NMH - Brage (Norges musikkhøgskole)
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'Zum Spielen und zum Tantzen', a Kinaesthetic Exploration of the Bach Cello Suites through Studies in Baroque Choreography
Get PDFNorwegian Research Fellowship for the Arts Programme. The Norwegian Academy of Music. - 2013Abstract. -
The dance titles of J.S. Bach's cello suites, derived from French court dance, clearly meant more to the composer than just abstract reference. In Bach's time, dance practice permeated social life, and it was indispensable for a musician to have an intimate knowledge of the fashionable dance forms. The movements and gestures of these dances inevitably had a profound influence on performance style.
In my fellowship project have investigated how the practice of baroque dance could influence my interpretation of the Bach Suites. Learning the essentials of this style and its original choreographies and frequently accompanying dancing, I also explored the dance aspect of the cello suites by way of experiments with historical tempos as well as melodic and rhythmic reductions of the musical material.
The project offers a recontextualisation of Bach’s work that emphasizes the close links between the expressive gestures of music and dance. The results have both artistic and pedagogic potential as tools to discover essential aspects of dance character in baroque music
The Ethnic Move. A discussion on cultural diversity in pedagogical texts for Norwegian secondary schools
No full textAvhandling (Ph.D.) - Norges musikkhøgskole, 2015English summary. - This dissertation “The Ethnic Move – A discussion on cultural diversity in pedagogical texts for Norwegian secondary schools” deals with issues concerning cultural diversity within Norwegian society and in schools in general, as well as in pedagogical texts more particularly. Through analysis from a multicultural perspective on textbooks on music for Norwegian secondary schools, a starting point is set for a broader critical discussion on representation of cultural diversity. This dissertation discusses the increased proportion of diversity represented in textbooks for music. This is coined in a key metaphor named “the ethnic move”. In the national curricula, as well as in the textbooks in question, there are anticipations of the positive consequences of the increased multicultural representation (the Ethnic move). Such as “intercultural understanding across time, place and culture”, and “tolerance and respect for other cultures” to name a few. This dissertation considers how these expectations are operationalized in the educational texts, and puts this in dialogue with other research, multicultural theory and philosophy. This is done through reflexive analyses and by philosophically questioning the possibilities of a fair representation of the ‘cultural other’. This is investigated by performing three different “analytical incisions” in the textbook material. Through these, different aspects of cultural diversity are considered. The first incision is done to search and to critically examine the representation of minority culture in the textbooks. How is “the other” represented and constructed? The second incision is done to focus on how majority culture is represented and taken for granted as a norm. Processes of “exnomination” are identified and commented upon. The third analytical incision looks at how the learning processes are designed in the textbooks. I.e. how do the textbooks facilitate learning? The relationship between the teaching methods and the teaching content is also examined. To address whether culture relevant teaching methods are used? Through five peer-reviewed and published articles, encased by a text explaining the theoretical and methodological background and discussing the articles, the different perspectives are examined. Critical self reflexion is exercised all through this dissertation, and the foundation for multicultural criticism is questioned, through several deconstructions of commonly used perspectives.Sammendrag. - Denne avhandlingen fokuserer på problematikk omkring kulturelt mangfold i samfunn og skole