Indiana University Press blog

Exploring Documentaries on the Civil Rights Movement with Black Camera and the BFC/A

Today marks the 54th anniversary of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 - the landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and prohibited unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.

In honor of this historic event, we invite you to explore Indiana University’s Black Film Center / Archive, home of Black Camera, the international film journal.

 
BFC/A Documentaries on the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist Movements

The exploration and research of black history, the study of the documentary genre, and the use of film as teaching aids (for Indiana University faculty) are just some of the contributions made by documentaries in the BFC/A collections. Spanning from the 1890s to the present day, our documentaries tell countless stories about the black experience. Because the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements of the mid-20th century are pivotal areas of study in the field of black history and are the subjects of frequent requests, we have compiled the following list of documentaries in the BFC/A collections that explain aspects of these movements.

 

The Rosa Parks Story: The Making of a Civil Rights Icon

The Rosa Parks Story (2002) belongs to the wave of civil rights films that emerged in the 1980s and was dedicated to recounting the fight for desegregation in the southern states. Rosa Parks quickly became an icon of collective resistance by famously refusing to forfeit her seat to a white passenger on board a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. In this made-for-television biopic, director Julie Dash strives to retrace Rosa Parks's personal and political journey to emancipation. This article considers the constraints the director had to negotiate while recounting the story of a national icon for television. Not only did the weight of legacy bear on the project, but so did the conventions of the biopic as a genre that stresses the personal rather than the political. The historical narrative of the civil rights movement is simplified into a story that reproduces stereotypes popularized by both race melodramas and mainstream media.

 

Civil Rights, Labor, and Sexual Politics on Screen in Nothing But a Man (1964)

The independently made 1964 film Nothing But a Man is one of a handful of films whose production coincided with new civil rights insurgency and benefited from activists' input. This essay argues that the film's unusual attention to labor and gender politics as key elements both of racial subordination and liberation resulted from an unusual and productive, though not egalitarian, collaboration across racial lines. The white and Jewish filmmakers recognized the black freedom struggle in the U.S. South as part of World War II–era mobilizations against fascism and postwar challenges to colonialism around the world.

 

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Black Camera is a journal of black film studies, edited at the Black Film Center/Archive at Indiana University-Bloomington, and engenders an academic discussion of black film production, including historical and contemporary book and film reviews, interviews with accomplished film professionals, and editorials on the development of black creative culture.

Decolonizing Music Education: A Closer Look at PME 26.1

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Burke Stanton’s article, “Musicking in the Borders toward Decolonizing Methodologies,” from the Philosophy of Music Education Review’s newest issue, is now available on JSTOR & Project MUSE. Below, Burke elaborates on the ongoing struggle for decolonization and liberation in music education.

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The idea for writing “Musicking in the Borders: Toward Decolonizing Methodologies” germinated a little more than two years ago as my undergraduate senior thesis for DePauw University. I reworked that project significantly in the first months after my graduation and sent it to PMER. At that juncture, I left for Mexico in order to continue studying philosophies and histories I had recently discovered.  During my time at University, the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico inspired my own research and journey. Travelling, studying, and collaborating in Chiapas provided the material counterpoint to research I began in the library. After participating in several months of Spanish immersion, I collaborated with two human rights organizations, learning much that the books had omitted.

Then, I received an email from PMER and found myself revisiting the prospect of publishing my article. Fortunately for me, I received illuminating criticism at every turn. Early on, this came from Dr. Elissa Harbert at DePauw who kindly supported and guided a project that was surely even more quixotic at that time. Later, the peer review process challenged and sharpened my thinking greatly. At the time of this writing, I’m beginning a guitar class as a volunteer facilitator at the Chicago-based Centro Autónomo/Mexico Solidarity Network where we will attempt to educate ourselves in part through musicking that navigates histories of resistance. I imagine that the young collaborating students will continue this trend and provide some of the starkest criticisms yet! (If you are interested in supporting us, we are seeking funds for instruments. Please go to https://ausm.community/payment/ under the “Speaking tour” option and indicate that the donation is for “Centro Autónomo- Clase de guitarra”).

