Craft Experiences

Music education exists within a web of policies. Those most often identified by music teachers and professional associations are the policies imposed on the profession by governmental and regulatory bodies. Advocacy efforts to change policy are mostly directed toward these bodies. However, the practice of music education is perhaps more influenced by subtle policies that affect teachers' values, expectations, and practices. In this article, Nye's concepts of "hard" and "soft" power are adapted and used as a paradigm for categorization and analysis of policy to illustrate this situation. Using this model reveals that while some hard policies specific to music education advocate a progressive music education, other hard policies may interfere with this agenda and soft policies seem to maintain the status quo. Recommendations are made for building the capacity of teachers to understand, study, and influence policy.     

Five Minute Dog Feeder

In this article, the author explores music education counterforces, examining whether and how (a) federal and state education policies can better address the in-service needs of special area teachers, particularly music teachers, in the school setting; and (b) policy organizations in the music education profession (i.e., The National Association for Music Education, the National Association of Schools of Music, the College Music Society, the Society for Music Teacher Education, and the Music Education Research Council) might also address the inherent tensions between music education and schooling.     

Looking Toward the Future

Changes in education policy—particularly at the federal and state levels—during the current era of ideologically and profit-driven “education reform” threaten balanced education in general and music/arts education in particular. Emerging answers to a number of pivotal questions will determine the future of the arts, arts education, and public education in general. Music educators and other advocates of quality arts education must not only adapt their curricula and instructional practices to reach students in a twenty-first century context, but also develop effective communications systems and organize coalitions powerful enough to influence policymakers and thereby shape policies supportive of quality music/arts education. Recent advocacy efforts by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) provide examples of how supporters of arts education might accomplish these goals.     

Public Policy and Music Education in Norway and Finland

This article applies the Toulmin argument model of rhetorical analysis—which features identification and dissection of the components of prominent enthymemes—to scrutinize concepts within both educational policy documents and relevant music education literature from Norway and Finland across the past decade. Our analysis examines how understandings of “music education” are formulated through the cosmopolitan rhetoric of public policy, enabling rigorous assessment of relationships between the prospective limitations of these formulations and the actual concerns of music teachers evident in professional periodicals since the start of the twenty-first century.     

A View of Current Evaluative Practices in Instrumental Music Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to examine how instrumental music educator skills are being evaluated in current undergraduate programs. While accrediting organizations mandate certain elements of these programs, they provide limited guidance on what evaluative approaches should be used. Instrumental music teacher educators in the College Music Society (n = 303) supplied data about their respective programs through an online survey. Participants reported using written and verbal feedback, self-evaluation, and rubrics most frequently. Similar evaluation processes used across program courses or experiences, such as rubrics and ePortfolios, were described by 35 percent of the music teacher educators. Most programs culminated in a semester-long student teaching period, during which preservice teachers were observed and evaluated by university supervisors three to four times. Weak correlations were indicated between some evaluative practices and music teacher educators’ expectations for program graduates’ music educator skills. Implications for music teacher education programs and suggestions for establishing evaluation policies are discussed.     

Book Design and Illustration

In the years between the world wars, music education in Germany prospered, because successful policy made constructive cooperation among relevant institutions and representatives possible. The situation today is very different. Many music educators and researchers are not aware that policies affect them; nor do they see themselves as active participants in policymaking. This article discusses the conflicting forces in society and in the education system that are responsible for this: the precarious relationship of youth music culture and music education; the continuing decline of music education in the schools, which is concealed by media-supported events; the seeming irrelevance of music education content and methods to students; a lack of consensus in society about the core content of music education; and the ineffectiveness of the argument for the educational benefits of music education in policymaking. As a result of these forces, Germany lacks both theories and research on music education policy. This article argues that music is a diverse practice that manifests itself as many different practices in various contexts. Thus, the center of music education policy must be the people dealing with music and their varied musical practices, rather than musical works and their dissemination. As a consequence, music education policy needs to be shaped in ways appropriate to the diversity of musical practices and the various contexts of music education.     

Implications of Odera Oruka's ethics of consumerism for reducing globesity

In this paper, I advance Odera Oruka's insights on the ethics of consumerism in order to draw relevant implications of his thoughts on rethinking the problem of obesity. I argue that Oruka's ethics of consumerism and his right to human minimum theory entail some salient ideas that might serve as a better ethical model for reducing the global obesity prevalence. Though Oruka's African moral philosophy is yet to receive universal attention it arguably deserves, the interests of the international and ‘globesity’ community would be better served learning from the contributions of an African moral theory to contemporary bioethical discourse on obesity. Oruka's moral thoughts are by constitution, a deontological and cosmopolitan call for reducing hunger in globalized world, while also indirectly, addressing obesity of the poor. I show the limitations of his ethics of consumerism, and the shortcomings of such ethics in the context of obesity of the poor. Consequently, I develop a neo‐Orukan virtue based ethics that is worthy of attention in efforts towards addressing the obesity tide. No such perspective currently exists in the context of obesity; yet the exigent need for one is necessitated by the defects of the libertarian and harm principle approaches in Western bioethical discourse.     