generelt og representert i pedagogiske tekster mer spesielt, gjennom analyser av lærebøker i musikk for norsk ungdomsskole fra et flerkulturelt perspektiv. Den er en artikkelbasert avhandling som er organisert rundt fem fagfellevurderte artikler, med en kappe som forklarer det teoretiske bakteppet, avhandlingens analysestrategi og drøfter og konkluderer på tvers av artiklene. Kulturelt mangfold i læremidler for musikkfaget i Norge er fortsatt et relativt underforsket felt og forskningsdesignen er derfor eksplorerende og søker å drøfte vidt rundt forståelse av representasjon av kulturelt mangfold. Tittelen, «Det etniske steget», er en metafor for den økte representasjonen av kulturelt mangfold som finnes generelt i samfunnet i dag, i denne avhandlingen spesielt i lærebøker for musikk for norsk ungdomsskole. Denne tiden i de vestlige samfunn – der kulturelt mangfold er langt mer synlig enn tidligere – er av Stuart Hall betegnet som «the multicultural moment» (Hall, 2000:223). Avhandlingen drøfter den økte andelen flerkulturell representasjon i lærebøker for musikk, som i avhandlingens egen nøkkelmetafor kalles for det etniske steget. Både i læreverkene og i relevante fag- og strategiplaner nevnes mulige positive effekter av en økt flerkulturelt representasjon generelt, som for eksempel «mellommenneskelig forståelse på tvers av tid, sted og kultur», og «positiv identitetsdanning gjennom å fremme tilhørighet til ens egen kultur og kulturarv, toleranse og respekt for andres kultur» (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2006). Avhandlingen ser hvordan disse forventningene er operasjonalisert i de pedagogiske tekstene, og setter dette i dialog med annen forskning og flerkulturell teori/filosofi gjennom eksplorerende fortolkende og refleksive analyser og ved å stille spørsmål omkring de musikkfilosofiske grunntankene. Dette undersøkes gjennom tre analytiske snitt: (1) I det første snittet ses det spesielt på læreverkenes representasjon av minoritetskultur, eller «de andre», slik dette finnes i tekst, bilder og musikkeksempler. (2) I det andre fokuseres det på læreverkenes representasjon av majoritetskulturen. Her står avsløring av universaliseringsprosesser og eksnominasjon sentralt. (3) Det tredje analytiske snittet ser på lærebøkenes læringsdesign, altså hvordan læreverkene fasiliterer læring. Her gjøres et analytisk skille mellom læreverkenes innhold og de læremåter som fasiliteres, og det undersøkes hvorvidt flerkulturelt innhold formidles gjennom kulturrelevante læremåter. Avhandlingen er bygget opp av fem publiserte fagfellevurderte artikler og en kappe der det teoretiske bakteppet er brettet ut, de metodiske valgene begrunnet, artiklene kort oppsummert, konklusjonene drøftet og forutsetninger for det flerkulturelle perspektivet problematisert. Det første analytiske snittet, er særlig relevant i artiklene 1 og 4, som likner hverandre idet de har det samme analytiske fokus. Her drøftes særlig representasjon av minoritetsmusikk og -kultur, og annerledeshet og andregjøring er sentrale drøftingspunkt. Billedlig så vel som tekstlig og auditivt finnes mange eksempler på hvordan annerledeshet gjøres til det viktigste i representasjon av minoritetsmusikk og -kultur, og at annerledeshet derved konstitueres som den viktigste egenskapen hos de andre. Dette blir illustrert gjennom en metafor om stedet Etnia, som er etablert i artikkel 1, og føres videre i artikkel 4 (Rønningen, 2010, 2014b). Gjennom det andre analytiske snittet fokuseres det på musikkbegrepet slik det er operasjonalisert i læreverkene. Her finnes det at den vestlige musikkforståelsen er eksnominert som vestlig-kulturelt, men at den er underforstått og normgivende. Vestlige kulturspesifiteter er universalisert. Dette er særlig drøftet i artikkel 2 (Rønningen, 2011). Gjennom det tredje analytiske snittet vises at potensialet i å bruke læremåter fra andre kulturfelleskap ikke er fullt utnyttet, siden læremåtene som fasiliteres gjennom læreverkenes læringsdesign er generelt vestlig-kulturelle. Dette kommer frem i artikkel 3 (Rønningen, 2013). Disse tre analytiske snittene, sammen med fire forskjellige nivåer eller elementer