Democracy, Pragmatist Aesthetics, and the Choral Experience

PAUL WOODFORD (B.Mus.Ed., B.Ed., M.Mus.Ed, Ph.D.) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Music Education at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, the University of Western Ontario, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in philosophy and history of music education and wind conducting. His interests in philosophical, sociological, and political issues affecting the music teaching profession have led to articles on musical critical thinking (Music Educators Journal, Canadian Music Educator, and the Philosophy of Music Education Review), the nature of professional debates (Philosophy of Music Education Review), and a critique of radical feminism (Journal of Aesthetic Education). His most recent publications include a chapter in The New Handbook of Research On Music Teaching and Learning (on the construction of professional identity in music education majors) and his book Democracy and Music Education: Liberalism, Ethics, and the Politics of Practice (Indiana University Press, 2005). Paul is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for the Philosophy of Music Education (ISPME) and co-chair of the Programming Committee for the 2005 International Philosophy of Music Education Symposium to be held in Hamburg, Germany. Next October he will be presenting the keynote address at the Sociology of Music Education Symposium at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.