This article introduces and reflects on the biographies of ISME's four Honorary Presidents: Leo Kestenberg, Zoltan Kodaly, Dimitri Kabalevsky and Frank Callaway. The lenses of modernity and postmodernity are applied in an examination of the relationships among the topics of individuality, community and "representation" in relation to: (a) the four men discussed in this issue; and (b) key issues in music education including the nature of music education "foundations", curriculum development and feminism(s).