In the present age, which is often signified as post-modern or knowledge-intensive, the calls for learning echo loud. Discussions of learning, as well as teaching, permeate almost all levels and arenas of our society, and have a sure place in every-day conversation as well as scientific debate. The concept of learning can be understood and explained in many different ways. The authors' intention in this article is to make visible and discuss how learning music can be understood and explained from a life-world approach. The authors define "life-world approach" as learning that is constituted by experiences that lead to some kind of change whose utmost purpose is--consciously or unconsciously--to create meaning and make managing the world possible. They contend that by taking the concept of experience and its meaning as being-in-the-world, learning music improves when pupils' experiences of a music lesson are incorporated with their earlier experiences of music.
Artists are not born – they become. Artists are created by art, art that they have created. This twisted helix is conceptualised as ‘the origin of art’ by Heidegger. If an artist is to originate within musical educational settings, we claim that the musical educator has an inevitable role to play in this art origin. The problem of the investigation at hand are a question of how the educator can relate to this involvement; guiding the student toward the nexus of this origin without standing in the way for the originating of art nor to become a part of the origin of art as a part of the artist’s artistry. The complex phenomenon consisting of relations between art, student(s) and teacher are investigated, and in order to understand how teachers can organize their teaching towards an artistry achievement of their students, we seek to explore a number of phenomenological concepts; Heidegger’s notion of a work of art, the idea of Lifeworlds, musical intersubjectivity, responsibility in asymmetrical relationships and finally, dwelling. The conclusion are that teacher can relate to this situation in three different modes; (i) by enriching the Lifeworld of the student, (ii) by preparing for the unexpected to occur and (iii) direct the intentionality towards the nexus of artness originating instead of the artness itself.
This study sheds light on dance as democracy among people 65+. The article presents a study that is part of the project Age on Stage, in which elderly people were offered to express themselves through dance as an aesthetic form of expression. Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir are applied as philosophical lenses. Elderly people’s participation and involvement in dance activities are investigated and discussed. The specific aim is to describe and analyse contemporary dance as a form of democracy among people 65+. The following questions were formulated: What constitutes dance as communication within a group of elderly people? How do the participants internalise and use dance as an artistic form of expression in relation to the possibilities and limitations a workshop provides? A phenomenological analysis based on field notes and video recordings have generated the following themes: a functional body with impetus to move, to embody dance as a form of expression, to use Dance as a Form of Artistic Expression in Aesthetic Communication, and Reflections on life, body and dance. The results reveal existential and aesthetic dimensions of dance activities for elderly people that have not been emphasized to any greater extent in earlier studies.
This article examines how dance knowledge is seen through syllabuses in Swedish upper secondary schools. A starting point is life-world phenomenology. A phenomenological way of thinking allows that human beings are intersubjective, linked with and within the world, which influences the view of dance knowledge and how research is elaborated. A basic rule and starting point for research within phenomenology is to turn toward the things themselves and to be adherent. Dance knowledge constitutes the phenomenon studied, as revealed in dance syllabus steering documents. Spiegelberg’s philosophical method is used as a base for phenomenological text analysis. The study is limited to syllabuses from two different curricula, labeled by The Swedish National Agency for Education as Lpf94 and Gy11. The analysis results in two images of how the essence of dance knowledge is manifested. Finally, the different constitutions are discussed and related to a life-world phenomenological view of dance knowledge.