fra forskjellige vitenskapsfilosofiske retninger, slik de holdes frem av Alvesson og Sköldberg (2008), fremstiller forskningsobjektet (som er læreverkene) i forskjellig lys. Poengrikhet er for denne avhandlingen således viktigere enn uttømmende analyser fra ett fast perspektiv. Avhandlingen sporer også an til en destabilisering av de kritiske perspektiver den selv benytter, gjennom en metarefleksjon. Den siste artikkelen, artikkel 5, problematiserer sentrale kategorier innen musikkpedagogisk profesjonsforståelse og destabiliserer kategoriene kunster og lærer (Rønningen, 2014a). Disse er helt sentrale der musikkfaget drøftes, og kan sies å representere to naturliggjorte forståelser innenfor vestlig musikkpedagogisk tenkning. Artikkelen benytter eksempler fra en madagassisk musikkultur som brekkstang for denne destabiliseringen, men relaterer også til den musikkforståelsen som finnes i læreverkene. Denne refleksive kritikken setter spørsmåltegn ved hele grunnlaget for prosjektet, og således gyldigheten av de funn og innsikter som presenteres. Dette hindrer imidlertid ikke at det i avhandlingen fremholdes praktiske implikasjoner av de funn og den drøfting som er gjort. Avhandlingen er posisjonert tverrfaglig, og både musikkpedagogiske, musikkfilosofiske og etnomusikologiske forskningstradisjoner er representert, og forskningsarbeidet har foregått i dialog med litteratur og forskning fra disse kunnskapsfeltene. Kunnskapsbidraget tilbake til disse feltene er i første rekke 1) konkrete funn som belyser og kan gi forståelse for utfordringer knyttet til flerkulturell representasjon i pedagogisk litteratur for musikkfaget i norsk ungdomsskole. Videre er 2) et mer eksplorerende arbeid omkring metodologiske og musikkfilosofiske felt med på å løfte frem generell problematikk, og videre bidra til å utfordre vante tankemønstre omkring kulturelt mangfold
On Heidegger’s relevance for a phenomenologically oriented music Didaktik: The unheard
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This article investigates Heidegger’s relevance for a phenomenologically oriented music Didaktik. To do this, it considers Heidegger’s ontological approach in terms of its partial difference from the Husserlian approach to music Didaktik as presented by Professor Frede V. Nielsen. It then incorporates Heidegger’s ontological approach into a music pedagogical setting by means of a fourfold systematic approach, which is elaborated to capture four different levels of musical experience (designated as ‘the audible quadruple’). This systematic approach is further generalised to indicate a structure of four distinct approaches, in which the music subject can be encountered as such. Thus, the above-mentioned ‘audible quadruple’ is developed into a didactical grid of orientation. Since this grid contains four different Bildung positions in connection with four different fundamental views on music as a subject, it is, in general, designated as a ‘process model of Musicality-Bildung’. This model is developed as an analytical way to concretise Heidegger’s ontological turn within music education, as an approach distinct from – and yet familiar with – a number of other well-known music pedagogical conceptions. Thus, the article demonstrates how a Heideggerian approach of music pedagogy comes into contact with existing paradigms and yet also uncovers a potentially forgotten space of significance. This analysis expounds Heidegger partly in contra-distinction to Nielsen’s Husserlian approach. But still, the article draws heavily on Nielsen’s clarification of a number of didactical paradigms. In this way, the article’s reading of the ‘audible quadruple’ provides an interpretation of the musical process of experience buttressing Nielsen’s music pedagogical philosophy and his didactical position. This interpretation points beyond Nielsen’s own position whilst confirming Nielsen’s phenomenological readings and central
interpretive categories (cf. Pio, 2014).
Keywords: Phenomenology, Frede V. Nielsen, Bildung, The unheard
Stories from Ethnia. Representation of cultural difference in textbooks for music in Norwegian comprehensive school.