This article should be approached as a reified snapshot of an ongoing process. The subtext navigates an ongoing exploration of my own positionality, subjectivity, and agency as a white cis man struggling for decolonization and liberation. As global elites opt for endless war at home and abroad while treating large swaths of the global population as a state-less surplus humanity doomed to navigate migratory and climate chaos without protection, the immediacy of embodied decolonial struggle has perhaps never been greater. I remain convinced that we can navigate the borders of our worlds to struggle for justice, transforming ourselves by cultivating critical consciousness and collective action. Decolonial musicking methodologies connect us to profound histories and can act as potent resources for forging new horizons of human flourishing.

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Burke Stanton is a scholar of decolonizing musicking methodologies and a volunteer facilitator at the Chicago-based Centro Autónomo/Mexico Solidarity Network. 

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More from the Philosophy of Music Education Review 26.1

 • READ FOR FREE • 
Musicking in the Borders toward Decolonizing Methodologies
Burke Stanton

A “Discomfortable” Approach to Music Education Re-envisioning the “Strange Encounter"
Juliet Hess

A “Sound” Approach: John Cage and Music Education
Stuart Chapman Hill

On Confucian Metaphysics, The Pragmatist Revolution, and Philosophy of Music Education
Leonard Tan

 • READ FOR FREE • 
The Nonidentical as a Problem of a Systemic Approach to Scientific Music Pedagogy
Stefan Orgass

IN DIALOGUE

A Response to Roger Mantie
Thomas A. Regelski

BOOK REVIEW

Children’s Home Musical Experiences Across the World by Beatriz Ilari and Susan Young
Review by: Amy Christine Beegle

Considering the "Nonidentical" and A System of Scientific Music Pedagogy: A Closer Look at PME 26.1

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Stefan Orgass’s article, “The Nonidentical as a Problem of a Systemic Approach to Scientific Music Pedagogy,” from the Philosophy of Music Education Review’s newest issue, is now available on JSTOR & Project MUSE. Below, Stefan elaborates on the limits of a systemic approach in music education and research.

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In a world of an increasing influence of economy on life in general, practices of music education should recollect their primary sense which—above all—realizes in recollection by means of musical-aesthetical practices. The enhancement of these practices is the goal of practices of music education whose amelioration is the goal of research in music pedagogy. In this web of relationships “disciplinary identity” is at stake.

In order to strengthen this identity, a “disciplinary matrix” (Th. S. Kuhn) of scientific music pedagogy is established on the basis of reflection theory, founded by a four-dimensional sign. Its dimensions “constitution of an object,” “individual,” “interaction,” and “modification of sense” are constitutive of each other. It is used as a basis for the reconstruction of musical practices, practices of music education, interdisciplinary practices and research practices of music pedagogy. Reconstruction can also reveal neglected aspects and research gaps.

This systemic approach generates limits which become apparent by Theodor W. Adorno’s concept of the nonidentical. The meanings of this concept can be reconstructed in the aforementioned sense, as well as the categories Critical Theory applies for the description of societal practices: reification, alienation, totally administered society/culture industry and instrumental reason/context of delusion. In their negativity, these categories are particular and therefore not apt as principles of a holistic system. They represent a realization within this system built on the basis of reflection theory.

The article focusses not only on the relationship between the holistic system and its challenging by the nonidentical, but also thematizes several consequences of this relationship for practices of music education: “Disciplinary identity” should be regarded as a topic not only of science but of practitioners as well. This is why the reading public of this article should reach from students of music pedagogy through practitioners of music education to researchers.

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Stefan Orgass is a professor of Music Education and Music Didactics at Folkwang University of Art. From 2010 to 2016 he was the first chairman of the Federal Association for Music Education, and since 2011 has been a member of the advisory board for the European Music Exchange of the German Music Council. His research interests include development of the didactic conception ‘Communicative Music Didactics’; basic questions of music education, theory of musical importance, and research on teaching and science theory of music education.

