This article offers a clarification and application of aspects of John Dewey's philosophy of art and music that have often been misunderstood, even by philosophers (such as Susanne Langer) and, in particular, by philosophers of music education who quote Dewey in support of neo-Kantian aesthetic conceptions that Dewey was in fact at pains to critique (such as Bennett Reimer). The author clarifies Dewey's "naturalistic" theory of art and music and distinguishes it from "transcendental" aesthetic conceptions of "high culture". Understood in naturalized terms, the author points out, "culture" is not a superstructure that transcends everyday experience. It is the experience itself, as lived, refined, and cultivated in community life. In the broadest sense, the concept of "culture" is extended to refer to the art of life through which people attempt to understand the world they live in. In Dewey's pragmatic and down-to-earth conception, this "art of life" is regarded as an ever-transforming praxis that, as the author shows, benefits from a fruitful connection between "school music" and music in society. Under such conditions, "the arts, including music, should be considered as integral fruits of human cultivation, but the latter should be conceived as no more insubstantial than cultivation of the land." (Contains 32 notes.)