The arts seem to be under pressure in many educational systems, which is demonstrated by a general lack of recognition of aesthetic experience and learning, a lack of emphasis on the arts in education, and often also a lack of fully competent teachers. Despite the challenging situation facing the arts in schools in general, there are exceptions. Some schools do choose to focus on the arts. This article presents a ethnographic double case study that explored arts education practices in two such Scandinavian schools. The purpose was to systematically examine how education in the arts subjects was carried out in the schools, and how the actors perceived, articulated and legitimated the educational practices in the arts subjects. The results show that the educational leadership in the schools were of great importance. Further, the arts are integrated as a natural part of everyday school life, and both schools have taken a holistic approach to education, in which the arts are perceived to involve and contribute to learning in the broadest sense, as well as to the pupils’ social and personal growth. Also, the results show that arts education practices were carried out in a creative, but challenging tension between frames and freedom
Vilka bildningsprocesser kan urskiljas ur människors Spotifyanvändande? Det visar sig att ett sådant användande är tätt sammanflätat med musikalisk- såväl som digital kunskap. Med ett fokus på de bildningsprocesser som sker i samspelet mellan människa, teknik och musik utmanas förståelsen av vad en strömmande musiktjänst som Spotify kan erbjuda. ”Evolving Bildung in the nexus of streaming services, art and users – Spotify as a case” är ett tvärdisciplinärt projekt som visar hur människans bildningsprocesser villkoras, utmanas och möjliggörs i och med den strömmande medieutvecklingen. Denna bok kan med fördel användas inom utbildningar i musikpedagogik, musikvetenskap, musikproduktion, ljudteknik, pedagogik, kulturstudier, sociologi, samt medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap. I detta specifika kapitel i antologin tittar Ekberg och Ferm Almqvist närmare på de projektdeltagande forskarnas egna erfarenheter av att bedriva tvärdisciplinär forskning. Författarna försöker förstå deltagande forskarnas upplevelser av den gränsöverskridande forskningens såväl värden som utmaningar med stöd av ett livsvärldsfenomenologiskt perspektiv på kommunikation och meningsskapande.
To advance the efficiency and effectiveness of inter-disciplinary research, and to obtainvalid strategies for inter-disciplinary projects, there is a need to define inter-disciplinary researchapproaches explicitly. The current study aims generally to further the understanding of inter-disciplinary ways of conducting research, and specifically to describe and explore the challenges andopportunities that characterize research projects which move across borders of different researchareas as well as the various disciplinary homes of the collaborating researchers in a recentlyperformed project focusing on Bildung and streamed art. Written reflections from the six participantsin the project, representing the disciplines of music education, musicology, education, Englishliterature, sound engineering as well as media and technology science was analyzed and interpreted inrelation to Alfred Schütz’ theory of phenomenological sociology. The results are presented through sixthemes, which together fulfill the aim of the study; (i) Crossed borders, perspectives, and contexts, (ii)Common concepts, definitions, and reconstructions, (iii) Status of theory and explorative freedom, (iv)State of the art and innovative potential, (v) Scientific identity and positioning work (vi) Place, activity,and performance.
To advance the efficiency and effectiveness of inter-disciplinary research, and to obtain valid strategies for inter-disciplinary projects, there is a need to define inter-disciplinary research approaches explicitly. The current study aims generally to further the understanding of interdisciplinary ways of conducting research, and specifically to describe and explore the challenges and opportunities that characterize research projects which move across borders of different research areas as well as the various disciplinary homes of the collaborating researchers in a recently performed project focusing on Bildung and streamed art. Written reflections from the six participants in the project, representing the disciplines of music education, musicology, education, English literature, sound engineering as well as media and technology science was analyzed and interpreted in relation to Alfred Schütz’ theory of phenomenological sociology. The results are presented through six themes, which together fulfill the aim of the study; (i) Crossed borders, perspectives, and contexts, (ii) Common concepts, definitions, and reconstructions, (iii) Status of theory and explorative freedom, (iv) State of the art and innovative potential, (v) Scientific identity and positioning work (vi) Place, activity, and performance.
This chapter takes Jorgensen’s thoughts regarding how music education can contribute to a better world, developed in Transforming Music Education, as a starting-point. Based on her statements, I elaborate upon possibilities for equal music education. The picture of transformed music education, as I interpret Jorgensen’s work, is based on a dialectic approach, including mutual curiosity and respect. Through my research where I have interviewed female electric guitar playing upper secondary music students, shows though, that transformation of music education has to continue. For example, the analysis of their expressed experiences shows that they are diminished, quieted, encouraged to care, and seen as the other musical sex. Therefore, the chapter communicates a philosophical exploration of how an aesthetic-political understanding of democracy, based on Arendt, Merleau-Ponty and Ranciere, could be used to go beyond gender, and imply in what ways music education could offer equal dialectical spaces of musical wonder. My hope is that voices of philosophical scholars, within the field of music education, will continue open-ended collegial discussions based in friction and friendship in Jorgensen’s spirit in deliberative scenes. That could be one contributor towards a professional discussion towards equal music education. The aesthetico-political voice could be one that aims to encourage both music teachers and students to be and become themselves, in music educational settings, where all individuals are heard and listened to, in intersubjective musical activities.