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More from the Philosophy of Music Education Review 26.1

Musicking in the Borders toward Decolonizing Methodologies
Burke Stanton

A “Discomfortable" Approach to Music Education Re-envisioning the “Strange Encounter”
Juliet Hess

A “Sound” Approach: John Cage and Music Education
Stuart Chapman Hill

On Confucian Metaphysics, The Pragmatist Revolution, and Philosophy of Music Education
Leonard Tan

 • READ FOR FREE • 
The Nonidentical as a Problem of a Systemic Approach to Scientific Music Pedagogy
Stefan Orgass

IN DIALOGUE

A Response to Roger Mantie
Thomas A. Regelski

BOOK REVIEW

Children’s Home Musical Experiences Across the World by Beatriz Ilari and Susan Young
Review by: Amy Christine Beegle

Social Justice in the Musical Classroom: A Closer Look at PME 25.2

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Juliet Hess’s article, “Critiquing the Critical: The Casualties and Paradoxes of Critical Pedagogy in Music Education,” from the Philosophy of Music Education Review  newest issue, is now available on  JSTOR &  Project MUSE. Below, Juliet elaborates on who can and cannot engage social justice work in the classroom.

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As a public school elementary and middle school music teacher, I worked to engage issues of social justice in my classroom. Because I did not have a car, I lacked the ability to engage in professional development with other music teachers and felt relatively isolated as the only music teacher in my school. As such, I wondered how other music teachers took up social justice work in their classrooms.

Compelled by this question, in my doctoral work, I made my own professional development. I had the privilege of sitting in the classrooms of four exceptional teachers who purposefully engaged in anti-racist and social justice work in their classrooms. Their students performed, wrote, listened to, and improvised music. Teachers also guided students to grapple meaningfully with the sociohistorical and sociopolitical contexts of all music studied. They learned a wide range of music across multiple styles, cultures, and geographies. All four teachers limited their use of Western standard notation, preferring to offer some notational literacy as a “key to the door” alongside constant aural learning.

I observed in each classroom two days a week for an eight-week period. I found the teachers’ pedagogy impressive and watched as the students wrestled with privilege and asked and responded to hard questions about context. As I observed, I began to wonder if there were limits on who could engage in critical pedagogy in the classroom. All four teachers were white women and they faced little resistance in work that one could easily consider as radical. Would people of color implementing similar pedagogy face greater resistance or be perceived as “having an agenda”? I also wondered whether there were any “casualties” of engaging in critical pedagogy in the classroom. Would the students who only received an introduction to notation, for example, be limited later in their choices for continuing in music based on this earlier anti-racist focus? I wrote this article to engage with these issues and to explore what I refer to as the paradoxes and casualties of critical pedagogy.

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Juliet Hess is an assistant professor of music education at Michigan State University’s College of Music. Her research interests include anti-oppression education, activism in music and music education, music education for social justice, and the question of ethics in world music study.

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More from the Philosophy of Music Education Review 25.2

Editorial 
Estelle R. Jorgensen

More than Just Music: Reconsidering the Educational Value of Music in School Rituals
Hanna M. Nikkanen and Heidi Westerlund

Wellbeing in the Secondary Music Classroom: Ideas from Hero’s Journeys and Online Gaming
June Countryman and Leslie Stewart Rose

The Phantasmagoria of Competition in School Ensembles
Joseph Michael Abramo

 • READ FOR FREE • 
Critiquing the Critical: The Casualties and Paradoxes of Critical Pedagogy in Music Education
Juliet Hess

Bauchman v. West High School Revisited: Text and Context in Music Education
William Michael Perrine

BOOK REVIEW

Communities of Musical Practice by Ailbhe Kenny 
Review by: Frank Heuser

Musical Competition and the Hidden Labor of Learning: A Closer Look at PME 25.2

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Joseph Michael Abramo’s article, "The Phantasmagoria of Competition in School Ensembles," from the Philosophy of Music Education Review  newest issue, is now available on JSTOR  &  Project MUSE. Below, Joseph elaborates on the philosophical challenge of how to measure student learning through competition and performance.