Get PDFABSTRACT. - Stories from Ethnia: Representation of cultural difference in textbooks for music in Norwegian comprehensive school. - The article deals with representation of minority music and culture in Norwegian textbooks for comprehensive school. Using taxonomy from Schippers (2010) to identify different ways of understanding world music, both texts, pictures and audio materials are analyzed. Analyzes are in no way exhaustive, and the main goal is to pinpoint some processes that are ideologically loaded. Through several examples from texts, pictures and audio, it is shown that a psychological distance between majority and minority cultures is constructed. This is done through processes of exotification and othering of minority cultures on the one side, and normalizing and exnomination of majority culture on the other. The examples are analyzed with inspiration from critical discourse analyze and social semiotics. Showing that the textbooks representation of these musics and cultures are driven from premises of difference and otherness, a metaphor – Ethnia – as a place for projecting pure otherness and distance to majority culture, is suggested. Keywords: World Music, Music textbook, Multicultural perspectives, Critical analyzes, Exotificatio
Nordic Research in Music Education. Yearbook Vol. 16
Get PDFContents. - Introduction. - Musical knowledge and musical Bildung. Some reflections on a difficult relation / Jürgen Vogt. - On Heidegger’s relevance for a phenomenologically oriented music Didaktik: the unheard / Frederik Pio. - Challenges to music education research. Reflections from a Swedish perspective / Cecilia K. Hultberg. - Gender performativity through musicking: examples from a Norwegian classroom study / Silje Valde Onsrud. - Keeping it real: addressing authenticity in classroom popular music pedagogy / Aleksi Ojala and Lauri Väkevä. - “You MAY take the note home an’… well practise just that”. Children’s interaction in contextualizing music teaching / Tina Kullenberg and Monica Lindgren. - Young instrumentalists’ music literacy acquisition / Hilde Synnøve Blix. - Multicultural music education from the perspective of Swedish-speaking teachers and state authorities in Finland / Marja Heimonen and Maria Westvall. - Music teaching as a profession. On professionalism and securing the quality of music teaching in Norwegian municipal schools of music and performing arts / Anne Jordhus-Lier. - Informella stämledare. Körledares erfarenheter av samarbete mellan sångarna i körstämman / Sverker Zadig and Göran Folkestad. - ‘Musical dialoguing’: A perspective of Bakhtin’s Dialogue on musical improvisation in asymmetric relations / Karette Stensæth. - Composition in music education: a literature review of 10 years of research articles published in music education journals / Tine Grieg Viig. - Arts-based research in music education – general concepts and potential cases / Torill Vist. - Skolekonsertene og skolekonteksten: Mellom verkorientering og kunstdidaktikk / Kari Holdhus. - Music-related aesthetic argumentation: Confronting a theoretical model with empirical data / Christian Rolle, Lisa Knörzer and Robin Stark. - Lullaby singing and its human Bildung potential / Lisa Bonnár. - Dissertations 2014–2015. - Editor group. - Review panelVolume 16 of Nordic Research in Music Education Yearbook includes 16 articles. The themes of the contributions represent a wide variety of interests within the Nordic music education community, including philosophy of music education, classroom teaching, students’ perspectives, teachers’ perspectives, music education as profession, choir singing, improvisation, composition, school concerts, and lullaby singing. The first three articles of this volume are based on keynote presentations read at NNMPF conference organized at Royal College of Music, Stockholm, April 23–25, 2014. The next four contributions address students’ perspectives in a variety of settings. The following three contributions focus on teachers’ perspectives. The following four texts focus on musical creativity. Then there is a philosophical paper and the concluding article is on the human Bildung potential of parents' lullaby singing. Biographical information about contributors to this volume is given at the ends of each article. The last section of the Yearbook provides an updated list of doctoral dissertations from 2014 in music education, music therapy and related areas
Multicultural music education from the perspective of Swedish-speaking teachers and state authorities in Finland
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This article addresses minority rights and educational aims in relation to the Nordic welfare state model, discussed through the lens of musical diversity in the increasingly multicultural society of Finland. The topic derives from a research project named “The Minorities in the Minority,” which was carried out in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland in 2012/2013. The principal question of this investigation was whether, and if so how, teachers in the Swedishspeaking schools in Finland perceive that music in the school environment can provide a basis for the development of multicultural skills. This study is based on qualitative research and content analysis. Empirical data was gathered through focus group interviews with teachers in Swedish-speaking schools, policy documents, and individual interviews of state authorities at the Finnish National Board of Education.
Keywords: Multicultural music education, Swedish-speaking schools in Finland,
minority perspective
Informal leaders in the choral voice. Choir leaders’ experience of collaboration between the choristers.
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Informal leaders in the choral voice Choir leaders’ experience of collaboration between the choristers.