Taking experiences from a contemporary multi-arts dance project as a starting point, this article explores how such a project can offer opportunities for being and becoming among older amateur dancers. The article takes a phenomenological approach, in which holistic experience and sharing of experiences are central. The phenomenon of the investigation is self-conceptualisation. The artistic process and context constitute an adult educational situation. To come close to the lived experiences of the dancers, the rehearsals and performance were observed and documented. Six of the participants were also interviewed. The material was analysed in a hermeneutical phenomenological manner, and Simone de Beauvoir’s thinking regarding ageing was used as a theoretical lens. The results show how the self-images of the participants change during the course of the project. The dance activities seem to give the older participants opportunities to remain themselves, even as they allow themselves to change. They learn to know themselves, each other, and the world.
As a contribution to the critical and creative discussion regarding definitions and examples of how dance practices are being reimagined in the age of distance, this article focuseson possibilities and challenges with organizing virtual contemporary dance workshops for older adults. The aim of this article is to explore intra-actions within entanglements including older adult amateur dancers, a choreographer, homes, dance studios, the software zoom, devices, music, and dance during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Situations seen as webs of relations including the mentioned actors werecreated. To be able to describe how the constantly performed intra-active networks of dancers and other material actors were constituted, actor-network theory was applied. The results shows pecific trajectories that exemplifies intra-actions with the participants. The older adults became dancers that make meaning in their lives, even if the virtual trajectories possible to follow to some extent, are limited by the pandemic cursed distance.
I slutet av vårterminen 2016 examinerades de första ämneslärarna i musik inom ramen för de nya lärarutbildningarna som startades hösten 2011. Som avslutande kurs genomför studenterna ett självständigt arbete i musik på avancerad nivå, vilket vid de flesta institutioner med ämneslärarexamen i musik inneburit förändringar vad gäller tillexempel ämnesinriktning, ansvarsfördelning, och krav på handledarkompetens. I Vejbystrandsgruppen, som är ett nätverk med fokus på praktiknära musikpedagogisk forskning, ingår tolv medlemmar varav de flesta arbetar antingen med genomförande och examination av nämnda examensarbeteskurser, eller i (gymnasie- och kulturskole-)praktiken som kollegor till de blivande musiklärarna. Frågor som lyfts i nätverket, och som vi vill lyfta ytterligare med detta rundabordssamtal är: 1) Hur förbereds studenterna genom sin utbildning för att genomföra ett examensarbete på 30hp i musik på avancerad nivå? 2) Vilka kunskaper och erfarenheter har eller bör studenterna ha utvecklat under examensarbeteskursens gång som de tar med sig ut i arbetslivet? Teman som anknyter till dessa frågor är musikpedagogik i UVK- och inriktningkurser, praktiknära forskning, multimodala uttryck, och möjliga sätt att organisera examensarbeteskursen. Vi ser det som värdefullt att diskutera dessa frågor och teman med kollegor engagerade i lärarutbildning, såväl med estetisk ämnesinriktning, men också med fokus på hur estetiska ämnen kan finnas i förberedelser för och genomförandet av examensarbeteskurser. Efter en kort introduktion kommer några av Vejbystrandsgruppens medlemmar dela med sig av erfarenheter från respektive institution och därefter leder Cecilia Ferm Almqvist en diskussion kring bordet och ämnet.