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I wrote “The Phantasmagoria of Competition in School Ensembles” in Volume 25, number 2 of Philosophy of Music Education Review because I was interested in the widespread practice of competition in ensembles. I approached this topic with curiosity. I remember my experiences of competition as a student—auditioning for honors ensembles, competing with my school band against other schools—sometimes winning, but more often not. I remember taking trips to amusement parks with my school ensembles to compete and receive trophies. Even as a high school student, I found these practices fairly odd. I was curious to examine what is the logic of using such strategies in the process of learning music.

However, beneath the immediate interest in understanding the logic of competition in school music is a broader, and I think interesting, philosophical question—what counts as evidence of student learning? How do teachers know when a student “knows”? In competition, a performance stands in as an observable proof of some sort of learning that took place in the student—a reification of learning, as I call it in the essay. Questions of evidence of learning are usually technical questions of assessment—making sure a test has reliability and validity. But, beyond those technical questions is, I think, one of the most important conundrums of education, musical and otherwise: the very thing teachers hope to instill in students (learning and applicability to other situations) is unobservable and in some sense does not exist. Learning is something that happens in the mind and the body—others outside the mind cannot see that learning. The essay tries, through the concept of competition and performance, to think about this conundrum in education.

When I began thinking about competition and what counts as evidence of learning, I had also decided to learn about Karl Marx and Marxist theory. Much of the literature that has influenced me comes from this great tradition. Critical theorists in education, like Michael Apple, Henry Giroux, Peter McClaren, and Jean Anyon, are influenced by the Marxist tradition. Poststructuralism in general, including Bourdieu, Foucault, Spivak, and Derrida, are also influenced by Marxism. However, while these authors are influenced by Marx’s work, direct discussion of Marxists ideas, like alienation, labor power, and value, receive little direct application in education. Instead, Marx serves as a sort of inspiration rather than a direct application of the philosophical terms and concepts he wrote about. I felt it important for my own development to learn about these important ideas. As I read, I particularly became fascinated with the concept of “Phantasmagoria,” the idea that labor is hidden in products, and how Theodor Adorno extended this concept to explain how musical works hide labor.

This concept also resonated with me as I thought of my time as a middle school band director. So much of the work of rehearsals was trying our best to conceal the labor of learning. The more effortless our performance at the concert was, the better I looked as a teacher. This made me realize there are many tricks ensemble directors regularly employ to conceal the labor of learning. Altering the seating of an ensemble to improve sound, buying the correct mallets, reeds, and other equipment to improve students’ playing, seeking out playing venues with better acoustics—these do improve the sound of the ensembles, but I often wondered, “are these just tricks that improve the sound of the ensemble but have little effect on students’ learning?” I think music educators will continue to debate this question, and this essay was my attempt to begin to wrestle with these philosophical problems of practice.

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Joseph Michael Abramo, Ed.D is an Assistant Professor of Music Education in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.

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More from the Philosophy of Music Education Review 25.2

Editorial 
Estelle R. Jorgensen

More than Just Music: Reconsidering the Educational Value of Music in School Rituals 
Hanna M. Nikkanen and Heidi Westerlund

Wellbeing in the Secondary Music Classroom: Ideas from Hero’s Journeys and Online Gaming 
June Countryman and Leslie Stewart Rose

 • READ FOR FREE • 
The Phantasmagoria of Competition in School Ensembles 
Joseph Michael Abramo

Critiquing the Critical: The Casualties and Paradoxes of Critical Pedagogy in Music Education 
Juliet Hass

Bauchman v. West Highschool Revisited: Religious Text and Context in Music Education 
William Michael Perrine

BOOK REVIEW

Communities of Musical Practice by Ailbhe Kenny
Review by: Frank Heuser

IUP and Teachers College launch new journal, ‘Philanthropy & Education’

Debuting this month is Indiana University Press’s newest journal, Philanthropy & Education, sponsored by Teachers College at Columbia University. Philanthropy & Education is a biannual, international journal that publishes peer-reviewed scholarly research and practical analysis of educational giving, plus emerging philanthropic trends around the world. The journal aims to be relevant and useful to practitioners and scholars alike through the use of writing styles that are accessible by practitioners across a spectrum of disciplines and perspectives.

