Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:EditorialEstelle R. JorgensenHow does one best remember and celebrate critically the life and work of those philosophers who have made a significant impact on the field of music education and who are no longer with us? Our In Memoriam feature provides space for short pieces marking their contributions, but the death of the Danish philosopher of music education, Prof. Frede V. Nielsen on March 21, 2013 at the age of 70 (noted in the Philosophy of Music Education Review 21, no. 2, [Fall 2013]: 213–214) seemed to require something more. Nielsen added the words bildung and didaktik (from which he developed the term “didactology”) to the international lexicon of concepts with which philosophers of music education in other traditions were familiar. These ideas are at home within Continental philosophy, particularly in the Germanic tradition, and it seemed fitting to devote this special issue to an examination of Nielsen’s ideas by a group of European writers from Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland familiar with Nielsen’s understanding of them. Of course, Nielsen’s philosophy is not restricted to notions of bildung and didaktik. Frederik Pio, Øivind Varkøy, and Inger Anne Westby highlight the growing existentialism apparent in his philosophy. Still these two terms are crucial in a critical understanding of the scope and importance of Nielsen’s contributions to the philosophy of music education.It is important to notice that much of what is known of Nielsen’s thinking rests primarily in his lectures and essays available in English and German rather than on a reading of his book, Almen Musikdidaktik, published in 1994, in Danish. This reality points to insularity that has too often plagued music education thought in the past caused, to some degree, by need for and the problems of translation among the various language groups, especially those that are small. [End Page 109] Were Nielsen’s Almen Musikdidaktik to be translated into English, for example, it would provide a much fuller grasp of his ideas for English-speakers than that presently available. Despite this reality, we begin where we are able, with the perspectives of Nielsen’s colleagues on his work, in the hope that his book will be translated in the future.Werner Jank begins with an historical sketch of the various theories of bildung upon which Nielsen drew. He regards the focus of Nielsen’s philosophy of music education as the subject matter that is taught and learned, and the philosophical and scientific bases for this decision. For Nielsen, these matters are thought of at the “meta-level” in what he describes as “didactology”—the art and science of music pedagogy cast generally. Contrasting Nielsen’s understanding of the project of music education content with David Elliott’s views of music praxis, Jank examines some of the specific didactical questions that, for Nielsen, drive the music teacher’s work.The matter of the content of music education, the question of “what” content should be taught in music education is also central for Eva Georgii-Hemming and Jonathan Lilliedahl who focus on Nielsen’s attention to the subject matter of music education and its determination. In their view, Nielsen is concerned about justifying philosophically, both critically and constructively, the musical subject matter on aesthetic and pedagogical grounds, for its intrinsic contributions rather than instrumental ends. In sketching his understanding of music didaktik and bildung, they see his writing as offering a rich perspective on the art and science of musical pedagogy.Frederik Pio explores the evolution of Nielsen’s philosophy, particularly in his later work, towards existentialism. In particular, he critically examines the tensions between hermeneutical and phenomenological understandings of the interaction between human beings and music. Nielsen’s view of the “multi-dimensional universe of meaning” represents, for Pio, a “theory of musical Bildung.” He sees a Heideggerian synthesis of hermeneutics and phenomenology as an approach to reconciling tensions between the musical and pedagogical aspects of Nielsen’s theory, and a means of rescuing elements of it.Among the multiple layers of musical meaning in Nielsen’s theory, Øivind Varkøy and Inger Anne Westby focus on music’s spiritual and existential quality within the purview of Søren...