The Impact of a Funded Research Program on Music Education Policy

Sounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education is a research program designed to allow researchers to examine the roles of music education in the lives of school-aged children to expand the understanding of music's role in a quality education. The NAMM Foundation, the sponsoring organization, has provided more than $1,000,000 to fund research on the impact of music education on student achievement and success in school; all aspects of a child's growth and development; the uses and functions of music in daily life; and home, school, and community environments. Quality research about the role and impact of music education conducted by experienced researchers who publish in rigorous, peer-reviewed, scientific research journals plays a vital role in moving a public policy agenda forward to achieve expanded access to music education for all children. The goal is that this research will inform policy debates and development to achieve policies that support opportunities for every child to experience the power and benefits of learning music.     

A Practical Plan for Public Works of Art Heckman Summer School at Woodstock

The 1957 launch of Sputnik and the 1983 publication of A Nation at Risk shifted national education policy. Music educators promoted an “intrinsic value” of music philosophy following Sputnik and music advocacy through politics and public performances following A Nation at Risk. Examining the history of both the intrinsic value philosophy and advocacy reveals that music educators responded to Sputnik and A Nation at Risk by continuing to work within their existing language and practices rather than reacting to and transforming after either event. The political, social, and cultural contexts of these events may explain music educators’ responses.     

Enhancing Research Ethics Review Systems in Egypt: The Focus of an International Training Program Informed by an Ecological Developmental Approach to Enhancing Research Ethics Capacity

Recently, training programs in research ethics have been established to enhance individual and institutional capacity in research ethics in the developing world. However, commentators have expressed concern that the efforts of these training programs have placed ‘too great an emphasis on guidelines and research ethics review’, which will have limited effect on ensuring ethical conduct in research. What is needed instead is a culture of ethical conduct supported by national and institutional commitment to ethical practices that are reinforced by upstream enabling conditions (strong civil society, public accountability, and trust in basic transactional processes), which are in turn influenced by developmental conditions (basic freedoms of political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees, and protective security). Examining this more inclusive understanding of the determinants of ethical conduct enhances at once both an appreciation of the limitations of current efforts of training programs in research ethics and an understanding of what additional training elements are needed to enable trainees to facilitate national and institutional policy changes that enhance research practices. We apply this developmental model to a training program focused in Egypt to describe examples of such additional training activities.     

[Re]considering Respect for Persons in a Globalizing World

Contemporary clinical ethics was founded on principlism, and the four principles: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence and justice, remain dominant in medical ethics discourse and practice. These principles are held to be expansive enough to provide the basis for the ethical practice of medicine across cultures. Although principlism remains subject to critique and revision, the four‐principle model continues to be taught and applied across the world. As the practice of medicine globalizes, it remains critical to examine the extent to which both the four‐principle framework, and individual principles among the four, suffice patients and practitioners in different social and cultural contexts. Using the four‐principle model we analyze two accounts of surrogate decision making – one from the developed and one from the developing world – in which the clinician undertakes medical decision‐making with apparently little input from the patient and/or family. The purpose of this analysis is to highlight challenges in assessing ethical behaviour according to the principlist model. We next describe cultural expectations and mores that inform both patient and clinician behaviors in these scenarios in order to argue that the principle of respect for persons informed by culture‐specific ideas of personhood may offer an improved ethical construct for analyzing and guiding medical practice in a globalized and plural world.     

Suburban drifts: mundane multiculturalism in outer London

This article explores the ethnicization of London suburbs to challenge the growing public and political discourse of the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ mobilized by politicians in the UK and Europe, and even worse, the more pernicious rhetoric that blames multiculturalist policies for a whole raft of social ills including social exclusion, terrorism and urban riots. Through reviving the concept of multicultural drift deployed by Stuart Hall over a decade ago to frame the experiences of three generations of Asians in two London suburbs, we reveal the much more subtle and ordinary ways in which multicultural diversity is simply a fact of life in London's erstwhile predominantly white suburbs, a fact that makes a nonsense of David Cameron's (and others') assertions.     

