating it in the scope of public policies that characterize the teaching of arts in Brazil in the 1970s. The results, still in process, reveal the influence of conservatorial practices in the selection of content, focusing on musical notation, working with the traditional parameters of sound, and traditional notions as the definition of classical music as more complex and tied to a “more refined music taste”. However, it is interesting the importance given to musical content in the book, among the other artistic expressions.