CEMPE 19/20 annual

CEMPE19|20 Centre for Excellence in Music Performance Education

Annual 19–20

What is Success?

Help for Artistic Self-Help

Frameworks for Creativity

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Illustration front cover: Espen Friberg NMH Publications 2020:3 Š Norwegian Academy of Music and authors ISBN 978-82-7853-277-5 (printed) ISBN 978-82-7853-278-2 (pdf) Norwegian Academy of Music Post-box 5190 Majorstuen 0302 OSLO Phone.: +47 23 36 70 00 E-mail: post@nmh.no / cempe@nmh.no nmh.no / cempe.no Design: ANTI Print: Bodoni Editor: Ingfrid Breie Nyhus Editorial team: Ellen Mikalsen Stabell, Ane Hagness Kiran, Jon Helge SÌtre, Guro Utne Salvesen Photos: Ellen Mikalsen Stabell, Ane Hagness Kiran, Guro Utne Salvesen Illustrations: Espen Friberg

CEMPE19|20 Annual

The Norwegian Academy of Music's Centre for Excellence in Music Performance Education (CEMPE) is a catalyst for knowledge development in higher music education.

CEMPE aims to develop knowledge and experience to support performance students in their search for artistic excellence through a variety of learning contexts and to ­prepare them for work in a diverse and globalised music ­industry. CEMPE initiates projects in collaboration with its partners where students, teachers and researchers work ­together to explore collaborative and R&D-based approaches to teaching and learning in music performance education.

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CEMPE Annual

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Preface

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CEMPE, a Centre for Excellence in International Music Performance Education Centre Director Jon Helge Sætre reflects on the change of a small word, and on the international work within CEMPE.

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From the Student Partners Guoste Tamulynaite and Guro Utne Salvesen about the emphasis on student involvement in this year’s annual.

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What is Success?

Students Siri Storheim and Anna Rødevand put criteria of success within higher music education on the agenda, as they invite to the country’s first music student conference.

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Involved Students Meet three students with initiatives to develop higher music education. Two of them are project leaders in CEMPE-supported projects, and the third is the leader of the NMH student committee.

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Beyond Policy – Conceptualising Student-Centred Learning Environments in Higher (Music) Education An abbreviated version of an article about how to understand student-centred terminology, by Monika Nerland, Professor of Education at the University of Oslo.

2019–2020

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Help for Artistic Self-Help Today’s music industry needs mindful, curious and independent musicians.

CEMPE’s Core Portfolio project seeks to increase music students’ awareness of their own artistic development through digital portfolios and personal guidance.

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CEMPE Talks and STUDENT Talks

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Insight into STUDENT Talks STUDENT Talks were initiated by CEMPE’s student partners to create an arena for conversation, criticism and discussion on becoming a musician/composer today, in a closed room only for students. Here we are let in to hear some of what the students have discussed, on the concept of art, versatility and expectations.

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Connections What connections are there in higher music education between disciplines and between people? And what can we do to strengthen these important connections? This was the topic when CEMPE and the University of Stavanger arranged CEMPE’s third national seminar in November 2019.

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Frameworks for Creativity Who’s in charge in higher music education, the student or the institution?

Veronica Ski-Berg is using her Ph.D project Institutionalizing Innovation to ­investigate student-centred learning and hierarchical structures.

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Chamber Music as Power-Free Discourse – an Academic Utopia?

Professor of Accompaniment Tor Espen Aspaas reflects on the research project The Collaborative Chamber Music Teacher, a joint project venture between CEMPE and The University of Queensland, Australia. Are there emergent findings that might alter preconceived notions of how to organise chamber music teaching in academia?

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Work-Integrated Learning Work-integrated Learning in the Music Academy (WILMA) is a collaboration between CEMPE and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. The project seeks to find out what forms of professional practice are offered at European conservatoires.

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Free Classical What happens when classical musicians put away their music and ask the conductor to stay at home? At the workshop seminar Free Classical – improvisation for orchestral musicians, 30 classically trained students and professional orchestral musicians came together for some free play.

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Debate: The Orchesteral Musician’s Artistic Identity Towards the end of the Free Classical seminar a debate was held on the autonomy and identity of orchestral musicians. What can improvisation practice mean for the orchestral musician or orchestra? How does higher music education meet the (orchestral) musician's future needs?

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LATIMPE 2019–20

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What, Who, Where

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PREFACE Thank you for picking up CEMPE’s Annual Magazine 2019–20.

This is the second time we are publishing the magazine, which aims to give you a taste of the centre’s activities this academic year. It provides an insight into selected projects, events and focus areas at the Norwegian Academy of Music’s Centre for Excellence in Music Performance Education.

We wanted to dedicate a large part of the magazine to the students’ own voices and initiatives. Student involvement has become a key area for CEMPE. Student partners have been included in the centre’s management team since 2018, and there are now several projects run by students. Get to know some of the projects and the students behind them, and read about the topics and questions being discussed at our STUDENT Talks.

Monika Nerland, a member of the CEMPE steering group, has written about student-centred learning environments in the recently published anthology Becoming Musicians.

The anthology was published in collaboration between CEMPE and AEC and is the result of LATIMPE’s first Learning & Teaching conference in Oslo in October 2018. An abridged version of Monika Nerland's article on student involvement can be found in this annual magazine.

The LATIMPE platform and the anthology are both examples of CEMPE’s international collaborations. In his message in this magazine, Centre Director Jon Helge Sætre reflects on the international aspect of CEMPE’s activities. One international partnership covered in the magazine is the WILMA study, which investigates practice placements for music students. The project is being conducted in collaboration with the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

In the interview with our doctoral candidate Veronica Ski-Berg she talks about her investigation into the invisible rules in music education and the institutionalisation of creativity. Pianist Tor Espen Aspaas reflects on the potential in having teachers join the chamber music ensembles they coach as part of the project The Collaborative Chamber Music Teacher. You can also read about the Core Portfolio project taking place at the academy which sees students trial digital portfolios as tools for reflection and development alongside consultations with an artistic mentor.

In November 2019 we held a seminar in collaboration with the University of Stavanger under the heading Connections on interaction and links between different disciplines. In February

2019–2020

2020 we organised a workshop seminar called Free Classical, which saw students and professional musicians come together in improvisation ensembles based on their classical backgrounds. You can read more about both seminars in this year’s magazine.

Just as we were finalizing this annual, the corona crisis came upon us all. For higher education it meant a period with closed doors and postponed events, and teachers and students had to hurry over to digital platforms. We will surely learn new things about higher music education through this situation. But most importantly, we wish all of our readers good health, and let’s hope that we all get safely through this extraordinary period of time. ●

Happy reading!

Best wishes from the CEMPE team

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CEMPE, A CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE EDUCATION

by Jon Helge Sætre

2019–2020

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In 2019 we replaced a small word in the CEMPE name.

We swapped «of» with «for» and are now called Centre for Excellence in Music Performance Education. This little detail is important to me. It serves as a reminder that the centres for excellence in education are based on the idea of co-operation. It emphasises that a centre for excellence in education should seek out and join forces with other distinguished and relevant professional com­­munities and build its activities on collaborating with them. To me the word indicates that we are better able to achieve excellence when we develop in partnership with others. The word also signals that excellence is not primarily something you possess, but something you create.

In other words, as director of CEMPE I value co-operation with national and international partners highly, although it often takes both time and effort to develop a working partnership. I’m therefore delighted to be able to say that we made significant advances in 2019 in this respect and that CEMPE is better than ever at being a centre for excellence in music performance education. As you will be able to read elsewhere in this magazine, our national partnerships are continuing with interesting projects receiving innovation grants and through a series of national seminars. There have also been international developments, and I’d like to say a bit more about those here.

Our collaboration with the association of European music conservatoires, AEC, is both meaningful and mutually beneficial. It is the first time that AEC works this closely with an individual institution (NMH via CEMPE), and I believe that it is the cross-institutional mandate given to the centres

for excellence that makes this possible. Both CEMPE and AEC want to boost music education generally (which is something we are being measured on externally), and neither institution therefore needs to be overly worried about competition and ownership. The partnership operates under the LATIMPE umbrella, which stands for Learning and Teaching in Music Performance Education and which consists of a range of activities and sub-projects. I chair the working group which looks at teaching and learning in higher music education as part of the AEC project Strengthening Music in Society (SMS). NMH student Siri Storheim is also a member of this working group, and she has played a key role in strengthening the student perspective both at AEC and in the working group’s discussions. CEMPE advisor Ellen Stabell is the working group’s co-ordinator, and she is also responsible for the website which hosts materials from the group’s work.

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Perhaps more than anything, participating in LATIMPE is about identifying key questions and issues that can generate new ideas around teaching and learning in our field. Let me give some examples.

How might student-centred learning look in music performance education? How do conservatoire teachers collaborate, and what are they co-operating over? Can we view music performance students as researching artists?

These were amongst the topics at the AEC/ CEMPE conference Becoming Musicians in Oslo in 2018 and in the anthology jointly published

by AEC and CEMPE in 2019.

How can digital and online technologies improve teaching and learning in higher music education? This will be the main topic at the AEC/ CEMPE conference in Vienna in May 2020, in the evaluation processes being conducted by the working group as part of an EU project on long-distance streaming systems, and at the research symposium we organised in Glasgow in January 2020.

What can we learn from student-driven projects and other student-centred practices, and exactly what does success mean to music students? This is being explored on the LATIMPE.eu website.

The international collaboration with AEC could be summed up thus: it is about defining important and necessary questions, creating arenas for highlighting these questions through debate and research dissemination, and publishing articles and online materials in order to provide valuable input and generate renewed reflection on education, learning and teaching.

CEMPE also aims to be a centre for excellence by developing R&D projects together with international research communities. One of these projects is WILMA (Work-integrated Learning in the Music Academy), which is taking

place in partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. CEMPE has investigated professional placement (or practicums) in music performance education through a number of local projects, and we are now taking the next step by collaborating with the one institution that has perhaps made the greatest advances in this field in Europe. The WILMA project seeks to establish which professional placements are in use at European music education institutions, which political and pedagogical drivers lie behind the placement schemes, and how students are being prepared, supported and assessed in these schemes.

