What philosophy can bring to music education: musicianship as a case in point

Abstract

My response to the question ‘What can philosophy bring to music education?’ is to offer a case in point. Three important tasks that philosophers can fulfil – clarifying ideas, interrogating commonplaces, and suggesting applications to practice – are illustrated through an analysis of musicianship. Doing philosophy is inseparable from the content of philosophy, and how the idea of musicianship is clarified, interrogated, and applied is of central interest to music education, as is the task of music education philosophy itself. The article highlights the crucial importance of teachers as participants in this work.