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“The study of how philanthropy shapes education is an emerging field of increasing importance, and having a dedicated, peer-reviewed journal will advance our understanding of crucial issues, while helping to build the field both within the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world,” writes journal editor and founder, Noah Drezner. In its premiere issue, Professor Drezner introduces the readers to a broad definition of philanthropy that encompasses both the voluntary actions that benefit education and the impact of education on these activities.

Published each May and November, the journal contains articles about scholarship and practice around education fundraising, volunteerism, civic engagement, alumni relations, corporate social responsibility, and how education fosters positive social behaviors. Articles from all aspects of domestic and international education from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, economics, history, law, management, political science, psychology, public administration, religious studies, social work, and sociology are welcome.

“The partnership between Teachers College, as a leading graduate school of education, and Indiana University Press, as home of the premiere philanthropic studies book series and the only school of philanthropy, is a major step toward establishing this field of study.”
- Noah Drezner

Philanthropy & Education is distinctive in publishing research articles by scholar-practitioners, with many drawn from recently completed dissertations and current institutional research. The journal examines how giving by individuals and corporations influences worldwide education trends and practices, as well as the movement of philanthropic and educational practices across national borders. Additionally, the journal is launching a scholar-practitioner mentoring program, in which senior scholars assist scholar-practitioners during the peer-review process of their research and publication.

“We are delighted to partner with Teachers College to publish such a needed and timely journal,” said Gary Dunham, Director of Indiana University Press. “With more than two hundred academic programs focusing on philanthropy and philanthropy education in the US alone, the field is a rapidly growing area of research and practice."

Teachers College will formally launch the journal on November 9 at the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s annual conference in Houston.

Interested in learning more? Noah Drezner’s editorial, “Philanthropy & Education: Setting the Mission and Vision for a New Journal within the Landscape of Our Field,” can be read for free on JSTOR.

For information on how to subscribe or submit, please visit IU Press.

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Noah D. Drezner is the founder and editor of Philanthropy & Education and an associate professor of higher education at Teachers College. Professor Drezner is also a former advancement officer with the University of Rochester who has earned awards for his research on factors that motivate alumni donors. His research interests include philanthropy and fundraising as it pertains to colleges and universities, including higher education's role in the cultivation of prosocial behaviors. His research focuses on how social identity impacts philanthropic giving.

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Philanthropy & Education 1.1 Table of Contents

 • READ FOR FREE • 
Philanthropy & Education: Setting the Mission and Vision for a New Journal within the Landscape of Our Field
Noah D. Drezner

 • READ FOR FREE •  
Philanthropic Giving by Foundations to Higher Education Institutions: A State-Level Social Network Analysis
Kevin R. McClure, Leah Frierson, Adam W. Hall and Kara L. Ostlund

The Lived Experiences of African American Development Administrators At Public Universities
T. Greg Prince and David J. Siegel

CASE STUDY

Securing Donor Support for Unrestricted Endowments: A Case Study in Higher Education
Aaron T. Conley

TEACHING BRIEF

Reciprocity as a Foundational Concept in Teaching Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies
Elizabeth J. Dale

BOOK REVIEWS

World-Class Fundraising Isn't a Solo Sport by Buller, Jeffrey L., & Reeves, Diane M.
Review by: Joseph P. Neary

Lasting Impressions: Laying the Foundation for Engaged and Philanthropic Future Alumni by Carter, Jasmine Stewart, Nugent, Daniel, & Neeley, Robyn (Editors)
Review by: Lisa C. Guzman

Unequal Partners: American Foundations and Higher Education Development in Africa by Jaumont, Fabrice
Review by: Kyle A. Long

