Music education research today continues in well-worn paths. While it may be productive in quantity, it is not clear the degree to which it informs current music teacher education or has produced advances in teaching practice. Indeed, as some critics of university-based teacher education research have argued (e.g., Boyer 1990; Schwandt 2005), such research is more often conducted according to the paradigms, interests, and needs of the Ivory Tower rather than to the down-to-earth conditions and needs of schools and schooling. The present essay raises questions about and offers a perspective on some key aspects of this problem in music education. After a survey of some general concerns regarding scholarship and disciplinarity, the articles in the present issue of "ACT" are used to expand upon particular themes of importance to both to music teachers and to music education researchers. (Contains 35 notes.)