CEMPE is running similar project partnerships focusing on four different themes. Together with The University of Queensland we are exploring what happens when a chamber music teacher performs alongside their students in chamber music classes rather than assume the traditional teacher/observer role. The results of the project are highly interesting because the model results in an entirely different form of learning and development. CEMPE is also supporting Guro Gravem Johansen’s project on a related topic: exploring different methods and strategies for teaching improvisation in Europe. Gravem Johansen is exploring the topic together with a colleague in Scotland.

The two other projects investigate supporting subjects in higher music education and musicians’ health respectively. The Current Trends in Music Theory Pedagogy project sees music theorists at NMH working with a number of international experts on innovation in music theory education. CEMPE is also working with several international institutions on developing the European Healthy Conservatoire Network, which aims to create good educational solutions for preparing music and art students for the physical, mental and emotional challenges that we know exist in the arts professions.

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«How might student-centred learning look in music performance education? How do conservatoire teachers collaborate, and what are they co-operating over? Can we view music performance students as researching artists?»

I am delighted to see CEMPE working so well with institutions in Europe, participating in a discourse that extends beyond the usual issues, making a contribution to research and development and critiquing established practices. I am also proud of what the CEMPE team and our colleagues at NMH have achieved, both domestically and internationally. As for the next steps for CEMPE, I want to achieve even more by listening to and observing others and continuing to rethink what makes our centre excellent. ●

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FROM THE STUDENT PARTNERS Our focus as student partners at CEMPE has primarily been to engage the students – not only in CEMPE’s work and projects, but also by trying to motivate them to talk to each other, reflect on and take ownership of their studies and artistic development.

by Guro Utne Salvesen and Guoste Tamulynaite

2019–2020

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In the two years we have served as student partners we have launched the student discussion forum STUDENT Talks, we have helped develop the Core Portfolio project, we have organised discussion groups for master students involved in the Hammerfest project, and we have visited every interpretation forum at NMH to talk about CEMPE and what it has to offer. This has resulted in a significant increase in student-run projects being supported by CEMPE this year. We like to think that the work we have done is part of the reason for this, and we are very proud of it! On the next few pages we have asked the leaders of various student-run projects, and this years leader of the Student-­ committee to talk about their involvement in CEMPE. We hope this will inspire even more students to become involved in developing their study programmes.

To all students: please continue to engage with us and do not hesitate to get in touch. If you are still unclear about what CEMPE is, if you are looking for support for a project and would like to brainstorm a project idea, or if you have an issue you are passionate about and feel should be discussed behind closed doors at a STUDENT Talks, then we are here and happy to chat, just like last year!

Guro & Guoste

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WHAT IS SUCCESS? Four years of studying music makes you reflect. Reflect on art, on what kind of music you would like to perform and what you want to achieve with it, but also on the study programme you have just completed. What has the programme prepared you for?

by Siri Storheim and Anna Rødevand (NMH students)

There are very many good things about studying at NMH: a great degree of freedom, excellent teachers, good opportunities for having your say in things and a generally good student environment. Yet there are many things that could be better. As classical music students, we sometimes feel bound by expectations and established structures in the institutional environment. We have found that certain things afford higher status than others and that we have set ourselves high traditional goals without quite knowing why. There is a new trend in European music education whereby people are beginning to query the concept of «success». What does it mean, who defines it, and is there a singular archetype of what it means to be a successful musician? We have found this issue to resonate with music students, and we would like to explore it further.

And so, the Music Student Conference 2020 was born. A conference is an ideal format for

bringing together interesting people and covering a number of topics over a short period of time. We have both had the pleasure of participating in events with student reps from across Europe, something which has been highly valuable and an important inspiration for this project. In the planning phase we realised that there are no meeting places for Norwegian music students, and that is an issue in itself. We need to get together in order to pinpoint what our studies are lacking. On 1 April music students, teachers and management from Norway’s music education institutions will get together, which is a major step forward.

To explore the issues at hand, we need to take a broader perspective than just our own ideas, and debating with other students is an important part of the project. The first thing we did was to schedule a session for first-year students during freshers’ week to discuss their goals, dreams and expectations. There it emerged

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«As classical music students, we sometimes feel bound by expectations and established structures in the institutional environment.»

that the first-year students had clear expectat­ ions for their time at NMH, and that is interesting. Many of them mentioned being able to perform genres outside their chosen study programme – something they felt they were unable to do at NMH. Others spoke of dreams or interests that they felt they couldn’t share with their principal instrument teacher. It is easy to be led by what we believe is “right” or what we think is expected of us. The reality is often quite different, and we found that having this conversation as soon as the students arrived helped generate some positive reflection on the opportunities the institution has to offer. After all, they are many and varied.

Thanks to the three organised meetings we have held, we now know that many feel the same way. We have heard from students who feel that not enough demands are placed on them and students who feel that their study programme doesn’t suit them. One student said he had opted out of a classical study pro-­ gramme because he did not want to become an orchestral musician, something which says a great deal about the focus on certain classical courses. Many are torn between what gives them «status» or is expected of them and what they dream of deep down. Every time we discuss these issues with students or teachers we become even more convinced that these discussions need to be brought to light. On 1 April at NMH it will happen. ●

NB: At the time this annual is published, the Music Student Conference 2020 is unfortunately­postponed due to the corona epidemic.

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INVOLVED STUDENTS

by Guro Utne Salvesen and Guoste Tamulynaite

2019–2020

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Anna Berg Composition – 3rd-year bachelor student Leader of the Ensemble 3030 project What is your connection to CEMPE? – I’m the leader of Ensemble 3030 and received funding from CEMPE to launch it. I’ve also attended STUDENT Talks and shadowed the composer Synne Skouen.

What does CEMPE mean to you?

– I had this idea of starting a project across different study programmes with different students from different groups. I’d been nurturing the idea for a long time, but I didn’t know how to go about it to achieve the standard I wanted. CEMPE allowed me to dream bigger. They added quality to the project by funding – and demanding that we recruited – an external mentor. That meant I could ask for the very best: Christian Eggen. I also got help developing a visual profile, which is part of making it a proper project that is fun and rewarding to be part of. I wanted it to be something cool to be involved in.

What do you think CEMPE should focus on going forward?

– CEMPE is already focusing on a lot of very important things: The transition from student life to a career in the music profess­ ion, professional collaboration across study programmes and the quality and relevance of the education. Having a research centre at the academy which gives that extra elbow room for projects is incredibly important. Not everything can fit into the curriculum.

That’s true for all kinds of creative innovation. One of CEMPE’s strengths is that it acts as a kind of external intern. NMH is already very flexible, but CEMPE gives those with a particular passion support to make their projects even bigger. CEMPE has also made it clear to me that research is a form of social practice, not merely theoretical investigation. ●

Ensemble 3030 A student-run ensemble project instigated by Anna Berg involving students on the composition, conducting and performance programmes.

Focus on new music.

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Giuseppe Pisano Music technology – 2nd-year master student Leader of the Making waves project What is your connection to CEMPE? – I lead the Making Waves project alongside Mike McCormick and Mariam Gviniashvili. I also participate in the Core Portfolio project.

What does CEMPE mean to you?

– It’s a great opportunity and resource that enables the students to develop so-called soft skills in their musicianship. For example, how to organise your work, how to go from being a student to working professionally, how to sort, present and use what you’ve learnt to build a picture of where you're headed.

I have a different background, studying for my master’s in Italy where there was little guidance on those particular aspects.

I think it’s easy for students at NMH to take these opportunities for granted. It’s not like this at most other institutions.

What do you think CEMPE should focus on going forward?

– It’s difficult to say. I think they’re doing good work as it is.

Interpreting what the students need is important and difficult; everybody needs different things. For instance, having a mentor helping me with my Core Portfolio has been very useful.

Especially because we’ve been able to discuss our artistic development from a personal perspective rather than an academic one – as is often the case in formal lessons. However, I’d love to have known about CEMPE right from the start, especially as a master student with an international background.

CEMPE should meet with the master students in the very first week to explain who they are and what opportunities they offer.

Job-shadowing, for instance, is a great opportunity for master students! ●

Making Waves By visiting the conservatoire in Tbilisi and teaching various techniques for making electro­acoustic music, this project helps lay the foundat­ ions for music technology in Tbilisi and in Georgia in general. The project will culminate in Tbilisi’s first festival of electroacoustic music.

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Elin Maria Elisabeth Nilsen Music education and trumpet – 4th-year bachelor student Leader of the student committee 2019/20 and a member of CEMPE’s steering group What is your connection to CEMPE? – I’ve been a part of the Job-shadowing project where I got a unique opportunity to interview a role model I would otherwise not have been able to meet one-to-one. I’m also on the NMH student committee, which is a natural partner to CEMPE in matters that concern the students directly. It’s good to know that CEMPE has the resources and capacity to pursue initiatives and ideas from the student committee since our members only serve for one year at a time – even though the issues they raise are important over a longer period of time.

What does CEMPE mean to you?

– My first meeting with CEMPE was in my first year in 2016.

I was tipped off about a small workshop with a few students and a teacher. The workshop was on giving constructive feedback using different methods. We also discussed what constructive feedback actually is and what it meant in the different subjects taught at the academy. I remember I got many new perspectives that stayed with me during my bachelor in music education, but mainly they made me reflect as a performer. The workshop only lasted one afternoon at the start of the academic year, but the meeting and the conversations with other students in different fields as well as the teacher who oversaw the whole thing made me reflect on every new subject I took over the course of my studies. In other words, my first meeting with CEMPE was important in terms of how I’ve handled and reflected on my studies at NMH so far.

What do you think CEMPE should focus on going forward?

– CEMPE are doing an important job by supporting and helping student-run initiatives and projects. They make it easier for students to take the next step to bring their ideas to life. It feels like they value the students’ voice when working to raise the standard of teaching, and they should continue to do so! There’s also a great core of qualified staff from different specialisms, which is one of the things that make CEMPE so good. I think co-operation between experienced and novice musicians is the way to go to find out what constitutes quality at the academy and in an expansive and diverse music scene and industry.

I think the single most important thing CEMPE can do is to ensure that they stay on top of developments in the music industry so that NMH can sustain and improve the institution in step with the changes taking place in the arts sector. NMH is well positioned to be a leading institution in a forward-looking music industry, and I see CEMPE as an important part of that process. ●

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BEYOND POLICY – CONCEPTUALISING STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN HIGHER (MUSIC) EDUCATION

While student-centred learning environments are placed high on the policy agenda for how educational practices can be developed, it is less clear what this term actually­ means and what implications it may have for teaching and learning. In her article, Monika Nerland discusses how student-centred learning environments in higher education can be interpreted and conceptualized, providing examples from recent research on how such environments are organised and experienced by teachers and students in different Norwegian higher education contexts.