Going for the Gold: How to Become a World-Class Academic Fundraiser by Buller, Jeffrey L. and Reeves, Dianne M.
Review by: Sophie W. Penney

Pluralism and Diversity in Music Education: A Closer Look at PME 25.1

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Eva Georgii-Hemming’s article, “What is Quality? The Political Debate on Education and its Implications for Pluralism and Diversity in Music Education,” from the Philosophy of Music Education Review’s newest issue, is now available on JSTOR & Project MUSE. Below, Eva elaborates on the inability of higher education’s New Public Management strategies to provide information on the quality of music education.

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This paper began as a result of sweeping changes across higher education, attributable to New Public Management (NPM) strategies. NPM is a concept which was originally introduced as a response to low efficiency and low trust in public-sector administration. The intended aim was to apply rules from private-sector management and entrepreneurial government to public-sector organizations.

In adopting market-oriented logics, education became increasingly defined through a need to demonstrate measurable and observable results; demands for reporting and follow-up increased, tests and grades were accredited with having a more important role, and in a competitive market-like environment, individual schools were encouraged to demonstrate their “quality” by presenting numbers and statistics on their websites. In doing so, underpinned by “freedom of choice,” they were believed to be helping parents and students to more ably select their schools as informed consumers.

To me it seemed obvious that the central idea was to improve quality and efficiency in both education and research through quantitative measures. In higher education, quantitative evaluations of research show how many articles academics have published and how much external funding has been obtained. Yet whilst quantitative evaluations of music education can arguably provide information on whether it is perceived as good or bad, they tell us nothing of its qualities. This fundamentally confuses two opposing concepts: quantity and quality. 

Pedagogical and humanist philosophers have been critical of this instrumental shift. Music education scholars have also questioned the role of the assessments themselves. However, few have discussed whether human actions, too, are now being subject to similar calculations. In this paper, I examine what the concept of quality means for philosophers and how our current understanding of “quality” may influence music education. Through this I want to indicate how philosophical concepts can contribute to creating awareness as well as evoking some resistance.

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Eva Georgii-Hemming is Professor and Chair in Musicology in the School of Music, Theatre and Art at Örebro University, Sweden. She holds a PhD in Musicology with Music Education orientation. Her research interests include questions about music, quality and equality; Bildung and the concept of knowledge, and the value and role of music in education and society.

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More from the Philosophy of Music Education Review 25.1

 • READ FOR FREE • 
Editorial
Estelle R. Jorgensen

SYMPOSIUM

Perspectives on Uniformity, Sameness, and Homogeneity and Proclamations of Pluralism, Diversity, and Heterogeneity
Øivind Varkøy

On the Hegemony of Technical Rationality and the Importance of Distinctions
Øivind Varkøy

The Music Teacher as a Cultural Figure: A Cautionary Note on Globalized Learning as Part of a Technical Conception of Education
Frederik Pio

From Relevance Rationality to Multi-Stratified Authenticity in Music Teacher Education: Ethical and Aesthetical Frameworks Revisited
Hanne Fossum

What is Quality? The Political Debate on Education and its Implications for Pluralism and Diversity in Music Education
Eva Georgii-Hemming

What is Right? What is Wrong? Music Education in a World of Pluralism and Diversity
Christian Rolle

BOOK REVIEW

Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education by Randall Everett Allsup
Review by: Juliet Hess

Relevance and Artistic Engagement in Music Education: A Closer Look at PME 25.1

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Hanne Fossum’s article, “From Relevance Rationality to Multi-stratified Authenticity in Music Teacher Education,” from the Philosophy of Music Education Review’s newest issue is now available on JSTOR & Project MUSE. Below, Hanne elaborates on the notion that prioritizing “relevance” above all else in the field of education undermines artistic engagement in music education.

