"What’s So Important About Music Education? is a thoroughly engaging, insightful, and detailed exploration of the history, philosophy, and significance of music education . . . This is unquestionably a valuable book that every serious music student, teacher, and school administrator should read. . . . Truly admirable and inspiring. . . . Goble has presented a new – and perhaps even inevitable – direction for American music schools in the twenty-first century. Let us hope that the nation’s music educators, as well as the general public, will embrace and choose to strongly support Goble’s challenge. It is a positive and essential change that our democratic society truly deserves."
– Ernest Kramer, Teachers College Record
"A rich text that seeks to address some of the most difficult questions in music education. Its primary purpose of promoting intercultural understanding is deeply admirable, its superb organization and range of ideas make it a most compelling book . . . Although written for music educators in the United States, it will just as easily be of interest to readers from other countries with diverse communities."
– Leonard Tan, Philosophy of Music Education Review
"For me, dedicated to the historicity of disciplinarity, Goble’s study . . . of the intellectual history of music education in the United States . . . is exemplary."
– William Pinar, Conversations on Curriculum & Pedagogy
"Goble . . . provides a philosophical, historical, pragmatic study of the public school music curriculum as it relates to the new diverse student population. This resource gives readers a perspective on the development of past curricula and provides them with guidance going forward. . . . Recommended [for] graduate students, researchers, and professionals."
– V. S. Xenakis, Choice
