Democracy and Music Education, Liberalism, Ethics and the Politics of Practice.(Book Review)

Democracy and Music Education, Liberalism, Ethics and the Politics of Practice, by Paul G. Woodford. Indiana University Press (601 N. Morton St., Bloomington, Indiana 47404), 2005. 160 pp. $21.95.

This book takes an in-depth look at music education philosophy. The subject is very relevant but the overly pedantic writing style makes it difficult to make sense of the first-half of the book. Paul Woodford needed help from a good editor to make his book more readable and accessible to those who really need this information.

Pulling heavily from the writings of John Dewey, an educator who wrote much about education from 1900 to about 1950, Woodford believes music teachers today need to become more relevant to society as a whole. He states that by teaching almost exclusively western music from previous centuries, with a narrow view of how that music should be performed, we have created a vast chasm between our classes and what society needs. In short, we come across as "dictators" with no ability to value or listen to other music.

Further, Woodford thinks music teachers have allowed themselves to be controlled by "new right" politics, that aims to "return to a more ...