The article is based on a keynote given by Nerland at the AEC-CEMPE conference Becoming Musicians—Student Involvement and Teacher Collaboration in Higher Music Education in Oslo in October 2018. Her full article can be found online at latimpe.eu/becoming-musicians/

by Monika Nerland, abbreviated version by Ellen M. Stabell

2019–2020

Student-centred educational practices are often high on the agenda in both educational policy and practice. Student-­centred terminology has emerged as a way of promoting alternative teaching methods to the lecture format in higher education, and stimulat­ing more engagement from students. As such, ‘student-centred’ is often understood as opposed to ‘teacher-centred’, and affiliated with approaches to teaching that are ‘learner­focused’ rather than ‘content-focused’ (see e.g. Baeten et al., 2016; Damsa & de Lange, 2019; Uiboleht, Karm & Postareff, 2018).

However, rather than understanding teacher-­ centeredness and student-centeredness as opposites, it may be more productive to perceive them on a continuum of pedagogical approaches that complement and even depend on each other in everyday practice (Elen et al., 2007).

THE STUDENT-CENTRED TERMINOLOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY The emergence of student-centred terminology in educational policy has different origins, but three interconnected trends interplay in bringing a stronger focus toward what students are doing and learning in higher education.

First, working life increasingly demands that professionals have a capacity for change and for taking on responsibilities in shifting contexts of collaboration. As fields of knowledge grow more complex, the demand for advanced skills, such as knowledge integration, the ability to work with multifaceted problems and collaboration across domains of expertise, are increasing. This leads to increased interest in engaging students in explorative and knowledge-generating activities. We also see a concern towards developing ‘authentic’ tasks and learning environments that provide experiences with the type of problems or situations that characterise professional life (Herrington, Reeves & Oliver, 2014; Litzinger et al., 2011).

Second, there is an increased emphasis on monitoring the quality of educational practices and institutions at the local, national and international level. This has given rise to a range of new actors and organisations engaged in developing higher education practices, such

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as student organisations, university alliances, quality assurance agencies and directorates, and networks like AEC. These developments are nourished by international collaboration and policy coordination, including the joint efforts and activities that constitute the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).1 The policy discourse on student-centred learning is entwined with notions of lifelong learning and flexible educational arrangements, through which higher education may serve the evolving knowledge economy by fostering mobility and employability. This is further served by a well-developed infrastructure of standards and tools addressing input and output factors, such as qualification frameworks and learning outcomes descriptions.

Third, both the calls for more ‘authentic’ and explorative learning activities and the efforts to promote innovative learning and teaching practices carry an implicit criticism of the learning environments offered in higher education. A common assumption is that common practices in university-based educat­ ion such as lectures and text-based seminars are insufficient to meet new demands. For instance, it is argued that such practices rest on a ‘transmission view’ of knowledge and learning that does not account for the learners’ engagement and sense-making, that limited support and feedback is offered during the learning process, and that there is too much focus on what is taught by lecturers rather than what is learned by the students. Whilst the pedagogical approaches used will vary extensively between knowledge domains and institutions, and teachers seem increasingly eager to engage in developing course activities and learning environments, these notions provide the ground for a student-centred terminology that defines itself in contrast to teacher-centred or content-centred approaches.

Despite the many actors embracing a student­centred terminology—and likely an effect of their diversity—concepts are often used in different, imprecise ways. For example, ‘student­-centred learning’ might be used when one is actually talking about approaches to teaching or features of course design. From a pedagogical perspective, it is important to keep

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different processes and phenomena analytically apart for the sake of understanding how they can support each other. Thus, we should insist on separating learning from teaching, and learning processes from learning activities, even if it is the productive intersection of these processes we aim at supporting.

Moreover, rather than learning itself being student-centred or active, student-centered­ ness should be viewed as characteristics of the learning environment and of ways of engaging students in courses and activities (Damsa & de Lange, 2019).

STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS (SCLES) Several lines of educational theory and practice are relevant to conceptualising SCLEs. One important contributor is the literature on instructional design, which is concerned with the practices of designing physical and virtual learning environments. Grounded in constructivist perspectives on learning, this literature takes the stance that learning is an active process of knowledge construction and sense-making that evolves with guidance from teachers, other participants and/or the material environment (Land, Hannafin & Oliver, 2012; Mayer, 2004). Whilst differing interpretations remain, there is general agreement that ­ SCLEs offer opportunities for students to work on real-world problems, gain practical experience from practices characteristic to the knowledge domain, and take ownership of their inquiry processes (Land, Hannafin & Oliver, 2012). This suggests the tasks and learning activities included in the pedagogical design should involve students in the types of explorative and investigative practices that are central to generating knowledge and showing expertise in the domain, and that such practices should be related to problems or situations that are relevant to the students’ prospective work. The students’ engagement with knowledge is highlighted, more than the content of what is taught. The emphasis on ‘ownership’ denotes that students, at least to some extent, should develop and follow their own paths in the inquiry process and commit to the task at hand. A general principle is that activities should be guided, or ‘scaffolded’, by teachers and/or other actors and resources in

the environment (Land, Hannafin & Oliver, 2012). This has implications for how the teacher’s role is conceptualised. Rather than traditional instruction, teaching becomes a matter of designing activities and environments by carefully assembling a set of tasks, tools, resources and responsibilities that are distributed to participants (Goodyear, 2015).

The role of the teacher in the learning process becomes that of a facilitator and a guide in the students’ evolving inquiry process rather than a transmitter of knowledge.

SCLES IN HIGHER MUSIC EDUCATION It can be argued these features are already in place in higher music education. The institutionalised traditions of teaching and learning always have placed emphasis on students’ responsibilities and active participation. At least where music performance education is concerned, there are strong traditions for guided participat­ ion in one-to-one settings, through which students explore the musical works and practices of their area of expertise and generate visible and hearable ‘products’ in the form of performances. Such individualised tuition practices allow for tailored support, therefore avoiding one of the key challenges associated with SCLEs in higher education more generally; namely, meeting the different needs and experiences of students who take part in the same environment (Hockings, 2009; Northedge, 2003) In such a context, student ownership of the learning process is both afforded and required. Yet, some questions may be raised as to the flexibility of the educational arrangements and the possibility to ‘design’ them. For instance, to what extent are personal routes of development encouraged, and to what extent are students in the same specialist area (i.e., instrument tradition) expected to follow the same route? What spaces for and kinds of inquiry processes are supported? What can be changed and experimented with, and what needs to be kept in line with established performance conventions? With respect to the wider learning environment offered by the institution and study programme, how do different activities and learning arenas intersect in students’ learning? Finally, to what extent can supportive environments be

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planned and designed in educational contexts that leave extensive time and responsibilities for self-studying?

Rather than seeking concrete solutions, these questions can be used as tools to reflect on the further development of learning environments in higher music education. In these efforts, higher music education may learn from other domains and programme contexts in several ways. For instance, other domains may have developed more explicit collective descriptions of learning processes and progression princip­ les in inquiry-oriented activities, or models for coordinating content and activities across courses. At the same time, music education has a long tradition of placing students in the centre of activities and allocating extensive responsibilit­ies as well as ownership of processes to the students. Moreover, schools of music, academies or conservatoires are certainly more than a composition of educational practices.

These are richly textured environments where high-quality resources for students’ self-directed learning are offered, and where there are many opportunities for searching feedback from teachers, peers, and other social and material instances. This indicates the further development of learning environments in higher music education should build on these resources rather than breaking with them. It also suggests other programmes may learn from the way music education is organised. ●

REFERENCES Baeten, M., Dochy, F., Struyven, K., Parmentier, E. & Vanderbruggen, A. (2016) Student-centred learning environments: An investigation into student teachers’ instructional preferences and approaches to learning. Learning Environment Research, 19, 43–62.

Damsa, C. & de Lange, T. (2019) “Student-centred learning environments in higher education. From conceptualization to design“, UNIPED, 42(1): 9–26.

Elen , J., Clarebout, G., Léonard, R. & Lowyck, J. (2007). Student-centred and teacher-centred learning environments: What students think.

Teaching in Higher Education, 12(1), 105–117 Goodyear, P. (2015). Teaching as design. HERDSA Review of Higher Education, 2, 27–50.

Herrington, J., Reeves, T.C. & Oliver, R. (2014).

Authentic learning environments. In J. Spector, M. Merrill, J. Elen & M. Bishop (Eds.) Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 401–412). New York: Springer.

Hockings, C. (2009). Reaching the students that student centred learning cannot reach. British Educational Research Journal, 35(1), 83–98.

Land, M. S., Hannafin M. J. & Oliver, K. (2012).

Student-centered learning environments: Foundations, assumptions and design. In R. Jonassen & M.S. Land (Eds.) Theoretical foundations of learning environments, (2nd ed.) (pp. 3–25). New York: Routledge.

Litzinger, T. A., Lattuca, L. R., Hadgraft, R. G. & Newstetter. W. C. (2011). Engineering education and the development of expertise. Journal of Engineering Education, 100 (1), 123–150.

Mayer, R. (2004). Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction. American Psychologist, 59(1), 14–19.

Northedge, A. (2003). Rethinking Teaching in the Context of Diversity. Teaching in Higher Education, 8(1), 17–32.

Uiboleht, K., Karm, M. & Postareff. L. (2018) Relations between students’ perceptions of the teaching-learning environment and teachers’ approaches to teaching: A qualitative study. Journal of Further and Higher Education. doi: 10.1080/0309877X. 2018.1491958

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HELP FOR ARTISTIC SELF-HELP

Today’s music industry needs mindful, curious and independent musicians. CEMPE’s Core Portfolio project seeks to increase music students’ awareness of their own artistic development through digital portfolios and personal guidance.

by Linn Carin Dirdal

2019–2020

The main reason why Astrid Solberg decided to sign up for CEMPE’s Core Portfolio pilot project was the prospect of being assigned a personal tutor. Being a third-year composition student at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH), she wanted someone to act as a sounding board to help her progress – someone with a different perspective to her teacher.