The article will shed light on both the challenges to and possibilities for growth as an ensemble guitarist within upper secondary popular music ensemble courses in Sweden. The paper is a critique of an un-reflected view of popular music as a preferred situation for musical learning in schools. It is intended both as a thought-provoking speech directed to ensemble teachers aiming for equal music education, and as a philosophical exploration of female experiences of ensemble education. The article is based on an existential–philosophical way of thinking, mainly in line with the thoughts of Simone de Beauvoir, both when it comes to the view of human beings independent of sex1 and as a base for how to communicate scientific results in a sensitive situated way. Hence, the format of the article, drawing on Arts-based research philosophy, is constituted as an imagined radio show episode, including a programme leader (PL), two young female guitarists – Anna and Lucy – and one prominent philosopher: Simone de Beauvoir (SdB). The article consists of text as well as a sounding dialogue and drawings. The dialogue is based on interview material combined with studies of primary and secondary Beauvoir literature. Issues that will be explored in the conversation have emerged in an earlier study of the story of one female guitarist: an upper secondary student at a specialist music programme. Issues chosen for the current article shown to be crucial from an equality perspective are; Transcending boys and immersing girls, the male gaze, relations to patriarchal repertoire, possible projects and the role of the teacher.
As a newly enrolled master’s’s student in music education, my supervisor sent me to Oslo and my first Nordic Network for Music Education (NNME) seminar, my first real academic experience. Then, as well as now, the NNME network plays a very important role for students and scholars in a rather small and Northerly situated institution. I was totally overwhelmed by interesting research presentations, an atmosphere of skill and curiosity, as well as generosity and openness, when it came to both academic communication and social activities. I think the feelings that permeated that first seminar in 1999 have for me influenced all following NNME seminars and steering group meetings, as well my expectations all through academic life. Highlights from that experience can be seen as expressions of inclusion, equality and democracy, concepts that I will come back to all through this text. I will reflect upon how I have been included, how my voice has been heard and listened to and how I have experienced democracy as a participant in NNME activities. I will also explore how, together with others, I have contributed likewise within different roles in NNME settings, and how the different content, themes and methods of the seminars have developed intertwined with the inclusive, equal and democratic atmosphere. This chapter will start with a picture of my journey from a master’s’s student, through the role of PhD student, teacher, keynote speaker, member of the steering group and application writer, which also will function as a red thread through the chapter. Next comes a theoretical introduction where the mentioned concepts will be philosophically based, and thereafter follows a section where inclusive, equal, democratic music education in practice will be questioned and discussed. Finally I will share some thoughts about the future. Thus I will illuminate the different angles of inclusion, equality and democracy that have characterized my participation and experiences while taking part in NNME seminars across 18 years.
While “access models” represented by subscription services such as Spotify make vast libraries of music practically accessible to teachers, digital streaming programs also introduce new complexities to classroom settings. Therefore, the concept of digitalization in relation to listening requires the attention of researchers in education and didactics. This article examines the ways in which Swedish teachers use Spotify, including how usage influences teachers’ didactic choices and approaches to planning for music teaching and learning. Research participants included eight music educators with experiences in streaming music services in music classrooms. Findings show that digital literacy and the listening, teaching, and learning of music are inextricably intertwined; and that placing the application of music streaming in the context of a music classroom creates complications in practice. Implications highlight the importance of identifying and discussing complex issues occurring as a result of the use of streaming services in music classroom, gaining music streaming didactic literacy which is both a didactic competency that teachers use in planning for teaching, as well as a content for students to learn.
The aim of the study was to describe and analyze what aspects of musical learning that constitute the process of developing a collective artistic life story among twenty amateur dancers over 65 years old. In earlier studies it was established that organized aesthetic communication offered participants to develop physically, emotionally and existentially. Based on these results regarding participation in dance workshops for elderly people, the current study focuses musical learning and further development during one year towards a performance on stage. The aim of the study is to describe how the musical learning proceeds throughout the project, where a series of workshops, consisting of training, choreography and improvisation, leads towards a common performance built on the participants’ life stories. The study takes Heidegger’s existential phenomenology as a starting-point. Hence, it can be stated that the participants and the choreographer dwell and learn together in musical situations, where music is discovered and expressed at the same time. Dwelling took place in workshops, rehearsals and performances, which were observed and video recorded regularly from May 2017 to May 2018. A sample of the participants was also interviewed. Generated material was analyzsed from a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective. The results imply that the elderly people become themselves through movement in the different musical rooms. Crucial factors seem to be how they get to use themselves, each other, their bodies, their stories, their personal artistic forms of expressions, and their imaginations, in interplay with music. Not least the atmosphere of playful seriousness, which is set and recreated throughout the year, can be stated as important for meaningful musical dwelling and a prerequisite for becoming among the elderly participants.
