Throughout history and since time immemorial, there has been discussion and debate on music education. In the quest for greater understanding, the conception of music has taken various forms, and has been predicated on different notions of education and modes of transmission. In recent times, although there has been an emphasis on processes of musical learning informed by systematic historical musicology. Arguably, in its early iteration, it could be said that music education as a field of knowledge held a more modest status than theoretical musicological research. This may have arisen from methodological approaches to music education of the mid-twentieth century, with their focus on musical training in childhood and on a teaching–learning process with links to psycho-evolutionary development. Among the proponents of these approaches were pedagogues such as Edgar Willems (1890–1978), Zoltan Kodaly (1882–1967) and Justine Ward (1879–1975), whose interest was in good intonation and the place of singing in education, Carl Orff (1895–1982) and Shinichi Suzuki (1898–1998) who contributed to the foundation of principles of instrumental practice and Jacques Dalcroze (1865–1950) who emphasised the importance of movement. Whilst each worked from their own perspective, theirs was a common objective: to educate persons to express themselves in and through music, and to position this education in a global perspective within which music could become an integral part of a fulfilled life.
These pedagogies are now well established and continue to be appropriated by contemporary technologies, and to appear in ever increasing sites of online learning. Since the latter part of the twentieth century, however, critical voices have emerged which call some of the methodologies into question, labelling them classical and obsolete: they deal only with musical language and conventional notation of the western world, are directed towards children’s musical initiation, thereby neglecting a broad spectrum in the sound world, discarding migration, multicultural societies and failing to acknowledge a place for intercultural approaches in education.
Moves to counter this are evidenced in the work of Murray Schafer (1933–), François Delalande (1941–) and John Paynter (1931–2010) who considered how to express sound through unconventional representation, using alternative music sheets based more on contemporary composition and the representation of the sounds in the environment, proposed by the student developing his creative process in a more natural and dynamic way. Beyond that, in the 1970s in places such as Canada, where more cultures increasingly converge, Graham Vulliamy called for children’s music education to include rock, pop and ethnic music, because it is closer to them than western classical music. There is a search too for methodological approaches to teaching at formal, non-formal and informal levels, across the life span, including those framed within a lifelong learning process of professional musicians in conservatories and music schools. (See the Special Issue of this journal: Current Issues in High Music Education, Music Education Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2012.)
Ethnomusicology has been making ever increasing inroads into the field of music education. Added to this, performative approaches have taken a postmodern reflexive turn: the interpreters see themselves as researchers, doing active research in their own classrooms and on their own experiences, reflecting on how to perform with greater expertise, and to enhance enjoyment of music, both for themselves and for their audiences. The spectrum, object and scenarios of this research have extended to musical interpretation and to aspects that move from analogue modes of instruction to those which are online and global, offering the learner independence and autonomy, with ready access to tutorials and the ability to listen to music and analyse it, and to draw on recordings of musicians, and all possible versions of music, of instruments and musicians.
That multiculturalism and relativism are having an impact on the social sciences and humanities can be seen in a recognition of the richness and variety in our fellow human beings (our classmates and our neighbours), the diversity of artistic expressions, religious philosophies that enrich social relations and in principles underpinning assertions that all cultures are of equal value, that we (all of us or our ancestors) have been immigrants at some time and, thus have a shared cultural heritage which we need to acknowledge through intercultural approaches to research. All of this works against ethnocentrism, racism and xenophobia and favours the promotion of respect, peaceful cohabitation, acceptance of diversity and cultural plurality. Progressing the alliance of civilisations is recognised by agencies such as UNESCO and European Union as a pressing need, and education, culture and music are seen to have a part to play in promoting cultural encounter, multiculturalism, education on diversity fighting against xenophobic, nationalistic or chauvinistic prejudices and building values of coexistence, consensus and universality.
Articles presented in this Special Issue are concerned with issues of fundamental importance to the concept of music and music education as cultural phenomena that transcend different interdisciplinary fields such as anthropology, historical evolution and documentary sources. Each one addresses research questions pertaining to the relationship between music, culture and education. Pilar Barrios proposes theoretical and methodological frameworks based on cultural heritage to work on music as a means of education in values and the deconstruction of egocentrism. Gómez-Ullate and Belmonte focus on the importance of non-formal music education for the construction of musical knowledge and sensibility in occidental cultures, raising questions about the frontiers of formal, informal and non-formal music education.
The way in which non-formal and informal learning shaped the growth of a rock musician forms the basis of NN’s narrative on musicians in a context (in this case, Iran) where western music is held as a threat to national political integrity, where musical activity is forced underground, and where its performers become members of a diaspora, marked by traces of Iranian music and national identity.
The article by Zulma Pittau grew from her engagement over an extended period of time with the native environments of Mbyá-Guaraní communities set in a geographical area at the confluence of three Latin American countries, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. She describes how music is present as an inherent form in their ritual practices and musical interpretation is not the privilege of a few, but central to the life of the community, experienced through ritual dances, songs and instrumental performance involving everyone from children to adults. From an early age, music is encountered as experiential learning: through interacting with the ambient sounds around them, which are part of their first enculturation, the Mbyá-Guaraní are constantly nourished by harmonies and sound colorations absorbed from early childhood, and reused in subsequent externalisation.
Leonard Tan proposes a theory of music education inspired by ancient Chinese philosophy and draws on five classical Chinese philosophical texts: the Analects (lunyu 論語), the Mencius (Mengzi 孟子), the Zhuangzi (庄子), the Xunzi (荀子) and the Yue Ji (樂記). He makes the point that music education was an integral part of the social fabric in ancient China, and argues that it is potentially illuminating to uncover its theoretical underpinnings, and to examine its implications for contemporary music education.
Asa Bergman challenges some of the claims made for the capacity of music and music education to serve as a resource for social inclusion in multicultural settings. Her focus is on the implementation of El Sistema in the Swedish context and the role music plays in the integration of children growing up in multiethnic suburbs, and in helping them to feel part of, and belong to Swedish society. The empirical study includes ethnographic research conducted in Gothenburg and Malmö and the findings suggest that a modernist idea of equal and universal human beings is promoted, alongside differences relating to cultural affiliation.
Finally, whilst the articles included in the special issue cover a range of topics, we would end with a note of caution about the temptation to consider the contents as comprehensive, exhaustive or representative. This has not been our aim. Rather, we have been united in our aspiration to open up discussion about music education, moving beyond the constraints of language to find new channels of communication, from which further conversations can emerge. To the extent that each author brings their own perspective to bear on the theme of musical culture and music education, sharing a concern to improve human existence with musical practice, across groups, ages and culture, we believe we have laid some really firm foundations on which further conversations can be built.