Editorial

Philosophers have always been in something of a bind. Thinking reflectively about often taken-for-granted subjects in search of truth unsettles the status quo and raises the hackles of those who are invested in it and who stand to benefit from it. This unsettlement potentially undermines and subverts beliefs, values, and practices that are committed or acquiesced to by the powerful and disempowered alike. Although it is to be expected that challenging popular and taken-for-granted beliefs and practices opens the philosopher to the risk of retribution and requires courage in forwarding one’s critique, a philosopher who seeks to express integrity cannot keep silent. A critique must be rendered if one is to be true to the inescapable logic of one’s argument. So, while one risks antagonizing those who would prefer that the timbers of their accepted beliefs and practice not be shaken, one must engage in the process of critique, no matter what the cost.

Philosophy offers music education a means of reasoning about beliefs and established commonplaces that may have been accepted uncritically. The philosophical community constitutes a space whereby critiques that are offered can be thought through carefully and critically. No one writing can say it all and philosophers as a tribe are very conscious of this reality. Within an article or a book, it is impossible to say all that one might wish to say if space and endurance were not limitations. Nevertheless, one can at least say something and this reality makes it possible to articulate at least a part of a critique at a particular time. That philosophers are also able to work through the possibilities of ideas in fora that eschew ad hominem responses and personalized counter attacks enables them to focus on the merits of the ideas they espouse. Just as Socrates and his student Plato were able to work out ideas with their students and colleagues, so the Philosophy of Music Education Review provides an opportunity to think through the points and counterpoints of current debates and learn from them. Rather than dismiss ideas out-of-hand peremptorily, this journal offers a space to elucidate ideas, criticize them, and be treated respectfully by others engaged in philosophical discourse. Critique is welcome in this journal as an essential aspect of philosophical conversation in music education.

This issue offers essays as cases in point. Alexandra Kertz-Welzel undertakes an epistemological and ethnomusicological critique of “community music”—a field that has arisen within and tangentially to music education—with respect to questions of what is meant by community music. Drawing on the historical-critical method, she examines some of the philosophical challenges for community musicians and music educators. William Perrine worries with philosophical issues underlying the Stratechuck v. Board of Education legal decision arising out of the use of holiday music in music education study and performance. His analysis raises critical questions about the place of religious music in public education in the present political and legal milieu in the United States. Leonard Tan faults instrumental music educators for their neglect of conceptual teaching and learning. Drawing on Confucian and Deweyan ideas, he proposes a transcultural theory of music education that suggests ways in which focusing on concepts might enhance instrumental music education. Merlin Thompson examines ways in which concepts of self and authenticity that he sees as too-often absent from the theory and practice of Suzuki music education can offer transformative and life-changing approaches to music education. Drawing on the historical case of the introduction of music into the curriculum of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Rosemary Golding offers arguments that interrogate norms and practices in today’s higher music education. In Dialogue with Alexandra Kertz-Welzel, Antia Gonzalez Ben critiques Kertz-Welzel’s essay, “Daring to Question: A Philosophical Critique of Community Music,” that appears in this issue. Roger Mantie critically reviews Thomas Regelski’s latest book, A Brief Introduction to a Philosophy of Music and Music Education as Social Praxis.

Constructive criticism plays a crucial role in the search for philosophical truth as ideas are deliberated within the community of exponents and practitioners. This conversation constitutes a means...