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  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 8 No. 01 (2024)

    EJPAE is finally coming out with the tenth issue after more than a year of rest. Why this absence? EJPAE is more or less a one-man show with me, the editor in chief, doing most of the work. Since EJPAE is unpaid voluntary work (as much work in academia is), the editorial work suffers when I have too many other things in my life. I have hade the blessing of becoming a father to a baby boy which has taken up most of my extra time, but as he is now 2,5 years old, time is slowly getting available again. I am so happy to be able to present this fantastic issue comprising three articles from different art forms and practices.

    The first article is based on an experiment and a curiosity: What would happen if the teacher students were allowed to own their own learning processes in a museum context? Nikonanou, Panagiotis, Moraitopoulou and Viseri from Greece reports from an exiting, developing and challenging time where the ideas of the commons are being tested against what is common – what is usual and expected. In the article Commoning the teaching of art in a museum context: SMOOTH reflections, the teachers experience that their roles are challenged as they attempt to hand over responsibility to the students. The teacher training academia questions the usability of a process with no predefined outcome. Towards the end of the article the authors develops a suggestion for a framework for an education of the commons in a museum-higher education context.

    Our second article, ‘Dido’s Lament’, a Lament for our Dying Planet? by Inga Marie Nesmann-Aass, offers a compelling re-interpretation of Purcell’s famous aria. Set against the backdrop of Annie Lennox’s modern performance during the pandemic, Nesmann-Aass connects this 17th-century piece to the global climate crisis, reflecting on the ways historical music can speak to contemporary crises. The article weaves together embodied performance, environmental activism, and pedagogical applications, asking us to rethink how we relate to music from the past in the context of today’s urgent challenges.

    Finally, in Abstraction through the Kaleidoscope: Playful Concept Creation with Irma Salo Jæger, Heidi Marjaana Kukkonen invites us into the creative world of abstract art through a philosophical and playful exploration with Finnish-Norwegian artist Irma Salo Jæger. Kukkonen reflects on the potential of abstraction as a tool for education, where the act of playing with abstract ideas opens up new perspectives and disrupts conventional thinking. Her approach, informed by new materialist theory, reveals how abstraction is not only a philosophical concept but also a way to engage deeply and actively with art.

    This issue exemplifies the richness of art in education, with each article offering unique perspectives on how we learn through artistic practices. I am proud to share this with you and hope it sparks as much curiosity and reflection for you as it has for me.

    Ketil Thor Thorgersen

    Editor in Chief Stockholm October 4th 2024

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education (EJPAE)
    Vol. 7 No. 02 (2022)

    Welcome to this winter issue of EJPAE

    This issue of EJPAE contain more articles than any previous issue. I interpet this as a sign that EJPAE is getting more known and also gaining respect among scholars in the relevant fields. This time we can present authors from Scotland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, representing the fields visual art, art history, language, dance and music.

    The five articles are held together by a desire to connect musical learning to larger issues such as society, personal development etc. All articles also strives at being critical towards narrow minded views of arts education. I hope the articles will give you as much pleasure as they gave me. ENJOY!

    Ketil Thorgersen

    Editor-in-Chief Stockholm December 14th 2022

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 7 No. 01 (2022)

    EJPAE is happy to publish a new issue with fresh perspectives in the intersection between learning/education, the arts/aesthetics, and philosophy/theory.

    This time, the issue comprises of three articles with very different perspectives and topics: Texture matched with phenomenology; Ethics in music education matched with Martha Nussbaum; Practising in music matched with ancient Greek philosophy and again Nussbaum. There are altogether five authors writing these three articles, from Greece, Norway and Sweden.

    I have really enjoyed challenging myself in the meeting with these articles, and I hope you will too.

    Ketil Thorgersen

    Editor in Chief Stockholm May 10th 2022

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 6 No. 01 (2021)

    EJPAE is proud to be able to present another issue with important thoughts in the intersection between the arts, education and philosophy.  I present to you two interesting articles – both from Norway this time. The north part of Norway is perhaps more knows for snow and ice than for philosophy and art, but that is about to change with this issue of EJPAE.

    The first article is by Ola Buan Øien who has explored how concepts developed by Daniel Lanois can be useful in performances through arts based research. The concept investigated are sonic ambience, master station, operating by limitation, locations, preparing and black dubs. In this exploration he has turned inwards and analysed his own compositional process.

    The second article discusses the relationship between art and science and is written by Thomas Dillern. By using Leonardo da Vinci as an example, he shows that art and science as human endeavours share some common traits.

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 5 No. 01 (2020)

    In really worrying times such as these, the arts and arts education proves more important than ever. When a pandemic stirs the lives of everyone, overtaking, at least for some time, the even greater climate crisis, people need something to provide meaning. People need to express themselves, communicate, create, process, enjoy, flee, protest… These human and social functions are among the most central for the arts – as a vehicle for meaning; personally and socially. In this issue I have the great pleasure of presenting three very different articles that were all written before the corona pandemic, but when read in the light of the social distancing and fear of getting ill, brings new and interesting dishes to the table of arts education. We have one article from the field of museum education and two articles coming from the field of music education, with one of them bridging the gap towards music therapy. In total there are six authors, three from Northern Europe, two from North America and one from South America. It is interesting and a nice receipt that EJPAE is getting recognition and is filling a void, that scholars from all over the world now wishes to publish in the journal.