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Composition student Astrid Solberg has completed two of her five sessions with her mentor, the accordionist and Ph.D in the artistic research programme, Andreas Borregaard.

– It’s exciting because he’s actively involved in contemporary music. My job as a composer is to convey things to the musicians in the best possible way. I need them to want to perform my work, to get the idea, to get my intention.

Being able to discuss these things from a musician’s perspective, with someone who’s familiar with the field of contemporary music, allows me to see things from a different angle, Solberg says.

– For a student, NMH is a very safe space, almost like a fictional world. You’re given projects to do, and you write music which is then performed in a concert. Everything always works out fine. I’ve started to think about the fact that I’ll soon be graduating. What’s life as a composer really like? I wanted to seek advice, to have someone push me to reflect and be EXCHANGES ACROSS GENRES more focused on my projects, Solberg explains.

For percussionist and first-year student JoAWARENESS AND CRITICAL THINKING nas Evenstad the Core Portfolio has turned out to be a useful tool for raising awareness of his The aim of CEMPE’s Core Portfolio project is to own artistic processes. Having a mentor trial digital portfolios and one-to-one mentoring dedicating their time to talk only about him and as tools for reflection and development for his projects also makes him feel the pressure – music students. A total of 40 students across in a good way. year groups and genres have volunteered to take part in the project in the 2019/20 academic – It’s a great thing which spurs me on. On my year. Each student is given access to a digital study programme I spend a lot of time locked platform through the Bulb app where they can away with a group of percussionists, and I get a upload text, audio files, videos and pictures to lot of my input from them. Yet much of what I highlight their artistic development and profile. do isn’t necessarily mainstream percussion stuff. The Core Portfolio has been a good way of The digital portfolio serves as a starting point getting feedback on the other things I’m for the students’ discussions with their personal involved in. mentor. A total of 11 mentors are participating in the project. They are a mix of performers, As well as studying classical percussion, Eventeachers, freelancers and artistic researchers stad performs electronica and free improvisaacross different genres, most of them affiliated tion, alone as well as in bands and duos. Jazz to NMH. Each student meets their mentor five singer and improvisation artist Lisa Dillan was times during the year, and every mentor works therefore the perfect mentor match, according with three to four students. to Evenstad.

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2018–2019

– To give an example, I played her something I’d created where I’d recorded and edited the sound of a bowl. She had a lot to say about it, and it was great fun. I’d never worked at that level with those particular things.

When preparing for his master’s exam he established a practice of reflecting on and keeping up to date with his own work processes. Yet he still jumped at the opportunity to take part in the Core Portfolio project.

How important is it that your mentor works in a different field to yours?

– The opportunity arose at a time when I felt confused about how to communicate and talk about my work. I remember applying to join a theatre project as a musician, but I didn’t have much to show for myself. I only had things to listen to, but in theatre they want to see things.

It was interesting to be able to build a portfolio focused on different ways of conveying my work.

– She has more experience of promotion and exposure, more experience of how to get your name out there and how to deal with those who make it happen – concert organisers and so on. She had a lot to say about selling yourself.

I knew very little about how to get exposure.

Evenstad uses his digital portfolio as a kind of multimedia diary to chronicle his various projects in both words and sound. The idea is to allow the students to share their portfolios with other participants on the project, but for the time being only he and his mentor have access to it. The percussionist explains that he and Dillan have talked at length about what is and isn’t on display: what others get to see and what only he needs to know. He has yet to step out in front of the curtain.

– The portfolio works well as a means of communication. You don't have to talk about absolutely everything; Lisa can read the things I write and discover along the way. But it’s also useful for me as I get to sum up exactly what I’m doing. The project has helped me get a better idea of what kind of musician I am.

WIDENING NETWORKS The Italian student, Giuseppe Pisano, already had a master’s in composition from the conservatoire in Naples when he moved to Oslo to study music technology with Natasha Barrett.

With only three students in his study programme, Pisano was also keen to meet other musicians and students from different disciplines through meetings with fellow students and by following those students who had chosen to share their digital portfolios. The master student has also benefited greatly from talking to his mentor, the cellist and contemporary composer Lene Grenager.

– I’m part of a small team in a small department.

We don’t get many opportunities to meet other students and musicians at the academy except socially. I think my social skills are pretty good but not good enough to overcome the structure of the student dynamics here, Pisano says.

He is curious to see the results of the Core Portfolio project and envisages that over time the different elements can increasingly be tailored to reflect the students’ respective backgrounds.

– I’m older than many of the students here; I’m 28 and doing my second master’s. I constantly reflect on my work. That process has been

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2019–2020

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«I wanted to seek advice, to have someone push me to reflect and be more focused on my projects.»

going on for a long time. At bachelor level you learn how to build your portfolio, while on a master’s programme you are already an artist with an ongoing practice. To me it wasn’t so much about building something, but it has been useful to be able to refine and reflect on the things I do. Carving out your path and checking that you're moving in the right direction are two different things that can be tailored to different students according to their background and experience.

ROOM FOR CHANGE Guro Utne Salvesen and Guoste Tamulynaite­ are student partners at CEMPE. Together with Ingfrid Breie Nyhus and Tanja Orning they have designed and are running the Core Portfolio project and mentoring scheme. ­Utne Salvesen has a master’s degree in classical voice from NMH and knows both from experience and from feedback from her peers how welcome it can be to receive guidance from someone outside your own field of expertise when you are a student.

– In my case I happened to come across a teacher at the academy who became a sort of mentor to me. That made me make some decisions I wouldn’t otherwise have made. At

the same time as setting up the Core Portfolio project we also launched STUDENT Talks, a conversation forum for students. The forum confirmed that many students wanted to be mentored.

The Core Portfolio first saw the light of day in the autumn of 2018, albeit in a slightly different format to that used now. Initially, three different platforms for the portfolio were tested. The student groups were also smaller and split between one-to-one mentoring and group ­mentoring.

– We chose to proceed with the one-to-one mentoring and Bulb as a new platform. How­ ever, finding a platform that meets everybody’s needs is not easy. Most people nowadays have their own online storage set-up, and many of the students have asked to use their own systems instead.

The feedback is fully in alignment with the premise for the project, according to Utne Salvesen. This is because CEMPE wants the students to help shape the project and improve it.

– We want the students to let us know straight away if something isn’t working, if they want to

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«The project has helped me get a better idea of what kind of musician I am».

2019–2020

do things differently or if they have a better solution. We want to create the Core Portfolio together. We have given them an outline of the portfolio and a few pointers as to what we want them to do along with suggestions for which pages and folders they could create. Other than that, it’s up to them.

The future of the project beyond the current academic year is still uncertain, but Utne Salvesen believes the Core Portfolio could be a valuable asset as an integrated part of NMH’s study programmes.

– We want the students to feel they have a greater degree of ownership of their own development and studies. Having talked to my fellow students and others in my role as a student partner, it is clear to me that many of them have ideas but don’t quite know what to do with them. Many people have longed for an artistic mentor who can ask them why they make the decisions they do, why they perform the music they do, and where they want to end up. ●

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Core Portfolios: E-portfolios are digital folder structures used in education for a variety of purposes. The Core Portfolio project trials such portfolios as tools for reflection and development amongst music students. The project came about because NMH needed to find out more about digital portfolios before a possible roll-out and because CEMPE wants to help develop and trial digital tools in higher music education.

The Core Portfolio project ran in 2018–19 and in 2019–20 with a view to establishing whether e-portfolios can help create an overview of the students’ musical work and encourage awareness and critical thinking around musical development and artistic identity.

This year the project has used the digital portfolio platform Bulb, which is integrated in Canvas and was chosen because it offers good and intuitive multimedia solutions.

Mentor Role: The students’ work on their portfolios is supported by an artistic mentor.

The mentors meet each student five times during the academic year to discuss their portfolio work and broader questions about the students’ musicianship. The mentors also undergo training in coaching and mentoring techniques and meet to discuss their mentoring role and models for mentoring discussions.

The two projects, Core Portfolio and Mentor Role, are linked in that they run as two parallel investigations into the use of electronic portfolios as a tool for reflection and into mentoring as a supplement to main instrument tuition.

Project managers are Tanja Orning and Ingfrid Breie Nyhus together with student partners Guro Utne Salvesen and Guoste Tamulynaite.

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TOMORROW'S MUSICIANS · Connection Between Studies and Music Industry · Students’ Artistic Development · Collaboration in Performance Teaching · Interaction Between Subjects and Across Genres · Everyday Musician

2019–2020

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CEMPE TALKS & STUDENT TALKS!

CEMPE Talks and STUDENT Talks are our arenas at the Norwegian Academy of Music for open discussions on relevant topics about teaching and learning in higher ­music education, with debates on subjects that engage students, teachers and researchers.

Keep on track with our events by following our webpages and our Facebook page!

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INSIGHT INTO STUDENT TALKS

STUDENT Talks launched in spring 2019 as a discussion forum for students at NMH. The idea was to create a platform for discourse, critique and discussion around the role of the performing musician/composer at the academy and in society in our time.

by Guro Utne Salvesen and Guoste Tamulynaite

2019–2020

Five STUDENT Talks were held in 2019 with the following topics: 1. ME: Artistic development Introduced by post.doc Tanja Orning 2. NMH: What would be your dream academy?

Student panel: Selma French Bolstad, Siri Storheim, Magnus Løvseth and Martin Langerød 3. SOCIETY : Are we training students for a reality that actually exists?

Panel debate in the canteen with: Therese Birkeland Ulvo, Anja Lauvdal, Lyder Øvreås Røed and Emilie Heldal Lidsheim 4. Why are we playing/making the music that we do?

Student panel: Astrid Solberg, Ormar Maidre Aarvik and Ingri Skåland Lia 5. What does it mean to succeed as a musician?

Introduced by Siri Storheim and Anna Rødevand

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One key point was that the forum should only be open to students and to any guest speakers invited to introduce the debate. The student partners felt that different topics, discussions and not least views may emerge more freely in a closed forum. Most of the debates were introduced by students, followed by group discussions about the topic of the day. Finally, we would sum up by having the groups present the key points from their respective discussions.

In this article we will share some of the ideas and opinions expressed by the students on the topics we discussed. The article provides an insight into the discussions we had about the concept of art, versatility and our expectations for the academy and for ourselves.

