Introduction: Charting a new Silk Road for music education

This chapter outlines the rationale for addressing Asian philosophies in music education. A brief overview of the philosophy of music education reveals the lack of coverage of non-Western philosophies in the field. A premise of this book is a multicultural approach to the philosophy of music education, in which the various authors recognize the profound richness, distinctiveness, diversity, and potential for development of Asian philosophies, which are beyond the scope of any single volume. The chapter proposes charting a New Silk Road in music education by sharing valuable Asian treatises on philosophy and music, and provides an overview of the rest of the book.