Editorial

Notable among the threads that unite the articles in this present issue of the Philosophy of Music Education Review is the philosophical work our writers undertake in interrogating music educational commonplaces. In a practical field of study such as music education, philosophy is grounded, on one hand, in the theories and belief systems that provide lenses through which we might view our practices and on the other hand, in the rituals, metaphors, stories, and practices that inform our theories and belief systems. Philosophy attends to the relationship between theory and practice where theory informs practice and practice informs theory. Joseph Schwab is among the twentieth-century curricular theorists to notice this intersection of theory and practice as the site of paradox and dialectic and his observations remain relevant today. Although theory and practice can be regarded as hard- or soft-boundaried, practically speaking, I would plump for a soft-boundaried approach because the messy world of music education practice often presents theory and practice as inextricably interrelated and weak syndromes. Philosophy cannot avoid the critical examination of theory and practice and it draws from and contributes to both.

Hanna Nikkanen and Heidi Westerlund examine musical performance seen as ritual from a pedagogical perspective. For them, rituals are paradoxical in that they both sustain the status quo and challenge it towards individual and social change. Nikkanen and Westerlund posit that rituals require continuing critical re-evaluation to ensure that musical performance serves transformative educational purposes.

June Countryman and Leslie Stewart Rose take the cultivation of physical and psychological wellbeing as a central purpose of music education. Drawing on the metaphor of two "rites of passage" in a high school classroom and on Joseph Campbell's writing on the hero's journey and Jane McGonigal's theorizing on the benefits of online gaming, they illustrate how these rites of passage benefit student wellbeing. Their analysis reveals the usefulness of bringing together theory and practice in examining music educational rituals and the potential for enhancing wellbeing in the process.

Joseph Abramo critically examines the ubiquitous North American school ensemble competition through the lens of Marx's theories of labor, value, and phantasmagoria. After unpacking the capitalistic logic underlying these competitive systems, he imagines ways in which they might be transformed to more humane ends. His article illustrates the importance of unmasking the assumptions that may lie hidden beneath taken-for-granted practices.

Juliet Hess critically examines critical pedagogy drawing as her text on the views of four music teachers using pedagogical approaches that challenge the ways in which music education is typically conducted. She demonstrates problematic aspects of critical pedagogy viewed from the perspective of critical race theory. In so doing, she reflects on what the teachers say ("teacher lore") and on critical pedagogy itself. Her self-reflexive approach evidences the complexities and paradoxes that lurk in the attempt to critically unpack music educational practice.

William Perrine examines three interrelated philosophical questions concerning the performance of religious music in United States public schools: whether the performance of music with a religious text constitutes a religious practice; how instructional and performance contexts impact the performance of sacred music; and how music teachers can avoid coercion when teaching religious music. He responds to these questions in the context of the 10^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Bauchman v. West High School case of 1997. His analysis draws on the text of the legal opinion and supporting legal literature by way of providing guidance to music teachers regarding how they might approach religious music in their music programs.

Our writers in this issue draw on various types of "texts" including philosophical and theoretical writing, narratives of music teachers, and legal opinions, and from wide-ranging theoretical perspectives from philosophy, political theory, critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and music education in building their arguments. At core, they grapple with central matters of music education, namely, the role of music performance in general education, the purpose of music education construed as wellbeing, the place of musical ensemble competitions in music education, the efficacy of critical pedagogy as a way of interpreting what teachers do, and the place of religious...