Streaming media seems to have become a natural part in teachers’ professional life. Streamed music, primarily distributed by the company Spotify, sounds in most music and dance classrooms, not least in Swedish schools. Hence, the concepts of digitalization and listening are accentuated within the area of music educa-tion. Within the frames of a larger border-crossing research project financed by Wallenbergstiftelsen – ‘Evolving bildung in the nexus of streaming services, art and users: Spotify as a case’, which aims to explore the meaning and function of streaming media as a facilitator of bildung, using Spotify as a case – this presen-tation takes two interviews regarding Spotify use as a starting point. One music teacher and one dance teacher, among sixteen participants, were interviewed about their use of Spotify. The aim with the specific analysis was to describe the phenom-enon of bildung regionalized to relational school settings, where streamed music, teachers and students come together in intended learning situations. The interviews were stimulated by the teachers’ own Spotify interfaces, and documented by the virtual communication tool Zoom. They were transcribed and analysed in a phenomenological narrative manner. The narrative is shaped as a dialogue between the two teachers, to make similarities and differences regarding relations with Spotify in the classroom setting visible. The result shows aspects of existential and essential bildung through listening taking place as being, thinking and acting with Spotify in the spirit of Heidegger.
Towards a possible geometry of (music) educational relations – situated (musical) bodies Cecilia Ferm-AlmqvistIn my PhD-work (Ferm, 2004, 2006) I was interested in interaction that made musical among 10-12 years old possible. The phenomenon of music teaching and learning interaction showed to be constituted by five themes, namely how the teachers related to the incorporated musical knowledge of the pupils; in which ways the teachers were open to the initiatives of the pupils; how musical experience was made possible; how the acts of the pupils were handled; and finally, which symbols that were used in the interactions. The philosophical base for the study was mainly Merleau-Ponty ́s phenomenological thinking, where human beings are seen as living bodily subjects. The bodily aspect of interaction in the music classroom, was only one part, or aspect, of the result though. In later studies, focusing female guitar playing students in upper secondary school ensemble education, it has become obvious though, that girls behave, and are encouraged to behave in more immanent ways than boys. They seem to have been, and be, less encouraged to stretch their bodies, and become musical human beings. Instead they become the second musical sex (Ferm-Almqvist, 2017 a, b; Ferm-Almqvist & Hentschel, 2019). During my work with the problem of how to create space for girls playing the electric guitar in educational settings, I have continually been wondering about how to create educational rooms, and educational relations in ways that let all pupils, independent of sex, to run their projects, transcend as musical bodies, and become what they already are. I have been approaching this theme from different philosophical angels, and at the same time taken part of on-going studies regarding educational relations that have encouraged my wonder even more.
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.
As a contribution to the field of community dance, this article explores the teacher role in a setting where elderly people are offered to take part in a dance workshop. The aim of the study is to describe the role of the teacher when offering participation in dance as an artistic form among elderly people. The theoretical starting-point for the study is aesthetic experience and communication, based on a phenomenological philosophy, and the approach is arts-based research. The workshop series was observed and filmed. Written reflections were gathered and six of the participants were interviewed. The research material was analyzed in a phenomenological manner. The result shows that the choreographer influences possibilities for participation regarding: how workshops are designed and the inputs that are given, the atmosphere that is created, how the participants are to use their bodies, and how dance as an artistic form of expression is offered.
This article communicates a study on dance in people over 65 in Sweden. Earlier studies on dance for elderly people have primarily focused on treatment and wellbeing. The current study centers on the right to make oneself heard in and through contemporary dance as an artistic form of expression, regardless of age, gender or geographical context. The specific aim of the study is to describe and analyze the experiences of women aged over 65 in a rural area, who participated in contemporary dance workshops as a form of arts learning. The workshops, which were observed and documented, constituted part of an EU-financed project, Age on stage. Participants also shared experiences through informal chats and e-mails. The material was analyzed in a narrative manner. The results show that the workshops created a safe space for dance as a dwelling place, where dance was discovered, and at the same time developed, collaboratively. They also highlighted the importance of this type of artistic participation for elderly women in terms of developing an understanding of themselves and coping with life.