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Since I started working in teacher education, I have noticed that the word relevance is frequently used. It is used in strategy plans for my institution, in student evaluations of our study programs, and in quality assurance plans. Actually, I would say that the notion of relevance permeates all levels of teacher education as a hidden curriculum. It seems to be taken for granted that relevance as a matter of course means quality. It might have to do with teacher education’s roots in the traditional “seminary model,” which stressed “here-and-now” competence or “relevant” competence. And of course, relevance in itself is not a bad thing, few would argue against relevance in education. The problem is the unquestioned validity relevance is given in all areas, the radicalization of relevance into instant relevance, and the combination of relevance thinking with the current market-oriented logic in education, which results in a utilitarian-influenced mode of thinking that is not compatible with my ideals for music education. I argue in my essay that the focus on instant relevance tends to undermine intellectual and artistic engagement with subjects in music teacher education, as well as slow-going artistic processes, which I find necessary for obtaining a quality music teacher education. I therefore offer a counterpoint to such “relevance rationality” with the concept of “multi-stratified authenticity,” which is a synergy of Charles Taylor’s moral philosophy and Frede V. Nielsen’s concept of “music as a multi-stratified universe of meaning.”

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Hanne Fossum is Professor at the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences. Her disciplines are in philosophical subjects, music education, and musicology.

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More from the Philosophy of Music Education Review 25.1

 • READ FOR FREE • 
Editorial
Estelle R. Jorgensen

SYMPOSIUM

Perspectives on Uniformity, Sameness, and Homogeneity and Proclamations of Pluralism, Diversity, and Heterogeneity
Øivind Varkøy

On the Hegemony of Technical Rationality and the Importance of Distinctions
Øivind Varkøy

The Music Teacher as a Cultural Figure: A Cautionary Note on Globalized Learning as Part of a Technical Conception of Education
Frederik Pio

From Relevance Rationality to Multi-Stratified Authenticity in Music Teacher Education: Ethical and Aesthetical Frameworks Revisited
Hanne Fossum

What is Quality? The Political Debate on Education and its Implications for Pluralism and Diversity in Music Education
Eva Georgii-Hemming

What is Right? What is Wrong? Music Education in a World of Pluralism and Diversity
Christian Rolle

BOOK REVIEW

Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education by Randall Everett Allsup
Review by: Juliet Hess

The Music Teacher as a Cultural Figure: A Closer Look at PME 25.1

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Frederik Pio’s article, "The Music Teacher as a Cultural Figure: A Cautionary Note on Globalized Learning as Part of a Technical Conception of Education,” from the Philosophy of Music Education Review’s newest issue is now available on JSTOR & Project MUSE. Below, Frederik elaborates on breaking the growing trend of measuring music students’ individual learning and striving towards a more collective conscience.

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My article on the music teacher as a culture-figure originated in a somehow worried stance towards the idea of “visible learning” and measurable learning goals. This global paradigm, promoted by the EU and OECD, had just found a stronghold in the Danish school act from 2014, and I was kind of worried about the consequences of this for a subject like music.

The way this powerful school policy was orchestrated in Denmark appeared to have a root into the system theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. Against this position, I tried to pinpoint what I saw as a possible phenomenological path of thinking. This was motivated by the experience that very large parts of the teacher workload today seem to be carried out more or less as a “private practitioner.” I tried to pick up bits and pieces from Heidegger’s thinking to support the claim that we need not measure the musical learning of our students. Paradoxically, the key to deep learning is rather to engage the students into the shared world of music and teaching, which we inhabit as educators (with all its marginal practices). This was an attempt to show that educators need tools to disclose what such a shared world is all about and to see how music fits into this horizon. If we don’t do this, we will be unable to loosen up the narrow professional identity as “private practitioner.” An enhancement of such a further privatization (that goes hand in hand with measurable global competencies, cf. footnote 2) could ultimately push into a direction I don’t think we need as music teachers.

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Frederik Pio is Professor at Aarhus University with degrees in music science and the humanistic theory of science and a PhD in music education. He is Editor of the Nordic Research in Music Education journal and has written both books and journal articles on the subject of music.