Most choirs and choir leaders have the aim to make the individual voices sound as unison as possible in the different choral voices, according to both timing, synchronisation and vocal blend. The aim of the present study was to investigate experienced choir leaders’ experience and understanding of potential collaboration between the choristers in the choir, and what consequences that might result in. The study is qualitative in character: semi-structured interviews were carried out with experienced Swedish choral conductors representing a broad spectrum of the praxis field, regions, ages and different gender. The interviews were transcribed in verbatim and were analysed. The result shows that all the interviewee experienced informal leaders in their choirs and two main categories were identified: (i) with a focus on leaders of the musical line, musicianship/music-maker, and (ii) with a focus on the choral blend, the blenders. As a conclusion, in order to develop choirs to sound more even, synchronised and in blend, it might be of value to consider where to place a musical leader in the choral voice, and also to what degree this phenomena should be made explicit and discussed with the members of the choir.
Keywords: choral singing, choral singers, formal leader, informal leader, choral blend
Lullaby singing and its human Bildung potential
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On the basis of a qualitative study of 20 Norwegian lullaby-singing parents, this article explores the human Bildung potential of parents’ lullaby singing to their children at bedtime. Some parents may experience a personal reawakening when singing as they more easily can express themselves openly and rich and get in contact with emotional layers of their own childhood. Secondly, the act may afford a sort of “musical mindfulness”, which is a unique as well as collective mindful and calm self-with-other-cultivation. The lullaby singing then becomes an important part of the forming and exploring of the parent-child intimate and social relationship through a musical journey that facilitates the creation and sharing of a personal family signature and convivial atmosphere. Parents’ singing also fosters children’s love of music and singing. The children may also experience and learn about the language of intimacy, self-regulation, sensitive timing and musical taste through their parents’ singing. Furthermore, the act facilitates the child’s language acquisition and the development of inner images and free associations. In addition, the lullaby act – as a cultural activity and way of thinking – may open up for a deeper world encountering and value orientation. This can be linked to a broader way of understanding the concept of Bildung as lullaby-singing touches upon human aspects of interconnectedness, spirituality and solidarity, but also a view of it as an end-in-itself. Nonetheless, parents who are blindly reproducing the tradition or being insensitive and highly goal-oriented, ruin the free space of the present intimate moment and will not fulfill the act’s human potential.
Keywords: Bildung, Lullaby, Musical parenting, Early childhood education
Arts-based research in music education – general concepts and potential cases
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In this article, the topic of arts-based research in music education is investigated by presenting different general concepts related to arts in research, and discussing them in relation to the author’s own previous research conducted within music education. The chosen theoretical focus is on Bresler’s aesthetically based research, Knowles and Cole’s arts-informed research, Eisner and colleagues’ arts-based research, Irwin, Springgay and colleagues’ a/r/tography, as well as on the more common term and approach in the Nordic countries: artistic research. Different from the specific artistic research literature, in arts-based research literature there are strikingly few examples from music, especially compared to the visual and literary arts. Does that mean that music education research is hardly ever arts-based, that we do not reveal the arts’ actual place in our research or that the ways we use arts in our research processes are defined by other concepts? By comparing the different processes in research already conducted to the aforementioned theories, some potentials and tendencies related to the use of arts in music education research are exemplified and discussed. The discussion reveals potential arts-based research processes in all the different phases of a research project, including the question development, the data collection and the result development phase. In the concluding discussion, questions related to the many terms, the Nordic countries’ use of the terms, the necessary competencies and qualities in arts-based research, as well as some epistemological questions, are raised.
Keywords: music education, qualitative research, research methodology, arts-based researc
Instrumental group tuition at conservatoire level. A project involving instrumental teachers and students at the Norwegian Academy of Music
Get PDFInstrumental tuition in higher education has traditionally been provided as one-to-one tuition in a master and student setting. Group tuition as a permanent element in the students’ principal instrument tuition has only been tried and evaluated in higher education to a limited extent. With this project I wanted to find out whether a combination of one-to-one tuition and tuition in small groups could be an appropriate teaching model for principal instrument tuition at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NAM). The project evolved into two parts. During the first part of the project I observed one of NAM’s horn teachers, who had designed such a teaching model for her students. Her model resulted in a pilot project involving similar forms of tuition for other instruments – piano and voice. Acting on his own initiative, one of the clarinet teachers also launched a similar project with his students. I also interviewed and obtained information from string teachers who had developed their own group tuition models involving a larger number of students in each group. The outcomes of the project as described in this report have been obtained from questionnaires, face-to-face interviews with the participants, group interviews, audio recordings and observation