This paper employs aspects of Hannah Arendt’s thought to explore different but interrelated questions that haunt contemporary music education. We see the importance of a return to Arendt now more than ever as we find ourselves, three authors in three different countries, trying to contribute to democratic music education practices and to researching the conceptual base of such practices, in countries where technocratic approaches to policy development prevail. More specifically in this article we address the following questions: how can we re-think the political and creative dimensions of music education pedagogies in the face of recent educational policy trends? How can we go beyond linearity in our everyday educational encounters? How can we create forms of music education practice and research that induce a continuous interplay between acting and thinking? We pursue these questions through reference to three specific forms of music education practice: research seminars for PhD-students and senior researchers, pre-service music teacher education, and teaching music improvisation. In the first part of the paper, Cecilia Ferm-Almqvist elaborates upon how Hannah Arendt’s thinking influences our teaching, taking an on-going research seminar in music education as an example of a common place. In the second part, Cathy Benedict writes of ‘meeting’ Arendt and coming to an awareness of how Arendt can help us interrogate practices we have come to assume as ‘the right ones’. Seeking to create together with her students an epistemological space of appearance she challenges common teaching strategies that seem to ‘work’. Working within a teacher preparation program she comes to realize that students must also reflect on these moments so as to name what has occurred; thus they need to engage in acts of performative listening, setting aside their own desire and need to speak and be heard first. Finally, in the third part, Panagiotis (Panos) A. Kanellopoulos raises the complex issue of how we should respond to the current deluge of entrepreneurial approaches to creativity, its use value, and its role in education. Based on the proposition that acts of musical improvisation belong to the realm of action, Kanellopoulos revisits Arendt’s notion of conservatism with the aim of outlining a possible way through which contemporary improvisation pedagogy might be re-thought. Taken together these three sets of reflections serve to offer a framing of Arendt’s thinking for music educators in different contexts, showing how Arendt's ideas might serve as a fertile ground for thinking over our own teaching, our curricular decisions, and the choices we daily make over space and time that connect us through our distinctness.
Having the possibility to experience meaning in artistic settings is a human right. However, several studies show that structures and norms may prevent human beings from participating in artistic and cultural activities. Moreover, it is not given that all forms of participation offer meaningful experiences, something which puts a great responsibility upon organizers of artistic events. The current study is based in a project where elderly people were given the chance to participate in processes of development and performance of collaborative contemporary dance. The specific aim of the study was to describe and analyse the phenomenon of the meaningful body based on a phenomenological approach. To get access to the dancers’ lived experiences, six participants were interviewed. The transcribed interviews were analysed in a phenomenological manner. The analysis resulted in three themes, which together describe the phenomenon of the lived body, namely: the intertwined body, the border-crossing body, and the body feeling at home. The themes are related to phenomenological philosophy regarding aging, awareness, existence, and aesthetic experience, as well as to art education situations and societal norms.
The presentation will share experiences of and reflections upon a pilot study based on stimulated recall interviews aiming to explore the meaning and function of streaming media as a facilitator of musical Bildung. It can be stated that new technology has the possibility to provide information and education for everyone. Today, most people can access the same information for "free", which is interesting from a democratic perspective. Access to music in relation to the new, transformed music industry has been studied from technological and economical perspectives. Even listening habits and listening frequencies, have been investigated through analyses of Big Data. Hence, we stated a need to reflect upon and discuss the meaning and function of streamed music in people's lives, taking as a starting point the affordances and constraints of the music streaming services. Using Spotify as a case, based on phenomenological perspectives of Bildung, a cross disciplinary project was created. In the presentation we want to answer share preliminary results from a pilot stimulated interview study. A netnographic oriented approach where chosen, given its focus on distinguishing meanings and human practice in varied contexts, and combined with shadowing and individual interviews, supported by stimulated recall. The participants gathered their user activities that took place during a limited period of time, and also in what ways these were shared and expressed in varied social media. The stimulated recall interviews were documented through the use of a web based videoconference application, transcribed and subjected to qualitative content analysis. The paper presentation aims to share and discuss the use of methods as well as preliminary results, which hopefully can contribute with insights when it comes to how streamed music functions, and can be used consciously, within the field of music education.
