Sjangring som musikkdidaktisk praksis

I denne artikkelen argumenteres det for at sjanger ikke bare utgjør et kunnskapsinnhold i musikkfaget i grunnskolen, men også fungerer som en kunnskapsproduserende diskursiv praksis. For å forstå hvordan, og på bakgrunn av tidligere teorier om sjangeres vesen og verdi, skriver forfatteren frem sjanger som handling: å sjangre. Artikkelen undersøker hvordan lærere som underviser i musikk i norsk grunnskole sjangrer musikk og musikkaktiviteter når de beskriver undervisningen sin. Analysene viser at lærernes sjangring tjener praktisk-didaktiske formål ved å ordne et innholdstilfang og tilrettelegge det for læring. I dette arbeidet operasjonaliserer sjangringen bestemte musikkhistoriske narrativ og etablerer likheter og forskjeller mellom musikk, folk og kulturer, tider og steder. Samtidig virker sjangringen diskursivt regulerende på selve tilfanget, ved å ta for gitt et utvalg den allerede har produsert. Dette gir seg blant annet utslag i et vektet og kanonisert innhold hva angår musikken og artistene/komponistene som er representert i skolen.

Editorial

The current issue of Nordic Research in Music Education presents six research articles that in various ways call into question beliefs and established truths within music education, such as perceptions of teacher qualifications for music activities in preschool and primary school, and and who institutions select and educate to become music teachers. Furthermore, the articles address how notions of diversity, intercultural music education and genre categorizations influence the construction of content in music education, and what happens when these categories travel between music cultures and their reconstruction as content in the classroom.

Grunnskolelærere i musikk og deres kompetanse

I denne artikkelen diskuteres kompetansen til lærere som underviser i musikk i den norske grunnskolen. Utgangspunktet er data hentet fra en spørreundersøkelse blant 293 lærere over hele landet. Undersøkelsen bygger på et Bourdieu-inspirert teoretisk rammeverk der det å ha tilgang til rike musikalsk-kulturelle ressurser forstås som potensielt utvidende for elevenes musikkrelaterte kapital på tvers av sosiale og kulturelle skillelinjer. Tidligere forskning viser at høy grad av faglig spesialisering hos musikklærerne er knyttet til mulighetene for å iverksette et rikt musikkfag for elevene. Lærerkompetansen i musikk i den norske grunnskolen har generelt blitt forstått som lav, men resultatene fra den rapporterte undersøkelsen viser et mer komplekst bilde av situasjonen.

Care as technology for exclusion

In this article, we explore and problematise admission tests to specialist music teacher education in Sweden from a governing perspective, where higher music education is considered a discursive practice. It illustrates how power operates in legitimating the tests. The study uses stimulated recall in jury members’ talk about assessing applicants for music teacher education programmes, and uses Foucault’s concept of governmentality to reveal entrance tests as something regarded as generally good for all. This operating discourse is built on governmental rationality and processes that make it possible to reach conclusions about the applicants’ personalities and prospects for learning and developing in the future. Through care as technology of power, failing applicants are excluded from becoming music teachers and at the same time they are rescued from struggling in the future. The results are discussed in relation to issues of democratic music education, ethics and requirements for widened access to higher music education.

Bokanmeldelse: Verden inn i musikkutdanningene

Boken Verden inn i musikkutdanningen av Sidsel Karlsen og Siw Graabæk Nielsen (red.) blir anmeldt av Silje Valde Onsrud.

