This paper aims to critically examine fundamental theories and practices in music education, while also proposing an alternative direction based on Gert Biesta's world-centered view of education (Laes et al., 2025; Biesta, 2022; 2018). Biesta identifies two primary dangers in music and arts education. The first concerns the potential loss of art within arts education, as efforts often prioritize other subjects and music can become a tool to improve language or mathematics, or to enhance cognitive or social skills. The second danger is related to the so-called 'expressivism', according to which the sole aim of music education is the self-expression of the student, often overlooking the broader educational context; the student's role dominates, (according to the principle “the customer is always right”), with the result that education could disappear from music education.              

Biesta's reflections could find a relevant application in efforts—often at the level of declarations and intentions—to use music as a tool for children's emotional empowerment. On one hand, music may be reduced to skill-acquisition tool (social-emotional skills), while on the other, music lessons may become spaces solely for emotional expression, often accompanied by the teachers' embarrassment about what is expressed. Drawing from Biesta's proposal for a world-centered education, we will outline basic principles that allow individuals to engage with their emotions while remaining grounded in the world, without becoming the center of the world. This approach envisions music education as a space where students learn to become subjects, balancing their desires with the realities of the world in a thoughtful and mature manner. Although challenging, this is an essential endeavor.

• Music and sound education experiences, values, and practices
• Music education for social justice and equality

Theocharis Raptis is a Professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Ioannina. He pursued his at the University of Ioannina and at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. He obtained his Magister degree in Music Education from the University of Munich and completed his doctoral thesis there as well. Ηe was a fellow of the Panagiotis & Effie Michelis Foundation.

Dr. Raptis currently serves as the Director of the Laboratory of Arts and Teaching Applications at the at the Department of Early Childhood Education (UoI). Additionally, he holds the position of Deputy Director of the Postgraduate Studies Programme and co-edits the scientific journal Musical Pedagogics. His primary research interests encompass music education in early childhood, the philosophy of music education, systematic music pedagogy, and the interplay between music education and emotions.