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More from the Philosophy of Music Education Review 25.1

 • READ FOR FREE • 
Editorial
Estelle R. Jorgensen

SYMPOSIUM

Perspectives on Uniformity, Sameness, and Homogeneity and Proclamations of Pluralism, Diversity, and Heterogeneity
Øivind Varkøy

On the Hegemony of Technical Rationality and the Importance of Distinctions
Øivind Varkøy

The Music Teacher as a Cultural Figure: A Cautionary Note on Globalized Learning as Part of a Technical Conception of Education
Frederik Pio

From Relevance Rationality to Multi-Stratified Authenticity in Music Teacher Education: Ethical and Aesthetical Frameworks Revisited
Hanne Fossum

What is Quality? The Political Debate on Education and its Implications for Pluralism and Diversity in Music Education
Eva Georgii-Hemming

What is Right? What is Wrong? Music Education in a World of Pluralism and Diversity
Christian Rolle

BOOK REVIEW

Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education by Randall Everett Allsup
Review by: Juliet Hess

Rethinking the Intrinsic Value of Making Music: A Closer Look at PME 25.1

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Øivind Varkøy’s article, "On the Hegemony of Technical Rationality and the Importance of Distinctions," from the Philosophy of Music Education Review’s newest issue is now available on JSTOR & Project MUSE. Below, Øivind elaborates on the importance of rethinking the intrinsic value of making music.

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Scandinavian cultural researchers claim that means-to-an-end thinking about the concept of culture increasingly gains ground in our contemporary cultural sectors. To any societal problem, be it in education, health, industry, or commercial life, culture is the remedy. Culture comes across as ‘”a strategy for everything.” This general tendency towards a means-to-an-end thinking is an expression of what is often called technical rationality/instrumental reason. This type of rationality hails from the areas of technology and economy and has undoubtedly become an important part of modern society’s foundation of ideals in all aspects of life.

In this article the point of departure is the hegemony of technical rationality when it comes to the justification of music education. This is considered as an example of uniformity, sameness, and homogeneity, or worse, simplicity and naivety—or even worse, a sweet innocence —regarding understanding and thoughts about life, society, and culture in societies proclaimed to be characterized by pluralism, diversity, and heterogeneity. 

This discussion is related to my previous and ongoing work from 2012, rethinking the concept of the intrinsic values of musical experience in a meaningful way, as an alternative discourse to hegemonic technical rationality and instrumentalism. With Hannah Arendt, I argue that we very often think and speak about all human activities in terms of labor and work—human activities that are means to other ends—in fact marginalizing and excluding the only kind of human activity that has the end within itself: action. I argue that musical experience is one type of “useless” or “purposeless” activity of action. In this way, it is possible to rethink the concept of intrinsic value of musical experience. I think this line of thinking offers an opportunity to develop a philosophy of music education that transcends instrumentalism and technical rationality.

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Øivind Varkøy is Professor in the Music Education and Music Therapy Department at the Norwegian Academy of Music. His research areas include Philosophy of Music Education; Philosophy of Music; and Theory of Science.

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More from Philosophy of Music Education Review 25.1

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Editorial
Estelle R. Jorgensen

SYMPOSIUM

Perspectives on Uniformity, Sameness, and Homogeneity and Proclamations of Pluralism, Diversity, and Heterogeneity
Øivind Varkøy

On the Hegemony of Technical Rationality and the Importance of Distinctions
Øivind Varkøy

The Music Teacher as a Cultural Figure: A Cautionary Note on Globalized Learning as Part of a Technical Conception of Education
Frederik Pio

From Relevance Rationality to Multi-Stratified Authenticity in Music Teacher Education: Ethical and Aesthetical Frameworks Revisited
Hanne Fossum

What is Quality? The Political Debate on Education and its Implications for Pluralism and Diversity in Music Education
Eva Georgii-Hemming

What is Right? What is Wrong? Music Education in a World of Pluralism and Diversity
Christian Rolle

BOOK REVIEW

Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education by Randall Everett Allsup
Review by: Juliet Hess