Several years ago, the author's relocated their work as educators from middle and high school music classrooms to positions in teacher education at two Canadian universities. Recognizing that working in initial teacher education demanded a new level of theorizing their practices of music education, they questioned their professional…

In this article the author reviews needs theory as a field of research and scholarship, examines seven needs theories (including Nussbaum's capabilities approach), and synthesizes elements of all of these into a list he used tentatively and speculatively to analyze two common instructional practices in music education. The author's intent is to…

The author teaches music to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade in Eureka, a small mining town in Utah. Over the past decade the author has observed both the positive and negative, short-term and long-term affects of his teaching decisions. He struggles daily with what John Goodlad calls the "burden of judgment," the ongoing moral…