Advancing Music Education in Northern Europe tells the story of a unique organization that has contributed in profound ways to the professional development of music teachers in the Nordic and Baltic nations. At the same time, the book offers reflections on how music education and approaches to the training of music teachers have changed across recent decades, a period of significant innovations. In a time where international partnerships appear to be threatened by a recent resurgence in protectionism and nationalism, this book also more generally demonstrates the value of formalized international cooperation in the sphere of higher education. The setting for the discussion, Northern Europe, is a region arguably of great importance to music education for a number of reasons, seen, for instance, in Norway’s ranking as the “happiest nation on earth”, the well-known success of Finland’s schools in international-comparative measures of student achievement, how Sweden has grappled with its recent experience as “Europe’s top recipient of asylum seekers per capita”, and Estonia’s national identity as a country born from a “Singing Revolution”, to name but a few examples. The contributors chronicle how the Nordic Network for Music Education (NNME) was founded and developed, document its impact, and demonstrate how the eight nations involved in this network – Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – are making unique contributions of global significance to the field of music education.

Music has long played a prominent role in cultural diplomacy, but until now no resource has comparatively examined policies that shape how non-western countries use music for international relations. Ethnomusicology and Cultural Diplomacy, edited by scholars David G. Hebert and Jonathan McCollum, demonstrates music's role in international relations worldwide. Specifically, this book offers "insider" views from expert contributors writing about music as a part of cultural diplomacy initiatives in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Syria, Japan, China, India, Vietnam, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Nigeria. Unique features include the book’s emphasis on diverse legal frameworks, decolonial perspectives, and cultural policies that serve as a basis for how nations outside “the west” use music in their relationships with Europe and North America.

This book is a collection of leading international authors in the field of music education taking the concept of 'craft' as a starting point to deconstruct and reconstruct their understanding of the practices and theories of music education. Their insights draw from deep wells of resources located in historical, philosophical, epistemological, musicological and educational traditions that lead to rich and complex insights on the evolving field of music education. In so doing, they generate a constellation of new understandings and illustrations of what crafts can mean in this field. Historically, the idea of craft was typically associated with a skill or experience in knowing how to do or make something, or an activity of some kind that requires specific professional skills. In Old Norse, the concept for craft was kraptr, meaning strength and virtue, while Old English and continental use was associated with power and physical strength, as well as skill. When these definitions of ‘crafts’ are infused into contemporary understandings of the field of music education as a professional field, a whole new set of possible interpretations are unearthed. Such insights are not exhaustive, but rather, point the way in which this professional, diverse, inclusive and ambiguous field might continue to evolve in the 21st century.

The rapid pace of technological change over the last decade, particularly the rise of social media, has deeply affected the ways in which we interact as individuals, in groups, and among institutions to the point that it is difficult to grasp what it would be like to lose access to this everyday aspect of modern life. The Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning investigates the ways in which social media is now firmly engrained in all aspects of music education, providing fascinating insights into the ways in which social media, musical participation, and musical learning are increasingly entwined. In five sections of newly commissioned chapters, a refreshing mix of junior and senior scholars tackle questions concerning the potential for formal and informal musical learning in a networked society. Beginning with an overview of community identity and the new musical self through social media, scholars explore intersections between digital, musical, and social constructs including the vernacular of born-digital performance, musical identity and projection, and the expanding definition of musical empowerment. The fifth section brings this handbook to full practical fruition, featuring firsthand accounts of digital musicians, students, and teachers in the field. The Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning opens up an international discussion of what it means to be a musical community member in an age of technologically mediated relationships that break down the limits of geographical, cultural, political, and economic place.

"The Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education addresses ways in which music teachers and students interact as co-learners and forge authentic relationships with one another through shared music-making. Concepts of care addressed in this Handbook stem from philosophies of relationship, feminist ethics, musical meaningfulness, and compassionate music teaching. Authors highlight the essence of authentic relationships and shared experiences between teachers and learners, extending previous conceptions of care to meet the needs of contemporary music learners and the teachers who care for, about, and with them. Handbook authors offer approaches to care that intersect with a broad range of topics set within the context of music teaching and learning, including: anti-racism and anti-sexism; bullying and harassment prevention; critical perspectives; dialogic education; disability/ability; eco-justice; gender identity and sexual orientation; inclusivity of a range of musical styles and genres; intercultural sensitivity; mindfulness; musical creativity; online/remote learning; nonviolent communication; pedagogy as a culturally sustaining force; self-care; social emotional learning; transgressive pedagogy for critical consciousness; and trauma-sensitive pedagogies. Principal handbook themes include (a) philosophical perspectives on care and music education; (b) co-creating caring relationships; (c) caring for wellbeing and human flourishing; and (d) care, social activism, and critical consciousness. The handbook offers a comprehensive overview of literature relating to care in music and education, along with practical implications that are applicable to a broad array of music-learning settings"--

The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives offers a comprehensive overview of teaching composing from a wide range of countries around the world. Addressing the current state of composition pedagogy from primary to secondary school levels and beyond, the volume explores issues, including different curricular and extracurricular settings, cultural aspects of composing, aesthetics, musical creativity, the role of technology, and assessment. With contributors from over 30 countries, this volume encompasses theoretical, historical, empirical, and practical approaches and enables comparisons across different countries and regions. Chapters by experienced educators, composers, and researchers describe in depth the practices taking place in different international locations. Interspersed with these chapters, interludes by the volume editors contextualize and problematize the teaching and learning of composing music. The volume covers a range of contexts, including formal and informal, those where a national curriculum is mandated or where composing is a matter of choice, and a range of types, styles, and genres of musical learning and music-making. Providing a wide-ranging and detailed review of international approaches to incorporating music composition in teaching and learning, this volume will be a useful resource for teachers, music education researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and all those working with children and young people in composing music.

This book introduces the educational philosophies of notable African and Asian thinkers who tend to be little recognized in Europe and North America. It offers specific resources for diversification of higher education curricula. The book expands the philosophy of education, in clear language, to include ideas of major non-western educational thinkers who are little discussed in previous publications. It includes critical analysis of non-western concepts and consideration of their relevance to schools worldwide. The book features discussions of how the work of Tagore and postcolonial thinkers offers diverse visions that increasingly inspire a decolonizing approach to education. This book offers a unique emphasis on how a decolonized philosophy of education can especially enable a rethinking of approaches to education in arts and humanities subjects.