Editorial

Abstract

In the Volume 5, Issue 2 of the Malaysian Music Journal, we feature six articles on topics such as cultural arts education, piano performance and literature, teaching skills, needs and readiness among music teachers, challenges faced by music doctoral students and indigenous song text composition. The first article is written by Ramon P. Santos, that explores the multidimensional modes in the transmission of cultural art forms through the empowerment of indigenous performers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Africa. He posits that the survival of cultural art forms depends on the strategies and responses of the community’s cultural canons. In the second article, Performer as Narrator: The Second Movement of Franz Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A Major D959, Tham Horng Kent enlightens us on Zbikowski’s concepts of ‘static form’ and ‘dynamic form’ through this sonata. He argues that Schubert has allowed flexibility in the interpretation and performance of this piece by adopting John Rink’s idea of multiple potentialities in music performance.