The development of Estonia’s national music culture has really taken place over the last 145 years, thanks to the national choral song festival tradition that began in 1869 and has continued until today. Song festivals have been always important as a form of non-political resistance confirming Estonian identity and self-confidence. Many have characterized Estonia as a “singing nation” and we know that a great contribution to this is provided by music teachers at schools.

In this dissertation I examine the discourse of music educators as it relates to musical aesthetics in the United States from the creation of the Music Supervisors’ Conference in 1907 to the year of the publication of Basic Concepts of Music Education: The Fifty-Seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 1 in 1958. The purpose of this dissertation is to show that philosophical discussion, especially in relation to musical aesthetics, was much more comprehensive than previously acknowledged. The conventional view that the arguments supporting music education were primarily utilitarian is a limited interpretation of the discourse prior to 1958. In actuality, arguments about music extended beyond its practical social, economic, and political utility. Additional aesthetic theories guided the field and girded ideas of musical understanding and informed instruction. A better understanding of the discourse of this period contributes to more informed conversations about musical aesthetics and its relation to music education. Utilizing philosophical analysis and archival research, I argue in this dissertation that the philosophical discourse relating to musical aesthetics was rich, varied, insightful, and pervasive. The evidence in this dissertation refutes the standard interpretation which eschews the possibility of discourse on aesthetics taking place prior to 1958. I show that there was deeper philosophical analysis than what is currently acknowledged by those who presently make the claim that what was intended to happen generally in the field of music education and during instruction was solely guided by utilitarian philosophy. In other words, it expands the current understanding of philosophical discourse relating to musical aesthetics in music education before the Music Education as Aesthetic Education movement that is argued to begin with the publication of Basic Concepts.

Der Text berichtet über eine Erhebung zu Praxen des Musikunterrichts in 5 Ländern Europas. Über eine auf Englisch veröffentlichte Erhebung ‚About Different Cultures in Music Classrooms of Europe’ hinaus enthält dieser Text auch die Ergebnisse einer zweiten Erhebung. Nach der Reflexion einiger methodischer Aspekte der Arbeit mit Videos sowie des Kontexts eines europäisch geförderten ‚Intensive Programs’, gibt der Text Information über gemeinsame Inhalte und Methoden sowie unterschiedliche Praxismerkmale im Musikunterricht. Abschließend liefert der Text drei Reflexionen der Daten über (1) die Wichtigkeit von Sound und Gesten im Musikunterricht, (2) Interferenzen zwischen Kulturen der Musik und Kulturen der Pädagogik im Klassenzimmer und (3) Muster von Musikunterricht. / The article is about an exploration about practices of school music in 5 countries of Europe. Beyond an exploration ‚About Different Cultures in Music Classrooms of Europe’, which was published in English, this article includes results of a second exploration. After reflecting some methodological aspects of working with videos and the context of an Intensive Programm, the article gives information about common contents and methods and distinguishing marks of practices in music education. At last the article gives three reflections of the data about (1) the importance of sound and gestures in music education, (2) interferences between cultures of music and cultures of pedagogy in the classroom, (3) patterns of school music.

Analysing the conversations at the conference the chapter addresses fundamental issues of cultural comparison in music education. There is a disciplinary bias that can tempt the researcher to overestimate cultural conditions. This could lead to cultural relativism that keeps us from critically addressing normative issues associated with aims and contents of music education.

This essay uses existential ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre to provide a philosophy of college piano performance teaching which includes awareness of freedom, abandonment and responsibility as a prerequisite for student-teacher interaction. To set the stage for the interaction the study uses Sartre's philosophy, illustrated with concrete examples from the world of piano teaching and performing, to describe what it means to be human. The author applies Sartre's writings about literature to support the idea of an engaged performance, relating it to existential psychoanalysis, making the performer and audience member realize freedom through choice, while addressing ideas of abandonment and performance anxiety. Sartre's philosophy is used to identify the roles both teachers and students play in the college environment as people and as performers. The study with the help of existentialism, describes the interaction between the different elements: teacher, student, performer, and human being, and provides a better understanding of the complexity of the pupil/professor relationship in the college piano performance program.

Es besteht Einigkeit darüber, dass über „die Wahrheit“ im Allgemeinen und in der Musikpädagogik im Besonderen keine Einigkeit besteht. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt der Text das Verhältnis zwischen einer nationalen Sprache (Deutsch) und Englisch als Lingua Franca in der Wissenschaft allgemein, der Musikwissenschaft und der Musikpädagogik dar. Der Text schließt mit dem Bedarf an Kommunikation und der Skizzierung einiger „Bojen“ zur Verständigung in internationaler Musikpädagogik. / Realizing the common sense of having no common sense about the truth, the article presents the relation between a national language (German) and English as lingua franca in international practices of science in general, musicology and music pedagogy. It concludes with the need of communication and some buoys of understanding in international music education.

This summary connects parts of nearly every chapter of the book with a thick brush regarding normative constellations. Comparing the constellations shows both, how practices within lessons are normatively connected with practices in other social fields, and that there are fractures that show a need for further research. In conclusion I sketch a model for comparative praxial music education.

Video-recorded music lessons (on multi angle DVDs) were used to inspire and improve understanding among experts from different cultures and discourses of music education. To make the process manageable and focused we developed the Analytical Short Film (2-3 minutes) to address particular areas of interest and starting points for debate. We asked selected music teachers from seven nation-states to allow a typical and (in their opinion) good lesson to be recorded. We also asked the students and their parents for permission. At a symposium, national experts and researchers presented views on „their“ lessons through Analytical Short Films. Discussion included implicit and explicit comparisons. The presenters also used a lesson from one of the other countries to stimulate discussion about assumptions in and challenges to their own views. We documented all comparisons made and compared these to derive cross cultural categories (tertia comparationis). These categories should be relevant for understanding what makes a music lesson „good“. The different perspectives and discussions offered by the authors in this book provide rich and diverse material for researchers, teachers and teacher educators.