Music educational researchers in the Nordic countries have pointed out how municipal arts schools are organised based on, and tend to reproduce, anthropocentric values and approaches, and that such unequal norms and structures are to be challenged. Taking a border-crossing musical comedy project as a starting point, the specific aim of the current study is to illuminate how, and on what levels, organisational norms and traditional structures can be challenged, and what possibilities and new challenges that occur in a project taking place beyond the Anthropocene. To be able to grasp the aspects of becoming within the project and how that is related to aspects of organisation, we created a research entanglement based on post-human theory. Hence, situations seen as webs of relations were created, including the actors: humans with intellectual disabilities, musical performance students, educators, artists, researchers, and varied digital communication tools. Observations, video recordings, collaborative writing, qualitative surveys, and interviews produced material for analysis. Actor-network theory was applied aiming to describe how the constantly performed intra-active networks were constituted, as well as how the actors influenced each other. The results identify significant actors and trajectories in Sammankonst, that in turn challenge anthropocentric organisational structures of municipal arts schools.
This article explores the concept of lived time as an aspect of aesthetic pedagogy based on a phenomenological way of thinking. Starting off from the philosophies of Bollnow and van Manen, where time is seen as an existential phenomena, intertwined with other existentials, we used experiences from an ongoing project as examples to make understanding of the phenomenon possible. Lived time concerns reconsidering and revision of thinking, a process that includes personal, relational and emotional qualities. The specific aim of the philosophical study is to describe the phenomenon of lived time in aesthetic pedagogy from a pedagogue perspective. We embrace a holistic view of relations between arts and education, where education in arts, education through arts, education as art, and art as education function as different perspectives of aesthetic pedagogical situations. To get acces to pedagogues’ lived experiences of time in aesthetic pedagogy, a group interview was conducted. Six pedagogues engaged in the Alla har rätt-project, with educational as well as artistic backgrounds, were interviewed together via the communication tool Zoom. Intentions, experiences, the changing situation, as well as visions about the future constituted themes for the group conversation. The philosophical analysis, where the experiences of the interviewees were used as examples, resulted in a description of the phenomenon of lived time in arts-based education constituted by four themes: Lived time in meaningful arts education, Lived time as diminishing or disappearing in aesthetic pedagogy, Lived time and artworks in aesthetic pedagogy, and Lived time as didactic frame in aesthetic pedagogy.
The starting point for the study presented in this article is constituted by experiences of using Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy aiming to describe and understand the becoming of musical women in Swedish schools. Earlier research conducted outside the area of music shows that Beauvoir’s theories can help to explain – and provide means of change for – situations where there is a risk that traditional gender roles will be conserved. A majority of gender studies in the field of music education are based on the performativity theory of Judith Butler. In comparison, de Beauvoir states that repetitions and habits are stratified in the body as experiences, and that human beings are able to make choices in a situation. The aim of the study is to explore how caring is nurtured among girls in Swedish music educational settings. Material generated through two phenomenological studies conducted within specialist music programs in lower respectively higher secondary education in Sweden, constituted the empirical base for conducting re-analysis. This re-analysis followed a hermeneutical phenomenological analytical model. Examples of how caring seemed to be nurtured among girls in music education appeared at different levels and in different situations. It concerns actions made by the girls aiming to make the social and musical setting function in agreed upon “good” ways, namely in the form of taking initiatives, filling “gaps”, and being flexible, andbecoming (aware) musical women. Finally we reflect upon causes and changes in relation to actions that seem to establish and maintain female students as immanent, and non-able to run their own projects, to speak with de Beauvoir.
Här uppmärksammas fenomenet delaktighet i estetisk verksamhet, något som är aktuellt i lärarutbildningar, såväl allmänna som med inriktning på estetiska ämnen, och i utbildningar som riktar sig mot kulturskola och annan fri verksamhet.
