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The character of this article is theoretical and practice oriented, therefore offering educational implications for music educators and music psychologists. Its main objective is to give an overview of the most important musical and developmental changes of musically talented children and youth, at different stages of the three-level specialized music education. The theoretical background of the article refers to stage theories of development of gifted with the intention to point out correspondence between stages of development and the specificity of music education stages. Theoretical conceptions are used as a framework to synthesize and to interpret empirical data and practice-related professional experiences of psychologists in music schools in Poland and Serbia. Both countries, though culturally distinct in nature and in the character of traditional music, are characterized by a very similar system of specialized/professional music education. Further on, the article presents a review of the wide range of benefits/outcomes experienced by music school students, as a result of the highly simulative, systematic and supportive environment of music learning. The article begins with an introduction to the context of the specialized music education system in Poland and Serbia and then presents how a particular system of education for the gifted contributes to the development in the field of acquiring musical knowledge and skills, as well as to benefits/outcomes of the education system for the personal, social and professional development of the musically gifted, indicating a wide range of positive experiences.

Maks Veber je smatrao da je zapadno društvo karakteristično po tendenciji ka ekstremnoj racionalizaciji. Definisana kao proces progresivne intelektualizacije, racionalizacija je smatrana očiglednom u svim aspektima društvenog života. Međutim, Veber je tvrdio da je ovaj proces najočigledniji u muzici, te je „tezu o racionalizaciji” primenio na sve aspekte muzike – melodiju, harmoniju, polifoniju, sisteme štimovanja i lestvica, kao i instrumentalnu tehnologiju. Iako su fragmenti Veberove studije o muzici (započete u periodu između 1910. i 1913. godine) objavljeni 1921. godine, studiju retko razmatraju i muzikolozi i sociolozi. U ovoj studiji, Veber je ukazao na postojanje procesa racionalizacije u sposobnosti kompozitora da upotrebljavaju sve kompleksnija muzička sredstva, što je vodilo unapređenju ljudskog uma i sve većem bogaćenju muzičkog jezika. Nadalje, on je objasnio proces racionalizacije kao sredstvo u borbi protiv izvesnih iracionalnih „pretnji” koje bi mogle da zaustave razvoj muzike. U ovoj disertaciji analiziram Veberovu „tezu o racionalizaciji” kao amalgam socioloških i muzikoloških uticaja, te posebno izdvajam elemente koji ukazuju na prisustvo i načine inkorporiranja evolucionističke paradigme (karakteristične za muzikološki diskurs 19. veka) u autorovu sociološkomuzičku teoriju. Najpre ukazujem na važna pitanja koja se tiču same paradigme evolucionizma, kako u diskursima prirodnih nauka, tako i u diskursima o muzici. Potom se fokusiram na formiranje evolucionističkog modela u Veberovoj sociologiji muzike tako što predstavljam model kao posledicu kombinacije evolucionističkog i istoricističkog uticaja. Premda se o Veberu redovno diskutuje kao o protivniku evolucionističkih tendencija u sociologiji, ja ovde pokazujem da se paradigma evolucionizma pokazuje kao jedna od značajnijih teorijskih platformi kada je reč o Veberovoj studiji o muzici. Konačno, rad završavam izvesnim razmatranjima mogućih implikacija Veberove analize. Max Weber argued that Western society is characterized by a tendency towards extreme rationalization. Having been defined as a process of progressive intellectualization, rationalization was supposed to be evident in all aspects of social life. However, Weber advocated that this process was nowhere more conspicuous than in music, and he applied the “rationalization thesis” on the analysis of all music aspects – melody, harmony, polyphony, tuning and scale systems, instrument technology. Even thought the fragmentary drafts of Weber’s study on music (which originated in the 1910 to 1913 period) were published in 1921, the study has been scarcely discussed by both musicologists and sociologists. In this study, Weber pointed to the process of rationalization as being obvious in composers’ ability to use progressively complex musical agents, which led to the enhancing of human reason and to the increasing abundance of musical language. Furthermore, he explicated the rationalization process as a means in the fight against certain irrational “threats” that could stop music development. In this dissertation I survey Weber’s “rationalization thesis” as an amalgam of the influences of both sociology and musicology, and I focus on the elements that indicate the presence of the evolutionist paradigm (which was characteristic for the 19thcentury musicology) and the ways of its incorporation in author’s socio-musical theory. Firstly, I point to the pertinent questions considering the very paradigm of evolutionism in the natural science discourses, as well as in the discourses on music. Then, I analyze the formation of the evolutionistic model in Weber’s sociology of music by presenting the model as a consequence of both evolutionistic and historical influences. Although Weber is regularly discussed as an opponent of the evolutionistic tendencies in sociology, I show how the evolutionistic paradigm seems to be one of the relevant theoretical backgrounds when the analysis of Weber’s study on music is discussed. Finally, I conclude the paper with some observations on possible implications of Weber’s analysis.