ARTIST OR MUSICIAN? When discussing artistic development and identity many people are questioning whether we musicians should refer to ourselves as artists and, by extension, whether we need to create, innovate, improvise and compose in order to be an artist. One composer said it takes a long time to develop as a composer and that that is an art in itself.

Some were sceptical of connecting the concept of art to music.

– Isn’t it «enough» just to make good sounds and rhythms? Unclear definitions of what constitutes art mean that the discussion around it becomes inaccurate. To us this is just a distant word and not very relevant. On the other hand, ‘craft’ sounds good. And of course, there is good and bad craft.

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The link between the concepts of art and craft was further discussed.

– At the academy we work mostly on the craft, and then the art comes later. Why not the other way round? Why can’t we present an artistic idea and use our craft to execute it instead?

Technique should not get in the way of passion.

VERSATILITY AND QUALITY The term versatility has also been discussed at length. In the first forum it was pointed out that while the programme description for the performance programme states that the students are training to become professional musicians, the music education programme description says they should become versatile musicians. What does that mean, exactly? And why is it tied in with the teaching role?

One discussion group asked: – Does versatility have a detrimental impact on artistic content or quality? Most of us need to be versatile, but the best amongst us must sacrifice something – they can’t be versatile.

Another group pointed out that versatility is not always visible: – A musician might be best known for one particular thing, but their day-to-day life involves being a versatile musician. Should we be versatile for the sake of money or for the sake of art?

EXPECTATIONS During the discussion around versatility someone also mentioned that students need to be able to experiment early on in their studies.

People called for more flexible bachelor's and master's programmes. The academy must be prepared for students to suddenly change their direction and to help them do it. However, to what extent are we students able to utilise the

«We have many more opportunities than we think».

2019–2020

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«Does versatility have a detrimental impact on artistic content or quality?»

resources that exist at the academy, and is the flow of information sufficient in making students aware of those resources? Something that came up numerous times was that big decisions are often down to luck, as in whom you meet and when.

– You need to be challenged to think indepen­ dently­much earlier, as early as the first week of the studies, some students said.

Others talked about the opportunities available to the students versus the opportunities they think they have: – It’s definitely the case that we have many more opportunities than we think. We often have this idea that the academy is restricting us, but that could be wrong. You have to make a decision and then go for it and the academy will support you.

In the fourth forum, where we discussed why we are playing or writing the music that we do, expectations came up as a limiting factor:

– You have your expectations when it comes to repertoire in a given field. Some things feel more appropriate than others, so it’s important to check out other fields, too.

The correlation between dreaming and planning was also highlighted: – Dreams are shaped by reality, but plans reduce the dream.

In other words, we covered a number of major and minor issues during the forums. The aim is neither to identify problems nor to solve them, but to spark reflection and discussion amongst the students so that they become inspired to take control of their studies and lives.

Concrete suggestions also cropped up: some­one suggested that the academy should apply for funding for a practice cabin in the forest. And why not? ●

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CONNECTIONS What connections are there in higher music education between disciplines and between people? And what can we do to strengthen these important connections? This was the topic when CEMPE and the University of Stavanger convened CEMPE’s third national seminar.

by Ellen M. Stabell

2019–2020

ORGANIC CONNECTIONS Two students leading two projects supported

by CEMPE, presented their experiences at the seminar. The highly engaged composition student Anna Berg was lamenting the lack of meeting places where students could work together across disciplines. She also felt there were too few contemporary music forums at NMH. In the autumn of 2019 she therefore launched Ensemble 3030, a project ensemble in which composition students write works which are then performed by music performance students and conducted by conducting students at the academy. They signed up Christian Eggen as coach. He promptly said yes when approached by Anna. With the CEMPE-­ funded project Anna wants to create a forum were musicians can practise and build experience with playing contemporary music. The ensemble’s concerts will only last 30 minutes in a bid to generate interest around contemporary music. The first concert was held in November in Majorstuen kirke, attracting around 100 people in the audience.

Elin Michalsen also felt something was lacking in her studies and decided to take matters into her own hands. In 2016 she formed Ensemble­ Sonore together with fellow students at the University of Agder. Since then the ensemble has given numerous concerts and is currently based in Stavanger. Ensemble Sonore, or EnSo as they are also known, includes musicians from Kristiansand and Stavanger and both current and past students.

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projects are examples of such connect­ions occurring organically, baked into the project itself.

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SUBJECTS AND DISCIPLINES Teachers at the University of Stavanger are this year working on a project where music history and analysis are taught in blocks instead of having one lesson each week. One important goal has been to create forums for knowledge sharing between performance teachers and theory teachers, something the project has succeeded in doing. The project is being co-ordinated by Per Dahl and will continue until the end of the 2019–20 academic year.

Gjertrud Pedersen and Unni Løvlid at the Norwegian Academy of Music have spent two years experimenting with a creative project in Musicianship, a compulsory subject for all first-year students at the academy. The students have been working in groups on Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs to interpret the piece in any which way they like. The project period will conclude with a performance for their peers, discussions and a joint evaluation. Gjertrud and Unni wanted to create meeting places and help prepare the students for their future careers. One

CEMPE’s national seminars

The ensemble has given several performances, and they have worked together to develop their performance and chamber music skills and prepare themselves for entering the profession.

CEMPE supported their latest project with funding to cover travel and the coach’s fee.

As part of its nationwide mandate, CEMPE regularly organises national seminars at other educational institutions in Norway that offer performing arts programmes. Previous seminars have been held in Kristiansand and Bergen, and this year it was the University of Stavanger’s turn to host. Around 30 teachers, students and leaders from Norway’s music education institutions attended this year’s seminar. The autumn of 2020 the next annual seminar is arranged in cooperation with the University in Tromsø, with the title 'Artistic research in higher music education'.

While teachers often struggle to connect the different elements of a study programme and management strives to create meaningful connections between study and work, the student

Connections Date: 14 and 15 November 2019 Venue: University of Stavanger, Faculty of Performing Arts

– The aim is to create a playground for the musicians and to support and remind each other of what is important to us musicians, Elin said in her presentation.

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particular bonus was that the project enabled them to watch their colleagues teach, something they rarely have the time and opportunity to do otherwise. The project is also described in the anthology Becoming Musicians, in which Gjertrud and Unni have authored a chapter based on their Interplaying Folk Songs project.

THE EAR’S AFTERTHOUGHT Lasse Thoresen was invited to give a keynote on reflected listening. He argued that reflected listening is under pressure as performers rarely take the time to engage in repeated listening.

Such listening is a key skill in order to be able to give an insightful performance. It involves being conscious of what we are listening to, aware of our intentions while we listen, and mindful of our own listening style.

– We must return to the music-as-heard again and again, we must feel that sense of wonder over and over in order to trigger our desire to explore and, above all: to put us on the trail of music as a quality that exceeds correctness, music that grabs and fascinates us who makes up a tacit community of listeners.

Lasse Thoresen’s keynote speech can be read in full at cempe.no.

WHAT CREATES CONNECTIONS AND WHAT PREVENTS THEM? The seminar concluded with a discussion in plenary on the challenges and opportunities that exist in the field. There are multiple structural challenges which prevent relationships and connections from being made in higher music education, including timetabling, room issues, resource planning and resistance within the institution. Another challenge is to make teachers from different disciplines talk to each other.

The students often find it difficult to see how subjects are linked. It is also a common experience that their teachers do not talk to each other often enough. The dividing lines between genres are also unnaturally distinct, said another. A third student wanted to be challenged more by his teachers in relation to his artistic ambitions and choices.

PACKAGE TRIPS OR STUDY TRIPS? One of the teachers felt that we are currently offering «package trips» and that we should instead start offering more student-centred «study trips». The Bachelor of Music with Individual Concentration at the Norwegian Academy of Music is an example of how the students themselves design their course to a considerable degree and choose how they want to spend their allocated principal instrument lessons. However, there is also a danger in offering the students an à la carte menu in which everything is deemed equally important.

One jazz teacher felt there is a risk that the students will not expose themselves to the more difficult challenges, those that can help them develop a broad musicianship that will help them build a career later on.

And should theory only be introduced later in the study programmes? Perhaps the students should concentrate on their main subject for the first few years before being challenged later on once they have acquired the resources to make the connections that are presented to them?

These important discussions are continuing – at the institutions and between teachers and students – and they will be explored further by a number of CEMPE projects. ●

2019–2020

ÂŤWe must return to the music-as-heard again and again, we must feel that sense of wonder over and over in order to trigger our desire to explore and, above all: to put us on the trail of music as a quality that exceeds correctness, music that grabs and fascinates us who makes up a tacit community of listenersÂť. Lasse Thoresen

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FRAMEWORKS FOR CREATIVITY

Who’s in charge in higher music education? The student or the institution? Veronica Ski-Berg is using her Ph.D project to investigate student-centred learning and hierarchical structures.

by Linn Carin Dirdal

2019–2020

– My project compares students’ and teachers’ thoughts on how creativity is being institutionalised. When we introduce student-centred learning should the students get a greater say in what constitutes artistic quality – what represents individual style? If so, what would the teacher’s role be? Who’s in charge of the learning?

Veronica Ski-Berg is leaning forward in her chair in a room at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) as she explains the background to the Ph.D project she started working on in 2018 – Institutionalizing Innovation: Uncovering the Protean Music Student.

CROSSING GENRES Her research is based on interviews with students and professors at NMH and HKU Utrecht Conservatorium in the Netherlands, focusing in particular on classical and individualised study programmes. The aim is to highlight similarities and differences across disciplines and between countries.

The individualised programmes are represented by the Bachelor with Individual Concentration (FRIKA) at NMH and the Musician 3.0 programme at HKU, both aimed at students who wish to create their own musical niche outside traditional study programmes. While Musician 3.0 has been running for around a decade, the FRIKA programme was only exceptionally offered at NMH before 2018, when the programme received its first cohort of seven students. Ski-Berg’s study is therefore also a comparison of established and relatively new individualised study programmes.

– The FRIKA programme is genre-free, but NMH does not have a framework for this kind of approach. When you introduce such a relatively open study programme in higher music education it can feel like fragmentation –

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everything starts to overlap a bit. What happens when different specialisms become fragmented in this way? Rather than talk about aesthetic preferences, I’m trying to look at how the institutional element comes under threat.

