Student-centredness is being advocated for in research on higher music education (HME), yet its perils have been largely neglected by scholars. While issues of employability are important to address in order for music graduates to thrive in a neoliberal world, this article asserts that the underlying power mechanisms that are being criticised for…

With a recent research study on a Norwegian arts-in-education programme "The Cultural Rucksack" as its starting point, this article addresses policy changes in the fields of culture and education and possible implications these could have on music education in schools. Familiar debates on the quality of education and the political…

This article addresses migrant children's entries into new education systems from the vantage point of musical participation. Through an ethnographic study of one Norwegian primary school, it investigates what scope for musical participation is available to newly arrived migrant children in a dedicated introductory class, and how their engagement…

The article seeks to find ways to re-imagine music-educator professional self-understanding beyond tendencies and constraints created and imposed by neoliberal politics. This involves exploring the conditions for music-teacher professionalism in the Nordic countries today through the position of competency nomads, as well as searching for…

In this study, we employ a participatory action research framework to investigate how preservice music teachers can take part in developing their own education. The main focus is on how two music teacher educators at two institutions in Norway work to create a space for student voice and participation. The study's data are analysed and presented…

This article reports on a pilot project exploring the viability of a teaching-through-playing approach in chamber music instruction in higher music education. Literature suggests that teaching traditions such as the one-to-one setting need renewal, and socio-cultural theories of learning propose that collaboration and participation are a way…

This paper examines informal learning in the context of migrant musicians, through a single case study looking at informal/self-learning and music career development by a DIY electronica artist. Data for the paper comes from an ethnographic study of how migrant musicians in Norway exercise their professional competence and entrepreneurship. Using…

In this article, we argue that music teachers working in a fast-changing society could focus on envisioning their students' imaginary spaces for engaging with music and equipping them for leaping into what for the students would be the musically hitherto unexplored. Taking Christopher Small's writings as a point of departure, we contest his…

This article explores the relationships between teachers' competence and the content of their music lessons. Previous research suggests that the content of music in primary and lower secondary schools is influenced not only by curricular issues, but also by the teachers' competence. Survey data from 135 Norwegian teachers, ranging from generalist…

In a workshop setting, two pieces of recorded music were presented to a group of adult non-specialists; a key feature was to set up structured discussion within which the respondents considered each piece of music as a whole and not in its constituent parts. There were two areas of interest, namely to explore whether the respondents were likely to…

This paper explores one-to-one teaching in an academy of music as culturally constituted. Taking Foucault's concept of discursive practice as a point of departure, the practice of two instrumental teachers is analysed and compared with regards to how the teachers adopt professional discourses to construct their teaching in quite distinct ways, and…

Music is deeply entangled with human activity and can play various roles in our lives, also in the lives of children. A large part of children's day-to-day life in Norway takes place within a school context. However, research on children's musical lives within a primary school context is scarce, and there is little knowledge of how pupils engage…

This article reports on a survey of Norwegian compulsory school music teachers, in which 293 teachers from 239 schools participated. In addition to providing demographic information, the teachers were asked what kinds of music their students listened to, sang, played, and created during lessons, and what activities this music was part of. We…

This article investigates the moral outlooks and obligations that are intertwined in the teaching and learning processes of the traditional folk music community in Norway and how moral aspects affect the development of professional identities. Theoretically, we combine the concept of a community of practice with a moral economy perspective. This…

This article presents the results of a survey among rectors of schools of music and performing arts in Norway. The aim was to map the schools' offerings in terms of musical genres and related instruments and ensembles, and to determine how the availability of different genres was distributed demographically and geographically. A questionnaire…