Cosmopolitan encounters: reflexive engagements and the ethics of sharing

This study contributes to the growing research on everyday cosmopolitanism in diverse societies. We employ a cosmopolitan encounters framework to explore the reflexive openness people perform and the ethical reasoning they draw on to get along with each other. In particular, we look beyond pleasurable cosmopolitan pursuits to consider encounters that cause frictions or require notable efforts to bridge differences as an occasion for cosmopolitan conviviality. Based on qualitative interviews conducted in Australia, we aim to sharpen the demarcation between cosmopolitan encounters and those in which diversity is strategically negotiated by enacting practices of civility. We argue that cosmopolitanism emerges from interactions in encounters between individuals when they reflect on their positionality within unequal power relationships and their actions are guided by a cosmopolitan ethics. The ethical framework we propose is grounded in reflexive acts of sharing going beyond notions of giving and performing hospitality within a host/guest dyad.     

Inclusive education policy in the Hong Kong primary music classroom

An education reform policy and inclusive education policy have been implemented in Hong Kong for over a decade. As more students with special educational needs have entered the mainstream education system under these policies, Hong Kong's primary music classrooms offer a site where three policies interact—the education reform policy entitled “Learning to Learn,” the policy of inclusive education, and the undeclared “policy” of making savings in the government budget. This article seeks to explore the results of the interaction of these three policies. A qualitative study was carried out to investigate the views of Hong Kong primary school music teachers on the policy of inclusion in relation to music teaching. Insufficient support in inclusive learning in “non-core” subjects, such as music, is evidenced.     

Lettering Technique

Because teaching and learning are regulated by distinct ideas of education and school administration in each of the sixteen states in Germany, an analysis of arts and music education policy shows contradictory results. However, this article reveals that an underlying discourse on the role and importance of music education draws a more homogenous picture. Therefore, the article focuses on parents’ attitudes toward music education within the frame of mobility German society offers. It is shown that middle class parents especially value music as part of a strategy to secure children's future status. On a higher level again this leads to contradictions between verbalized positions on the aims of music education and factual decisions. These contradictions are framed by more general theories on policymaking in a global perspective.     

Make an Art Slide Library

Self-assessment can play an important role in teachers’ personal and professional development and is encouraged by educational programs worldwide. This article reports on a Greek study that aimed to investigate generalist preservice kindergarten teachers’ self-assessment of their music teaching ability. One hundred participants were asked to design and deliver three music sessions for the kindergarten and then prepare a short reflective portfolio. Qualitative analysis of the portfolios led to the identification of different issues related to student practices, including preservice teacher training, teaching ability, the effect of different school environments and policies, and personal thoughts and feelings. Finally, the article discusses the role of self-assessment in understanding students’ academic needs and suggests initiatives and policies that might promote better teaching practices in music education, both at kindergarten and university level.     

Ping Pong Dolls

This article examines ways in which music education advocacy efforts have become disconnected from the unified visions and declarations of music educators espoused in the Tanglewood and Housewright declarations and are thus reifying the disconnect between what we value and what we say we value. We first analyze the policies posited by the recently formed Music Education Policy Roundtable and consider several counterarguments. Second, we suggest new directions in music education advocacy by discussing ways to make our programs more culturally relevant and valuable to our schools and communities. Finally, we conclude with a call for our professional organization to take a leadership role in situating the arts as an important element of American public school education by reigniting national aims discussions that lead to liberal and humanistic education policies.     

A Novel Technic for High School Magazines

Inspired by ideas that Levi-Strauss (1955) presented in Tristes Tropiques, the author discusses music and early childhood in Brazil from educational, historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives. She begins with a short history of early childhood education in Brazil, including changes in educational policies, teacher preparation, and recent statistics. Next, a brief history of music teaching and learning is followed by a discussion of Brazilian children's current musical practices. In this section, the author discusses teacher training, curriculum, religion, wealth, local culture, and the role of the media. The author concludes with suggestions for the development of both early childhood music education policy and practice in Brazil.     

Artist and Educator

Policy can be a useful tool for effecting change, but policy analysis, which shapes policy development, has been underused in music education research. This paper demonstrates how Bardach's (2000) Eightfold Path can be used to develop solutions to problems in music education. Some have argued that school music programs do not prepare students to engage musically in today's society. To develop alternative solutions and project their outcomes, I analyze several current and past efforts to redefine music education and secure its place in the curriculum. Several alternatives, which include revising the National Standards, developing a national curriculum, improving professional development, and reconceiving advocacy, are evaluated, and policy recommendations are made that will enable the profession to redefine music education to better serve today's students.     

Serve and return: Communication foundations for early childhood music policy stakeholders

ABSTRACT

Serve-and-return interactions between a young child and caregiver are cited as integral to healthy child development and language development. In this article, the authors assert that serve-and-return interactions offer a relevant model for policy development in early childhood music education. They share contemporary evidence that music learning and development begins in the womb, continues during infancy, and needs to be prioritized in preschool and early elementary years. Next, they trace the policy landscape for early childhood education and music education in the United States since 2008. Although the landscape has remained stark, the authors offer recent glimmers of possibilities and conclude with actionable steps for improving early childhood music education policies.