    I am proud to present this interesting and diverse issue in these testing times, and hope the articles will provide many of you with many hours of rewarding reading and thinking. Take care and enjoy!

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 4 No. 02 (2019)

    The second and last EJPAE issue of 2019 is finally due – in 2020. Running a journal is interesting since there are many parameters that are out of the editor’s control – such as when reviewers return reviews, when authors return their revisions and so on. And since this journal is run voluntarily, the typesetting and finalising have to fit into my schedule at university. Sometimes this is frustrating, but everyone is gentle and patient, and when I see the great result, such and in this issue, I feel really proud!

    The issue starts off with an amazing article by Juvas Marianne Liljas about a Swedish reform school, the Siljan School in Tällberg, based on the ideals of the Swedish pedagogue Ellen Key. The article is unusually empirical for EJPAE, but uses the empirical data theoretically to discuss aesthetic schooling in an early nineteen century rural setting. The eduction offered in this was an alternative to a more modernistic and mechanical education, and in the Siljan School the child’s needs were in focus and hence the arts were important ingredients in how the school was run. The article is illustrated with photography from the school which gives a strong sense of being in the milieu where the education took place.

    The second article deals with the complex issues concerning the ethics involved in preforming research in a school environment. The Finnish researches Cecilia Björk and Marja-Leena Juntunen investigate what virtue ethics can offer researchers in music education and suggest solutions to ethical challenges that are relational and relative to each situation. In an approach critical of a rules and laws based practice of choosing a safe way out of possible ethical issues, they choose a completely different path. Instead of depending on predetermined solutions, researchers should make use of practical wisdom with deep respect for all involved parties and the research. The article should be read by all who do empirical research as it provides a framework to think about many different aspects of the ethics of performing research in a school environment, and how to develop the virtues necessary to become an ethical researcher.

    Also on the topic of suggesting a new framework for thinking, the third and last article deals with music as a revolutionary tool in society. The Greek researcher Alexandros Kioupkiolis suggests a new paradigm for thinking about music education as a vehicle for social change. Kioupkiolis uses the concept of the commons to create a framework of collaborative action where autonomous creation and equality – both creatively and regarding ownership. To do this he goes through the history of the commons and current practices of the commons to suggest how music education can benefit from similar ideas. The presented ideas challenge current ideologies of authorship and copyright that were not designed for a public education in the first place. To delve into this article is to enter a possible world of a joyous and unpretentious education that fosters happy, creative and skilled citizens – in the arts and in general.

    Ketil Thorgersen

    Editor in Chief Stockholm November 21th 2018

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 4 No. 01 (2019)

    The first special issue in EJPAE's history is due. And what an issue: The theme - Arts Based Research - represents one of the most exciting developments in educational research the last decades and in this issue we meet different reflections and representations of this approach to research. The editors this time have been Cecilia Ferm-Almqvist and Torill Vist who has done an excellent job of guiding the articles to the finished state - as well as having written an excellent introduction to the topic at hand. Enjoy the reading!

    Ketil

    Editor in Chief

  • European Journal of Philsophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 3 No. 01 (2018)

    It’s been almost a year since the last issue, but finally it is here. And what an issue! Four very interesting articles fill this issue with thought provoking and valuable insights about arts – or in fact music – education. This issue contains articles about improvisation, relational perspectives, emotionally expressive singing, and interpretation.

    The article about poetry is the first article ever in EJPAE to answer the call for alternative formats in EJPAE – and is an interesting challenge to how articles usually are written in academia. Carl Holmgren uses different forms of poetry to tweak aspects of the research process from different angles. This article is an interesting take on an arts-based research process, that is a meta text in that is both researching through poetry as well as discussing how poetry can be used for interpretation in the research process. It can also be seen as a meta-meta text in that it investigates interpretation in music through poetry as interpretation in the research process, through poetry. This multilayered text opens up for a whole new range of ways of thinking about the research process and will provoke thoughts on how we construct meaning in academia.

    Following this text Shawn Michael Condon presents a more empirical article about how expressivity can be worked with for singers at university level. Through taking into account different modalities and a combination of skill acquisition and the a development of the individual’s personal wish for expression, a model for preparing a musical expression is outlined – a model that could inform music teachers in different kinds of teaching leading up to a performance.

    The last two articles are both co-written by two authors. The third article, written by Christina Larsson and Johan Öhman, discusses improvisation in education from a pragmatist transactional perspective informed by Dewey. As in the arts-based article by Holmgren, the focus here is meaning making – but here through/in improvisational events in music education. The authors suggest a practical epistemology analysis through analysing an improvisations event though the concepts purpose, encounter, stand fast, gap, relation and re-actualisation , and thereby provides teachers with an intellectual tool for thinking about how and why they do improvisation in music classrooms.