INVISIBLE RULES Her work is founded on a personal interest in the social and institutional bubbles that often occur within the four walls of a music education institution. Why is something deemed to be of a high artistic standard, while something else is written off?

– That’s what I’m interested in. The more niche, the clearer and more intimate these underlying, implicit rules become to those in the bubble, Ski-Berg explains.

As a classically trained flautist and former com­position student at NMH, she has experienced at first hand the norms for how things should be done. This institutionalised element is recreated again and again.

– The institutionalised model comes with rules that we all have to relate to. The more history and the more social relationships based on admiration and quality being created in this environment, the more difficult it is to break free and pluck up the courage to do your own thing.

She refers to the notion of the tortured artist, who has to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their art before they are permitted to break with the consensus. Both the students and the teachers she interviewed were familiar with these mechanisms.

– They know the criteria for being a good musician, they satisfy the criteria and then they can go and do their own thing. They have proved that they are good enough; they are

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«Why is something deemed to be of a high artistic standard, while something else is written off?» being taken seriously. But only then. That is how we measure quality inside these institutions.

AMBIGUOUS EXPECTATIONS The Ph.D project is a continuation of Ski-Berg’s master thesis in musicology at the University of Oslo. In The Interdisciplinary Musician: Negotiating Identities in Higher Music Education she looked at music students who switched instrument, genre or other specialism during their studies. For her ongoing research project, she wants to find out what is important to today’s music students. The interviews she has conducted show that most students would like to see a mix of traditional and flexible tuition, irrespective of genre. Many also called for additional definitions of success.

– One student said it was important to be able to do a complete U-turn, to be able to immerse yourself in one topic before moving on to something different, to be able to explore things in a way that could perhaps even be seen as restless, Ski-Berg says. She adds that many of the teachers also raised questions about who is responsible for the learning and about their own role in a student-centred learning situation.

– Should they guide the students into making their own decisions, or should they teach them technique and a given syllabus and repertoire?

She mentions a classical music professor she met during her fieldwork in the Netherlands who liked to challenge his students to think creatively – something he was known to do. He was an innovative alternative to other teachers with a more traditional approach to teaching classical music. This allowed the students to choose the approach they preferred as they knew what they were in for.

– In the Netherlands they clarify roles and expectations, they hold regular status meetings, and they maintain an ongoing dialogue

with the students in order to improve the study programme. There is a clarity there that many of the teachers feel they lack at NMH, says Ski-Berg.

– Teachers sometimes also get mixed signals from the institution as to what their main priority should be: their performing career or teaching. They are being tugged in many different directions.

FROM STUDY TO WORK Since the 2000s entrepreneurship has become an integral part of higher music education as a bridge-builder between education and working life. As part of her Ph.D project, Ski-Berg is looking at how students, professors and other staff groups at the institution approach entrepreneurship. Do they take different views? And if so, what does that indicate?

– We need to acknowledge the importance of entrepreneurship if we are to train musicians fit for the future. That said, we don’t know which social media or hard skills we will need to master in tomorrow’s world. The point is that thinking about entrepreneurship also involves underlying ideologies concerning economics and issues surrounding life as an artist. These things need to be challenged if musicians are to think in new ways.

Personally, she does not believe that musicians can be motivated merely by numbers. Much of the talk about entrepreneurship has resulted in internal strife and conflict, according to Ski-Berg, especially as practitioners of certain musical disciplines and specialisms do better financially in society than others.

– When we talk about entrepreneurship, portfolios and freelance musicianship – the new models for financial independence – you will often hear accusations like you’re selling out, going mainstream, appealing to a wider

2019–2020

audience or losing your artistic integrity. I think it’s essential that we instead turn to ourselves and ask: what role do I want music to play in society? I think we need to compete with real impact, to look at the wider role of art in society.

HAVING THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE CONVERSATION Ski-Berg stresses that the aim of her research is to build bridges between different specialisms, not put up walls between genres.

– I think that we often talk past each other because we are focusing on aesthetic qualities rather than existential qualities. Music touches people irrespective of which kind of music you like, that’s a universal fact. Let’s not talk about which kind of music is more pure, let’s talk about music being something we all want. We have to make common cause to ensure that music continues to exist in society. When doing so it doesn’t help if we misunderstand each other, nor if we avoid reaching out to a wider audience because we don't want to be associ­ ated with entrepreneurship.

The wish is to take the conversation to a meta level – to dare talk about why we’re not talking about it – and try to establish how we can better communicate horizontally.

– All students are different, all teachers are different, we all need different things. But if we are afraid of upsetting each other, walk on eggshells and do not have the courage to share our personal preferences for fear of losing our place in the hierarchy or in the social bubble, then we also lose the opportunity to carve out the path that is right for us. For that reason, it’s important to break this taboo.

There is plenty of room for listening and talking to each other once we dare to share. ●

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CHAMBER MUSIC AS POWER-FREE DISCOURSE – AN ACADEMIC UTOPIA? The joint project venture between CEMPE, Norway, and The University of Queensland, Australia, researching The Collaborative Chamber Music Teacher is entering a new stage. Are there emergent findings that might alter preconceived notions of how to organise chamber music teaching in academia?

by Tor Espen Aspaas

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The traditional and most prevalent way to teach chamber music, not only in conservatories but also in music education in general, is some variant of the master-apprenticeship. From an outside position, the teacher acts as a representative of the Chamber Music Guild, guarding its sacred flame, as it were, instructing and elevating an ensemble of students to the guild’s standards of musical interaction.

The fundamental question sparking the project titled The Collaborative Chamber Music Teacher (CCMT) in 2018 was as simple as it proves increasingly urgent: what happens if the teacher of chamber music actively joins the group and becomes an agent of change, not from an external position, but within the ensemble proper? From this deceptively simple point of departure, any number of secondary research questions are derivable, and the international project group will undoubtedly address many of these as the researchers present their findings later this year. Ultimately, substantiated and well-argued answers pertaining to whether and to what extent such organisational modificat­ ions could prove conducive to attaining the institutions’ over­ arching and strategic objectives for the topic of chamber music, are eagerly anticipated.

So far so good concerning the instrumental interest invested in the project on an institutional level. On a more personal note, I would like to elicit some reasons why this project appears crucially important to me and, by inference, why I think its emergent findings might well prove to be so for most of my colleagues, too.

It might seem a paradox, but after more than 20 years as a full-time professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, I have reached a point where the sense of grappling with the role of being a professor carries greater urgency for me – and entails greater difficulties – than ever before.

Time passes. The academy changes; students change. And, sure enough: I myself have changed. I envisaged approaching 50 years of age and having spent half of that life in academia as an apex of sorts: I visualized myself at this point wielding a certain academic power and commanding authority, even expecting to enjoy doing so. Well, to the extent this might be the case, I do not enjoy it particularly. Why not? Why do I feel, more often than earlier, as if I keep rummaging through my mental toolbox for pedagogical implements, structures and ideas that seem non-existent or at least out of reach for me, when and where I need them to be at hand? To elaborate, I bring in the German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas.

Habermas’s notion of the power-free discourse (Herrschaftsfreier­ Diskurs) – with ‘discourse’ a term largely interchangeable with ‘dialogue’ and ‘action’ – makes for an argumentative hub central to his magnum opus Theory of Communicative Action (Theorie

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des kommunikativen Handelns), published in 1981. The power-­ free discourse is distinguished by certain main characteristics.

Its situation features a group of dialogue partners on an equal standing with each other (Gleichberechtigte Kommunikations­ partner), all with equal opportunities to assert their meaning (Gleiche Mögligkeit sich zu äuβern). Their discourse concerns a topic of mutual interest (Symmetrische Situation), and the dialogue is regulated and governed by argumentative consensus (Entscheidungen durch den Zwang des besseren Arguments) – the common acknowledgement of the better and stronger argument’s pre-eminence.

Habermas describes an ideal and highly normative situation, and many postulate its impossibility in real life. Leaving all discussion aside about the practicability of the power-free discourse: if asked to explicate an optimal instance of group dynamics in ensemble playing, I believe a majority of chamber musicians would come very close to approximating Habermas, or at least very near to emulating his position. His is indirectly a description of how chamber music and its practice is ideally conceived by its practitioners, and in some privileged instances the power-free discourse and its feasibility is demonstrably showcased when chamber music is performed at its best.

Could this imply that chamber music should be taught as closely to this ideal as possible in higher music education? If yes, does that in turn entail that professors and their agency as teachers ought to be an integral and integrated part of the ensemble in order to authentically live up to the quintessential idea of chamber music? And, thirdly, by extending this line of reasoning (albeit with a risk of rhetorical straining): should, even, the prevalent way of teaching chamber music in academia – within the framework of the traditional master-apprenticeship – be dethroned and regarded as downright inauthentic in dealing with its own subject matter?

My own contribution to the CCMT project mainly took place at its initial design stage and later in the capacity of ‘facilitator-­ coordinator’ when the two ensembles (a trio – Brahms Opus 114 – and a piano quartet – Mozart KV 493) were formed, starting to generate research material in the form of documented rehearsals and performances. What I have since observed about the project’s unfolding renders me very excited and hopeful that there are upcoming findings that might provide insights that can guide and alter the way we philosophise about teaching chamber music – perhaps even results with substantial transfer value for other strata and subjects in higher music education.

Whether and how chamber music – or any subject, for that matter – as a power-free discourse would be possible in academia or not, is a complex question that hardly receives its exhaustive answer through this first instalment of the CCMT project.

Personally, however, I enthusiastically await and embrace all the

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possible aid I can get to ultimately realise the role of the university professor as I would like to see it: wielding logos without centricity, pathos without professorial posturing and ethos without asserting excessive authority. â—?

The Collaborative Chamber Music Teacher What happens when the teacher joins the chamber music group and performs together with the students?

Participants: Tor Espen Aspaas (NMH), Katie Zhukov (University of Queensland), Jon Helge SĂŚtre and 20 chamber music students and teachers in Norway and Australia.

Four chamber music groups with co-performing teachers work on classical repertoire towards a concert. The researchers videotape the rehearsals and interview students and teachers after the project. The research study will describe what characterises this teaching-through-playing model and what possibilities and challenges the model represents compared to the normal model of chamber music instruction.

Results: Two research articles. Seminar presentations.

