The article is based on a phenomenological way of thinking about knowledge and learning and will treat the concepts of response and critical friends as ways of sharing experience in higher music education. The problem area I want to illuminate is how teachers, who educate musicians, can use and facilitate development of their students' skills and abilities, when it comes to encouraging each other toward educational goals. The structure of the article is divided into three themes: the first theme concerns the one-to-one teaching tradition of higher music education; the second one will communicate a definition of what critical friendship is, together with some examples of how critical friendship has been used in musician education; and the third part will focus on the changing role of the teacher as well as suggest some implications for best collaborative and response-based practices.