    Last, but not least, in the article by Torill Vist and Kari Holdhus, write an important argument about relational aesthetics in music education. They use Bourriaud’s theories to provide teachers with important questions about how methods and content in music education invites the students into dialogue. Since art is relational construction of meaning, musical learning that is relevant to the student should invite her into dialogue about different aspects of the musical practice.

    In sum these four articles shows the span of EJPAE. All articles develop theories and relate to philosophical ideas in different ways, but the forms and the scopes of the articles are very different; from arts-based poetry, via more traditional philosophical rhetoric to a text that draws heavily on an analysis of empirical material. Since EJPAE started in 2016, we have reached out, and we can now say that we are a respected journal where more and more articles are submitted every month. So enjoy this fantastic issue, but look out for the coming ones: Great insight is in the works.

    Ketil Thorgersen

    Editor in Chief Stockholm November 21th 2018

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 2 No. 02 (2017)

    Welcome to the third ever issue of EJPAE. Slightly overdue, but as we say in Sweden, the one who waits for something good does not wait in vain. In this issue there are three articles that constitute the good we have been waiting for. The three articles complements each other in fulfilling the scope of EJPAE in that their foci are very different and that they represent different art forms. Two of the articles also create bridges to other areas of education, science and art.

    Lee Beavington's article Romanticism and Science Education – Nature as a Poemreflects on how poetry writing and reading can be a tool in teaching and learning in science education - particularly connected to nature. This article is also an example of arts based writing and the text itself mixes a more traditional philosophical writing style with poetry of different kinds.

    Another example of a crossover article comes from Sven Bjerstedt. In his article Musicality in Spoken Theatre – Fiction, Metaphor, Dispositif, he discusses how musical terms works as a certain kind of metaphorical linguistic repertoire to talk about artistic quality among theater actors. In his article he connects to the third article in this issue through his treatment of musicality. Interestingly, to be musical or to act musically, is considered essential for a good actor according to Bjerstedt, and in his definition he connects to a definition of relational musicality, coined by Sture Brändström in 2006, where musicality is not only something you are born with or something that is learnt, but rather a social agreement of what is considered musical in a particular culture. In a similar way musicality is also a central theme in the third article.

    In Kari Holdhus and Magne Espeland's article Music in Future Nordic Schooling The Potential of the Relational Turn, the relationality that Bjerstedt is touching upon is treated in depth. Holdhus and Espeland draws on recent trends in educational discourses that shows a way towards a more relational approach to teaching and learning, and through analysing central texts about the present, pointing towards the future, they show possible futures for school music education. They warn against simplistic understandings of what knowledge formation is and can be: "The rationale for music as a compulsory subject in future public schooling could be improved by activating a web of music relations rather than reducing music education for children to a didactic triangle between the teacher, pupil and music."

    This quote can also symbolise the complex web of meanings that arise through reading the three texts in this issue together. Enjoy the richness of the texts of nature, drama, music. Ride fast, read slow!

    Ketil Thorgersen

    Editor in Chief Stockholm January 20th 2018

  • European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education
    Vol. 2 No. 01 (2017)

    It is my pleasure to introduce the second ever issue of the European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education (EJPAE). The first issue was a milestone in that it started the voyage into whatever EJPAE will become, and was also met with good receptions. Most notably, EJPAE has been assessed and found to be of high enough quality to be ranked on level one on the Norwegian ranking list of academic journals.

    This issue, the first of two in 2017, consists of only one article, but what an article it is. Three of the most central Hanna Arendt scholars within the field of music education have come together and written an important article about how Hanna Arendt can inform the field of music education. Representing Canada, Greece and Sweden, Cathy Benedict, Panagiotis A. Kanellopoulos (Panos) and Cecilia Ferm Almqvist has, based on three different self experienced scenes, reflected on what Arendt could bring to the table today. The article started out as a part of a panel presentation at the International Society of Philosophy in Music Education (ISPME) in Frankfurt 2015, and has been worked on from different countries via the internet since then. The authors argue that Arendt is more important than ever in a world were technical neo-liberalist values are the norm. Arendt’s ideas are here tweaked and presented as a possible eye opener to understand the political and its relation to creativity in music teaching and learning.

    This issue is in other words a meal consisting of one fine dish that will take time to eat and digest, but will keep you satisfied for a long time. Bon appétit!

    Ketil Thorgersen

    Editor in Chief Stockholm September 14th 2017

  • INAUGURAL ISSUE OF EJPAE
    Vol. 1 No. 01 (2016)

    It is with great pleasure I write this first editorial for the European Journal of Philosophy in the Arts. The journal was born as an idea after a stimulating conference in Frankfurt, Germany in the International Society for Philosophy in Music Education in the summer of 2015. It struck me that there are only a few journals for publishing texts concerning more theoretical and philosophical texts within arts education. Within Music Education, there is one journal with this particular focus, Philosophy of Music Education Review (PMER). There is also Action, Criticism and Theory (ACT). Both are good journals, but both belong to the American tradition of philosophy and political thought. From my experience, coming from a multidisciplinary department of the arts, it struck me that much of the philosophical and theoretical educational debate is shared between the arts – or can be interesting between the arts because of their differences. It with the ambition to provide an open and stimulating platform for such discussion that EJPAE now is launched.