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WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING

In 2019 CEMPE began a research collaboration with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). The project is called WILMA, which stands for Work-Integrated Learning in the Music Academy. Jon Helge Sætre (Director of CEMPE), John Habron (Head of Music Education, RNCM) and Keith Phillips (WILMA Principal Researcher, RNCM) form the research team for the project. As the research is about professional placements that students do as part of their course, Keith Phillips is joined by RNCM alumna Jessica Tomlinson to talk about WILMA and the student perspective on placements. av RNCM

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So, what is the WILMA project?

Keith Philips (KP) Our main focus is on European music students’ professional placements, sometimes called practicums or work-based placements (or maybe ‘internships’)?

Placements are very important in work-integrated learning (WIL). We are looking at how different conservatoires in Europe design placements into their courses. For us, placements are when music students spend some time in another organisation.

It could be an orchestra or an arts management company or more to do with community engagement, like music in hospitals for example. We want to know what’s going on with music student placements in Europe and what the motivations are for providing them. Also, we are asking: what do the students gain from the placements? What effect do placements have on partner organisations?

How will the project seek to answer these questions?

KP We are going to interview the relevant staff in conservatoires, students and mentors from partner organisations in different regions in Europe. This should give us some rich data on the motivations and problems in organising placements from the staff side. The students will hopefully give us insights into what they learned while on placement and how it affected them. I think the effects that hosting placements has on partner organisations are an under-explored area, so mentors, the people who work in the partner organisations like orchestras or arts management and so on and supervise the students, their side of things is important. Then, to get a sense of the bigger picture we are developing a survey of conservatoires to find out which institutions do placements and what kinds of placements they do.

– What impact do you hope the project will have?

KP We hope our research will provide a resource for curriculum design in a European context. Students and employers could also benefit from the sharing of findings on what might make placements work well for all concerned. I think a lot of research has been done on placements in places like Australia, Canada and the US, which has given some valuable insights into what makes for a good placement in terms of student learning. It is very interesting looking at the wider motivations for WIL and how this is very relevant for musicians globally, most of whom will have to engage in diverse activities as well as performing. How this plays out in a European context is what we’re trying to find out much more about.

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Turning to Jessica now, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

Jessica Tomlinson (JT) I am a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire. I’m a clarinettist and saxophonist, playing regularly with orchestras around the UK. For example, recent engagements include Thursford Musical Spectacular and Southwell Festival Sinfonia. I am also a founding member of Chameleon, a multi-instrumental, award-winning wind quartet whose members are Live Music Now artists. I am passionate about music for health and well-being, and I spend a large portion of my time working with LIME: Music for Health at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, SEND schools and dementia care homes through Live Music Now, and at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool.

Which organisation was your professional placement with?

JT

LIME: Music for Health1.

What did you do on your placement?

JT We received training in how to present music in a hospital setting, including what repertoire to think about and how to use your body language. We then shadowed music-for-health practitioners on the wards of the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital several times before joining them in their music-making for the six following sessions. This included playing some of the repertoire we learnt in the training but adapting it for the environment and improvising a lot.

What was being on placement like?

JT Choosing to do a placement with LIME was probably one of my best decisions during my master’s. It really opened my eyes to the possibilities a musician has out in the professional world. It also gave me really valuable musical experiences that were comparable to some of my favourite moments performing on stage. It was a challenge and definitely stretched me out of my comfort zone, but it was useful shadowing professionals and feeling like I'd learnt how to tackle work in that setting once I'd finished the placement. It was a safe space to try something new, whilst still learning skills and being able to discuss and reflect on what I had learnt.

What impact did the placement have on you?

JT The placement made me realise how important music-for-health work is and how I really wanted it to be a part of my profession. It also opened my eyes to the exciting reality that a career in music can be so varied. Since the placement I have 1

https://musicforhealth.wordpress.com/about/

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been employed for several residencies with LIME: Music for Health, and so the placement did have a direct impact on my professional life. It also meant I have gained confidence to work in similar settings around Manchester and the North West and begin training and work in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) schools with Live Music Now – a scheme I might not have had the confidence to audition for before undertaking this placement.

So, Keith, is this sort of experience typical?

KP We don’t know! And that’s exactly why we’re undertaking the project. Jessica’s experience is just a snapshot of… so, it will be interesting to see what is happening in other countries and to see how the partner organisations understand this relationship.

We are in the data collection phase now, and the project team is looking forward to sharing the findings, so watch this space! ●

The WILMA Project The Work-integrated Learning in the Music Academy (WILMA) project investigates the ways in which higher music educat­ ion (HME) Institutions in five European regions offer professional placements to their students (interviews and survey).

The study will also look at how conservatoires implement the programmes. CEMPE collaborates with the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in this project.

Participants: Keith Phillips (RNCM), John Habron (RNCM), Jon Helge Sætre (NMH).

The study may contribute to an increased understanding of the role of professional placements in higher music educat­ ion in a European context. In turn, this could inform curriculum design and stimulate international dialogue within which institutions from the different European models of HME can learn from each other in accordance with the ethos of the Bologna process.

Results: Research articles. Conference presentations.

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FREE CLASSICAL

What happens when classical musicians put away their music and ask the conductor to stay at home? Entitled Free Classical – improvisation for orchestral musicians, our two-day workshop saw classically trained students and professional orchestral musicians from Norway, Sweden and Denmark come together for some free play.

by Ane Hagness Kiran and Ellen M. Stabell

2019–2020

The Free Classical workshop seminar was curated by the musician and professor Geir Lysne in partnership with CEMPE. Lysne has for many years run The Norwegian Wind Ensemble’s (DNBE) real time music project. Joining him as coaches were the German avant-garde cellist and composer ­ Jörg Brinkmann, the much sought after contemporary oboist and improviser Christopher Redgate, and the violinist Alison Blunt, another experienced improviser. The four were each assigned a group of musicians for the two days of workshops, which were open to the public.

TASTE AND LANGUAGE – I’m here to become more free, says a student who has travelled from Copenhagen. Another student says: – I think like a classical musician, and then it’s not relevant whether you like a piece or not. My teacher says that ‘you have to turn everything you play into your favourite piece’.

Classical musicians normally perform music written by others. How can they connect more intimately with themselves, their instruments and their own personal tastes?

Geir Lysne and the DNBE have spent years exploring classical musicians’ shared references. What happens when you give classical musicians more artistic input and decision-making powers? Do classically trained musicians have any shared linguistic meeting places for improvisation?

The Free Classical seminar begins with an open rehearsal in which the musicians from the DNBE show us how they work with group improvisation. We witness how they communicate with eye contact, signs and movements.

Later some of them talk about how they got to where they are today. The focus has been on building safe frameworks and trust between the musicians in the ensemble and to decide on musical parameters instead of setting stylistic rules to allow them to express themselves freely. It is both challenging and rewarding.

– Your emotional range is so much greater when you improvise – it gives you higher highs and lower lows after a concert, says DNBE oboist Ingunn Lien Gundersen.

Next, we meet classical wind and brass players from the children’s programme Musikk på Majorstuen, who demonstrate how they practise improvisation from the age of 10–13 an onwards in order to broaden their understanding of sound and strengthen the relationship with their instruments. The young musicians perform spontaneously, playfully and beautifully, and they reflect in a mature way on the music they have just played – on what they heard and what they did.

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WHEN LISTENING IS KEY It is day two, and we are joining the first workshop after the joint morning meeting. The six musicians in one of the string groups sit down in a circle together with Alison, all with their instruments at the ready. She asks them to pay attention to their breathing before they begin to play and encourages them to close their eyes. The room falls silent before the double bass player launches into the first improvisation of the day. One by one the others join in, weaving their contributions together, expanding on them before fading out again to leave the bass player’s theme to complete the improvisation, just the way it started.

Next, they talk about what happened, what they liked about it and what they observed.

– I found the pizzicato in the bass very inspiring, says one of them. – I tried to listen to what I didn't play, says the double bass player, in other words what he could have played but didn’t, and what that did to the soundscape.

They also explore what silence does to the music.

– Silence generates a lot of potential energy in what you do next, Alison says, before going on to talk about the importance of listening to yourself and your inner critic.

– Acknowledge the critic, but it’s up to you whether to act on it. You can’t just ask it to go away...

The workshop ends with an improvisation game, a kind of creative relay in which you take over the theme played by the musician before you and make it your own. Musical themes flow through the circle, they are passed on and imitated, gradually and abruptly transformed, before the rules of the game are forgotten and themes begin crossing the circle with several musicians joining in simultaneously, then taking a rest before engaging with the music again. (It all ends in a glorious cacophony which definitely should have been recorded and preserved for posterity.)

We catch up with the student from Copenhagen towards the end of the seminar – I came here to break free – and now I've got the guts to do it! I’ve been given help to dare take risks, and I've acquired tools that I can use in my further training. It’s about ridding yourself of the rules and just say f*** it. ●

«I tried to listen to what I didn't play.»

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Free Classical – improvisation for orchestral musicians: Workshop seminar 7–8 February 2020 at NMH. Organised by CEMPE in partnership with The Norwegian Wind Ensemble and with contribut­ ions from Musikk på Majorstuen.

Four leaders: Geir Lysne, Alison Blunt, Jörg Brinkmann, Christopher Redgate Participants: Classical string, brass and wind students from music education institutions in Norway, Sweden and Denmark were invited along with professional freelancers and orchestral musicians from Norway. 51 applications were received, and 30 active participants were admitted. The active participants were divided into string and wind/brass groups and were a mix of students and professionals. The students received travel grants, and the seminar was free.

The programme was also open to observers.

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DEBATE: THE ORCHESTRAL MUSICIAN’S ARTISTIC IDENTITY Towards the end of the Free Classical seminar a debate was held on the autonomy and identity of orchestral musicians. What does an orchestral or classical musician need to know? What can improvisation practice mean for the orchestral musician or orchestra? How does an (orchestral) musician’s training meet their future needs?

by Ingfrid Breie Nyhus

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«I would’ve wanted my teacher to take away the music and ask me to play with the instrument sometimes.»

CREATING TOGETHER – In record time I’ve got to know other string players really well, much better than if we’d been rehearsing a Haydn quartet for a week, says one of the workshop participants.

– Unexpected situations arose, and the interact­ ion was great fun. It’s been ages since I experienced such interaction in an orchestra or chamber ensemble. Practising improvisation in a group gives you transferable skills in terms of ensemble play.