The current status of singing in kindergartens in Norway

This study investigates the current situation regarding singing in Norwegian kindergartens. More specifically, how often kindergartens offer singing possibilities to children, in what situations singing is embedded, how valued singing is in such institutions, what singing methods and repertoires the teachers use, and whether teachers have certain underlying goals and beliefs connected to their use of singing. Furthermore, we are interested in whether there are contextual factors that influence the singing practice of a kindergarten/teacher. This exploratory cross-sectional study uses a web-based questionnaire, and the sample consists of 660 Norwegian kindergarten teachers. The statistical analyses cover standard descriptive and inferential statistics. The study’s main findings are as follows: (1) singing is highly valued in most kindergartens; (2) singing is done “very often” in most kindergartens, and the majority of teachers report that they sing with the children daily in a large variety of situations and using mainly Norwegian songs – however, the actual frequency and amount of singing depends on various factors; (3) one of the most important factors regarding singing praxis is musical expertise of teachers, regarding which most teachers rate themselves as below the population average; (4) the teachers mainly sing unaccompanied with the children; (5) they learn new songs mainly through streaming services; and (6) the teachers assume that singing leads to especially positive psychological, social, and cognitive effects on children.

Developing an understanding of intercultural music education in a Nordic setting

The purpose of this article is to achieve greater clarification of the meaning of the word ‘intercultural’ when used in Nordic music education research, by means of a literature review. The findings suggest that ‘intercultural’ is used in different ways, sometimes without definition. A central theme that emerges is developing student teachers’ intercultural competence through disturbance. There is little research into pupils’ intercultural competence, or intercultural music education at primary level. The findings are merged with international scholarship to envisage how different understandings of ‘intercultural’ might affect music in schools. We suggest placing intercultural music education along a continuum from intercultural approaches to music education to intercultural education through inclusive music pedagogy.

Who are the music student teachers in Norwegian generalist teacher education?

This study is based on data from a national survey of generalist student teachers specialising in music in the new five-year primary and lower secondary school teacher education programme in Norway. The study aims to map students’ backgrounds, experiences of the educational programme and visions for their future practice as generalist music teachers in schools. The theoretical perspective is cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). The findings suggest that generalist teacher education music programmes reproduce patterns of inequality. These patterns should be addressed in the future development of the programmes; however, the current lack of diversity may inhibit conditions for transformation and change.

Praksissamtalen i kulturskolelærerutdanninger

The practicum conversation in School of Music and Performing Arts teacher educating programs An arena for development of students’ professional understandings This article addresses the practicum training in Norwegian teacher educating programs, and focuses on the practicum conversation, where three participants of the teacher educating program meet: the student, the teacher educator and the practicum supervisor. By observing students’ practicum-related teaching in School of Music and Performing Arts (SMPA) as well as practicum conversations related to this teaching, the aim of this study is to investigate how the practicum conversation functions as an arena where students acquire professional understanding, as well as exploring the understandings of the SMPA teacher profession that appear in these conversations between the three participants. The results are discussed in light of theory of professions and socio-cultural learning theory. The article argues for the importance of students’ active participation in the community of practice, and highlights some challenges associated with the practicum conversation and the relationship between educational institutions and the practice field.

Towards the attainment of mindful bodily relations in music education

Recent studies of female guitar students in upper secondary school ensemble education suggest that girls behave, and are encouraged to behave, in more immanent ways than boys. They seem to receive less encouragement to stretch their bodies and become full musical human beings. Instead they become the second musical sex. During the course of my work with the problem of how to create space for girls playing the electric guitar in educational settings, I have continually found myself wondering how to create educational spaces and relations in ways that let all pupils, independent of sex, realize ideas, transcend as musical bodies, and become what they already are. If teachers and pupils are interrelated bodies, teachers must be aware of how they use their bodies when it comes to creating space for all pupils to develop and stretch out their bodies. The actions of the music teacher, as a musical body, must be balanced in relation to the other musical bodies in the room, as well as to physical preconditions, goals, visions, and expectations of the students. In this article, I want to delve into the subject of bodily interaction, teachers’ responsibilities, and questions of intentional educational bodily relations. The aim is to share my close reading of Young’s philosophical thinking regarding gender structures and especially female comportment, motility, and spatiality, and develop a set of prerequisites for intentional bodily (music) educational relations. With a starting point in research-based inspiration and motivation for conducting the current philosophical investigation, I share my close reading of Young’s theories regarding female situated bodies. Continually I relate to excerpts from two interviews with female guitar students, exemplifying musical body-relational experiences. Finally I share and reflect upon a developed thinking about mindful bodily (music) educational relations.