Reflective practice is seen as a method for professional growth and lasting learning outcomes, but what this means in the context of Higher Music Education (HME) has not received sufficient attention. This paper explores how reflection is ontologised and justified as part of performing musicians' education. The data utilised derive from a comprehensive project investigating how processes of academisation affect HME across Europe. Findings from the Swedish sub-study, comprised of fourteen leaders and teachers at four academies of music, demonstrate how reflection is discursively constructed; as based on language and cognition; as embodied, and as 'purely' musical. These ideas concerning the qualities and characteristics of reflection interact and provide basis for three forms of justification: reflection for artistic knowledge development; reflection for individual success in the profession; and reflection over the role of musicianship in relation to society.