Sampling sound, based on the ideas of composition derived from Musique Concrète, has been used in music-making in music education in Japan. There is scope for re-examination of educational implications of this activity as a result of the proliferation of smartphones and DTM soft in music practice environments. In this paper, we examined the creation of music by employing smartphones and free DTM soft by university students. Further, the musical pieces composed by them before and after they completed the questionnaires were analyzed. Results showed that the function of DTM soft enables one to view musical structures and listen repetitively. Furthermore, the activities linked to these functions have educational implications : they expand learners’ musical views, assist them to learn about musical structures, and help them to explore the sound that one wants through affecting the soundscape that the subject can control based on his or her intuition.

  Music education researchers, particularly in Western countries, are increasingly focusing on “social justice” in/through music education. Vaugeois (2007) criticizes the philosophical works of Reimer (2003), Elliott (1995), and Woodford (2005), which have been the primary source of social justice theories in music education, and their tendencies of modernism and liberalism, based on postcolonial analysis. Dale (2012) adopts Derridean deconstruction to review the works of Reimer and Woodford ; he exemplifies aporia and the (im) possibility of justice in music education based on his personal experience of conducting music classes in an inner city. Woodford (2012) analyses the political history of music education in the US and criticizes Reimer and his aesthetic music education theory. Thus, all three researchers focus on relating “Others” and are critical of multiculturalism. In this study, I analyze and compare these interrelated articles to highlight the significance and diversity of social justice in music education and present suggestions for music educators in Japan. In addition, I emphasize the importance of discussing the social and political function of music in music education context.