– Creating something together with other musicians can arouse strong feelings irrespective of genre, says Ingvill Hafskjold, clarinettist in the Oslo Philharmonic and an experienced performer of contemporary music. She thinks that a key skill for a musician is being able to read the people around you and listen to their language, such as observing the tempo at which a co-musician joins the phrase.

Sverker Rundqvist is a classical double bass student at NMH and participant at the Free Classical seminary. – That strong feeling of creating something together can have more to do with whom you’re playing with than what kind of music you’re playing. You need to be extremely careful to listen to each other when you perform improvised music. That’s true for composed music as well, but it’s easy to forget it because you become so absorbed in yourself, in doing it right or in what the conductor is doing. The key to playing written music is listening to each other and creating something together. I think improvisation makes it easier to maintain that attitude when you play composed music as well.

Recent tuba graduate Magnus Løvseth, one of the teachers on the Musikk på Majorstuen programme, points out that it is important to distinguish between improvisation as a genre and as something that has value in itself: – Improvisation is an important genre, but it also has enormous instrumental value. You’re forced to make decisions and to push the boundaries. When you’re working on your sound, say, you suddenly find yourself having to make hundreds of decisions. You might discover a timbre you didn’t know you had rather than strive for an ideal sound. All of the new sounds you discover have their own identity and value.

ATTITUDES AND PREJUDICE As well as standard repertoire, The Norwegian Wind Ensemble (DNBE) has been dedicated to improvised music for years, something which has been challenging for many of its members.

Oboist Ingunn Lien Gundersen talks about her experience when the ensemble started to perform improvised music. – I almost couldn't play anything. It was a really strange experience. I knew the scales up and down, but playing around within those scales was just impossible. I had to start from scratch, practise different patterns, practise the different oppor­tunities that lie in just a single note such as articulation and dynamics. I’ve felt that I’ve had to go back to the beginning on the oboe.

When asked what her training lacked that could have helped prepare her for her role as a professional musician with the DNBE, she says: – I would’ve needed more practical harmony and aural skills directly linked to my instrument.

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And I would’ve wanted my teacher to take away the music and ask me to play with the instrument sometimes.

– It’s interesting that NMH empowers you to do pretty much anything you want, but in order to do that you have to accept that you’ll be seen as slightly weird, says horn student Siri Storheim. – On the classical programme it feels like we’re on an orchestral programme, but that’s not the case. There’s a massive orchestra focus. To many, getting a job with an orchestra is their big goal and the ultimate confirmation that you've made it.

– Often in your instrument lessons you hear ‘that’s nicely played, but don't play like that in an audition’, Siri continues. – It feels as though you’re expected to be a master at auditioning but also to be able to squeeze into a mould.

A classical freelance musician in the auditorium raises their hand: – I finished studying a few years ago and wanted to improvise for my exam. My teacher told me he felt it wasn’t a good idea, because they’d be unable to assess me. It felt as if I was being pushed back into the mould. I think students should be pushed to play and improvise, not the other way round.

Jon Helge Sætre comments on the attitudes the debaters are referring to. – Perhaps teachers are conservative, and perhaps they’re conservative because they feel that the orchestras are conservative. Teachers often say that it’s the students who are narrow-minded, that they’re the ones who want an orchestra job, and they just try to help them as best they can. One key

problem here is that we’re being too simplistic, pedagogically speaking. We think that if we’re going to reach quite a narrow goal, such as becoming a master of our instrument, then we have to take a narrow approach. But that’s not necessarily the case. Some people in classical circles seem to think that those who get involved in improvisation have given up their quest, that they’re ‘freaks’. But what if we see improvisation as the very path to reaching the top level?

Sverker wonders where this prejudice stems from: – When you think about your big idols, you might think that their way to the top was just a matter of practising a lot. Yet when I’ve met some of them in person, I’ve discovered that they’ve done improvised music, composed a bit, played in jazz ensembles, run their own festivals – a lot of things you wouldn’t guess by seeing them on stage. It turns out that this particular musician is really wide-ranging, but they’re also the best in the world at what they do.

– You can be lucky or unlucky with your teacher, and for me it was a match, says Elin Kleppa Michalsen, violin student at the University of Stavanger and one of the initiators behind the student ensemble Sonore. She also attended the Free Classical seminar. – I've never dreamt of becoming an orchestral musician, but I’ve felt the pressure around me to become one. Working as a freelancer is simply not seen as being successful. When I got a new teacher, I discovered something new: she and I were totally in tune. Every teacher should open up to the student they have before them.

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«The key to playing written music is listening to each other and creating something together. I think improvisation makes it easier to maintain that attitude when you play composed music as well.»

It’s with a glint in his eye that Geir Lysne says views are different in jazz circles:

building structures to offer the students a well of opportunities.

– At the radio big band in Hamburg where I’m chief conductor it’s the exact opposite. The people with the most ‘cred’ are in fact those who don’t play with institutional orchestras but are ‘good enough’ not to have to take up a permanent position.

One NMH student attending the debate asks: – Should the institution train artisans or artists?

Personally, I find that my classical study programme is designed as a study of the craft.

I don’t feel I’m being trained to become an artist. I’d like to see something more substantial when it comes to the thinking. I think it was Pablo Casals who had a star pupil sign up for lessons, but Casals said: ‘no, I don’t want you as my student because you haven't read enough books.’ That’s not where we are right now.

MAKING YOUR OWN DECISIONS – When we talk about teachers pushing their students in different directions, I feel that it’s good for the student to step up, Ingvill argues.

– When you’ve graduated from the institution it’s your responsibility to decide how to live off your music. You don't necessarily become a good musician by getting an orchestra job, it’s just the start of a career. Defining yourself as a musician isn’t something you do just once in your lifetime, it’s one of the most exciting things about being a musician. And to be honest, you owe it to your teacher to become better than him or her. Why limit yourself?

Educator and researcher Brit Ågot Brøske has followed Geir and the DNBE for some time and has written about them in the article «Crossing the Line» for the anthology Expanding the Space for Improvisation Pedagogy in Music.

– If we think that a single instrument teacher has to meet all of our needs, then it won’t work.

We mustn’t get lost in the idea that one person will fix everything. We have to value the knowledge of individual teachers while also

– The word craft almost sounds a bit negative in this context, a young freelance musician in the auditorium pipes up. – Ideally, it should be a combination. You shouldn’t learn to play an instrument without being able to think for yourself. But you can become a very good master of the craft who also makes your own artistic decisions. ●

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LATIMPE is the joint platform of CEMPE and AEC, started in 2018. Up until 2021, the platform is run by a working group as part of the large AEC project Strenghtening Music in Society. The ­working group meets several times every year, operate the webpage latimpe.eu and arrange conferences and workshops. Members from ­LATIMPE also engage in ongoing discussions in the European field of higher music education, linking learning and teaching to assessment, diversity, inclusion, digitisation and mental health.­ In May 2020, LATIMPE will host the LATIMPE Platform 2020 – a digital conference on the use of digital tools in higher music education.

The goal of LATIMPE is to strengthen higher music education institutions by exploring and discussing learning and teaching paradigms, ideas, and models that make it possible to meet

the demands of the twenty-first century by active collaboration between students, teachers, and researchers in all relevant fields of higher music education. Moreover, LATIMPE is committed to follow a student-centred approach to learning and teaching.

This winter LATIMPE published the anthology Becoming Musicians – Student involvement and teacher collaboration in higher music educat­ ion. The anthology consists of 15 chapters by authors from several European countries. It is an out­come of LATIMPE’s first Learning & Teaching Conference held at NMH October 2018. The anthology is available online (www.latimpe.eu) and can be ordered by sending an e-mail to contact@latimpe.eu.

Top left: Stefan Gies, Jon Helge Sætre, Susanne van Els, Lars Brinck, Ellen M. Stabell, Anna Maria Bordin, Siri Storheim and Karine Hahn.

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WHO, WHAT, WHERE The CEMPE team 2019–2020: Jon Helge Sætre, Director Director of CEMPE and Associate Professor of Music Education. He has a Ph.D from NMH about Norwegian education within music pedagogy, and can look back on a freelance career as contemporary pianist. The work within CEMPE consists of management and research, as well as international projects, which pleases his great interest in languages.

Ingfrid Breie Nyhus, Deputy Director Performing and composing pianist within classical, contemporary and folk music. She holds a Ph.D in artistic research. Her work in CEMPE consists of management and research, such as leading the Core Portfolio project and the Think Tank for Artistic Research-Based Education.

Ellen Mikalsen Stabell, Senior Advisor Educated as pianist and music teacher, and holds a Ph.D in music education on learning cultures in junior conservatoires. In CEMPE she has administrative responsibility for the international collaboration with AEC and the working group running LATIMPE.

Ane Hagness Kiran, Higher Executive Officer Has a bachelor in music and performing arts and has a long career as a vocalist in several live and recorded projects. She has a broad background within the music scene and has worked as a manager in a record company, artist management and music organizations in both public and private sector. Ane joined CEMPE in January and is working as an administrative and practical facili­ tator of CEMPE’s projects.

Guro Utne Salvesen, Student partner Education as singer and music pedagogue, and as master student she explored new music inspired

by Nordic folk music. As student partner she tries to engage the students in the work CEMPE is doing. In addition to this, she is soon on «the other side» of her first exciting year as a freelancer.

Guoste Tamulynaite, Student partner Calls herself an eternal student. She has a master’s degree in classical piano and the last five years she has worked intensively with composition. The Core Portfolio project and STUDENT Talks are among the projects she has been active, since she started as student partner in CEMPE in 2018.

CEMPE is Centre for Excellence in Music Performance Education for the period 2014–2023.

CEMPE is a catalyst for knowledge development on learning and teaching in higher music education.

Through projects, networks and innovative experiments, the centre explores teaching models, work methods and educational content for students who are to meet the music community of tomorrow.

Status as a «Centre for Excellence» may be awarded to higher education institutions that can demonstrate innovation and outstanding quality in their existing study programmes. The aim of the scheme is to gain new knowledge and experience that can also benefit other institutions.

The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) has until 2018 operated the scheme, which was established by the Ministry of Education and Research in 2010. From January 2019 Diku has the responsibility for operating the scheme. www.cempe.no www.facebook.com/musicperformanceeducation www.nmh.no

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