Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:EditorialEstelle R. Jorgensen[Errata]Among the central problems in music education in our time are those arising out of the othering of difference in music education. Northern philosophical perspectives on music education in West and East have too often othered, marginalized, and excluded those from countries in the Southern Hemisphere due to such problems as distance, language, and the continuing legacy of European and American colonization in music education around the world. These realities may have much to do with the history of a music education profession that spread internationally from Europe and North America through their former colonies and territories and political and social influence and by the continuing linguistic hegemony of English about which Alexandra Kertz-Welzel writes in her recent book, Globalizing Music Education.This othering of difference plays out not only theoretically but practically. Theoretically, it presents in a tendency for those who hold specific perspectives and ideological positions to congregate together and mutually reinforce their views. When this occurs, criticisms of these ideas can be effectively othered and those who forward them may be marginalized or excluded from the groups, associations, networks, and societies in which music education is institutionally organized. In the absence of hospitality to critique, philosophical propositions may become matters of uncritical belief and without critical examination, philosophy may become ideology. Practically, differences may also be othered, for example, when conferences are conducted in a language such as English and those who do not speak it fluently are excluded from the conversation or must do the best they can with the facility they have. This othering of a linguistic minority could be ameliorated by the use of simultaneous translation technologies that would allow scholars with limited facility to participate in the language in which the conference is conducted. If the music education profession desires to be [End Page 115] internationally and culturally inclusive, simultaneous translation needs to be a requisite for conferences that draw participants from differing linguistic groups. While a lingua franca can facilitate international dialogue in music education, it is also important to consider those whose linguistic skills in English are limited or whose ideas are framed in concepts that are native to other cultural contexts and who may make an important contribution to the field.In opening a philosophical conversation about the other and otherness in this issue of the Philosophy of Music Education Review, a quartet of writers tackle significant philosophical and practical issues surrounding these problems for music education. Not only do they write about the other and otherness but they might be regarded as the other if viewed from a limited North American perspective. Antia Gonzalez-Ben comes from Spain as she also writes about Spanish music education. Leonard Tan from Singapore with his student Mengchen Lu from China write about what can be learned from performing the Chinese guqin. Nasim Niknafs reflects on the music and music education of his native city Tehran, Iran. Graham McPhail writes from the Antipodes, specifically New Zealand. Their collective reflections illustrate the growing internationalism of philosophy of music education and the sense that, as Iris Yob claims in the forthcoming book, Humane Music Education for the Common Good, “there is no other.” All these writers and their various perspectives are welcomed into conversation about what music education should mean and be around the world.Leading off this quartet, in her article, “Here is the Other Coming (Come) In,” Gonzalez-Ben interrogates the philosophical discourse surrounding the including of musics other than the Western classical tradition in Spanish music education curricula. Despite what she sees as “progressive sounding rhetoric,” she argues that Spanish curricula still draw on colonial discourses that pit “Self and Other against each other.” She advocates a more inclusive approach that resists othering these musics and those who practice, teach, and learn them.Tan and Lu reflect on the limits of words as a means of articulating the “ineffable” in their article, “‘I Wish to be Wordless’: Philosophizing through the Chinese Guqin.” Drawing on ancient Chinese philosophy and the performance of the guqin, they argue that musical performance brings its own “truth,” “harmony,” “ethical awakening,” and “sagehood” without requiring explanatory words. As they reflect philosophically on...