The double game of music imagines music education as a series of games – each with its own rules, play currency and players – to challenge readers to rethink the significance of music and musical upbringing in shaping social structures. Drawing on their own empirical research and a wide range of international contributions, the authors unravel the intertwining of social positioning and power hierarchies with players beliefs in the pure values and virtues of their games, whether these relate to parenting, children’s play, schooling, academic pursuits, musical leisure activities or the television and music industries. In a world where music is often celebrated as an important tool for inclusion and democratisation, this groundbreaking book offers a timely critique, revealing complexities and contradictions that tend to be overlooked by teachers, researchers, politicians and others interested in the powers of music education.