In his book, Chris Higgins acknowledges the challenges of teaching associated with heavy workloads, increasing responsibilities, and often diminishing respect from the very public institutions that teachers serve. However, his purpose is not to deplore the external conditions of teaching but to raise concerns about its service culture. He argues…

In his recent monograph, Chris Higgins (2011) offers a remarkably original, thoughtful, and provocative argument for "an ethics of professional practice" for teachers. His study brings together a wealth of ideas and authors not often discussed in relation to each other, and it draws out elusive themes and ideas often overlooked in most analyses of…

For many individuals, engagement with the arts and music in later life plays a significant role in identity formation. Research indicates that music engagement facilitates successful aging. While participants may or may not establish identities as musicians, musical activities provide interactions and opportunities that facilitate their…

The role of the body in music experience is extremely complex and multifaceted, and this is exactly what makes it interesting to discuss the implications such notions as "body consciousness" and "somaesthetics" may have for music experience. Richard Shusterman generally argues that human beings can achieve enhanced life quality through increased…

Richard Shusterman's "Body Consciousness" aims at formulating a theory of somaesthetics and somatic experience. There has indeed been a growing interest in the role of the body in experience. Shusterman examines the arguments of six important writers who have been influential in this discussion. The emphasis on the body is natural for a…

The author begins his essay by stating that Richard Shusterman advises us that the 20th century scholarly community has not just ignored the value that can come to one's life as a function of paying close attention to the body and its immediate sensual qualities, it has trained us to eschew its character-enhancing sensual natures in favor of more…

In this essay, the author first addresses the theme of disciplined somatic training and its relationship to self-awareness and transformation. Her attention is focused specifically on the chapter on Ludwig Wittgenstein, in which Richard Shusterman presents and then elaborates upon the philosopher's connections between conscious bodily feelings and…

Considered socially, musical values are always relative in practice to the uses and purposes of observers, thus accounting for the variety of meanings and values different people--even experts--derive from the same musical occasion, or the different meanings and values the same person experiences on different occasions. Music education is a…

With its focus on reason and science, the 18th century began a history of increased specialization. As a result, professional degrees and certificates eventually came to define and control practices that had once been the domains of amateurs. By the end of the 19th century, many practices of lay enthusiasts had been pushed aside; where they were…

A basic premise of this essay is that music education practice is a form of--a broadly conceived notion of--political practice insofar as it creates situations where specific meanings are produced, attitudes built, identities shaped, and hierarchies of musical and social values constructed. Every music education practice expresses, and at the same…

The book, "Musical Identities" (Raymond MacDonald, David Hargreaves, Dorothy Miell, eds.; Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) consists of 11 essays on the psychology of music. The editors divided the essays into two groups: those on developing musical identities ("identities in music" involving recognizable social and cultural…

After reading the book "Musical Identities" (Raymond MacDonald, David Hargreaves, Dorothy Miell, eds.; Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), this author states she finds it difficult to separate "identities in music" from "music in identities." In fact, she cannot conceive of music apart from identity. It is Lamb's view that the…

Music plays an important part in the lives of people of all ages. It can have symbolic significance for nation-states and regions, can be a source of deep emotional experience for the individual, or can be an expression of life-style, image and social belonging. Music affects, but is itself affected by forces influenced by different purposes and…