Författarna har fungerat som följeforskare i två Arvsfondsfinansierade konstpedagogiska projekt, Alla har rätt och Sammankonst drivna av Kulturverket. Baserat på forskningen tydliggörs vad delaktighet i estetisk verksamhet kan vara, och vilka krav det ställer på organisation, kollegium och förhållningssätt i sammanhang där konstuttryck och pedagogik möts.
Specifikt belyser författarna delatighetsaspekterna tid, rum och mellanrum liksom det dialogiska förhållningssätt som drivit Kulturverkets arbete.
Cecilia Ferm Almqvist är professor i pedagogik och musikpedagogik vid Södertörns högskola respektive Stockholms musikpedagogiska institut. Linn Hentschel är lektor i pedagogiskt arbete med inriktning mot musik vid Umeå universitet.
Vilka bildningsprocesser kan urskiljas ur människors Spotifyanvändande? Det visar sig att ett sådant användande är tätt sammanflätat med musikalisk- såväl som digital kunskap. Med ett fokus på de bildningsprocesser som sker i samspelet mellan människa, teknik och musik utmanas förståelsen av vad en strömmande musiktjänst som Spotify kan erbjuda.
”Evolving Bildung in the nexus of streaming services, art and users – Spotify as a case” är ett tvärdisciplinärt projekt som visar hur människans bildningsprocesser villkoras, utmanas och möjliggörs i och med den strömmande medieutvecklingen. Denna bok kan med fördel användas inom utbildningar i musikpedagogik, musikvetenskap, musikproduktion, ljudteknik, pedagogik, kulturstudier, sociologi, samt medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap.
What educational processes take place in people's Spotify use? It turns out that such use is closely linked to musical as well as digital competences. With a focus on the educational processes that take place in the interplay between people, technology and music, the understanding of what a streaming music service like Spotify can offer is challenged.
"Evolving Bildung in the nexus of streaming services, art and users - Spotify as a case" is a cross-disciplinary project that shows how the processes of human education and self-formation are conditioned, challenged and made possible by the streaming media development. This book can be used in educations in music pedagogy, musicology, music production, audio engineering, pedagogy, cultural studies, sociology, and media and communication science.
This article explores the meaning and function of streaming media as a potential facilitator of musical Bildung. Taking the affordances of streaming media technologies as a starting point, the article thus focuses on the formative and cultivating dimensions a music streaming service such as Spotify might offer. The specific aim of this article is to describe and analyse how musical Bildung may evolve within a Spotify context from a user perspective. To address the aim from the point of view of music education, Spotify users’ activities and experiences of streaming media interactions were accessed, inspired by internet-related ethnography. Stimulated recall interviews, focusing on the participants’ experiences as well as their actual use of Spotify’s streaming service, were conducted, recorded, and transcribed. The generated material was subjected to co-operative hermeneutic content analysis. The results illuminate how Bildung evolves in users’ encounters with the service and with art mediated via Spotify. Relevant topics occurring in the human-art-technology relationship of Bildung from a Heideggerian perspective were Being-possible, the ability-to-be, and Spotify as the Other. In sum, it can be stated that Bildung evolves when Spotify exceeds the thingness of the Other, becoming a work of art in itself, throwing the user into Being.
2007 presenterade vi paperet Aesthetic Communication - Students’ Awareness på konferensen International Society of Philosophy in Music Education (Ferm-Thorgersen & Thorgersen 2007). I paperet föreslog vi att begreppet “estetisk kommunikation” kunde vara användbart för lärare och lärarutbildare för att tänka kring utveckling av estetisk verksamhet som kommunikation. Med utgångspunkt i en kombination av fenomenologi och pragmatism argumenterade vi för att en konstruktivistiskt syn på lärande innebär att kunskap blir till i möten mellan människor och i möten med världen. Konstuttryck blir således både mediator i dessa möten och samtidigt något människor möter. Det estetiska blir till i mötena och det blir således en uppgift för skolan att lägga tillrätta för elevers medvetna deltagande i sådana estetiska praktiker. I detta första paper lyfte vi fyra centrala medvetandedimensioner som vi ansåg att det var viktigt att fokusera i skolans konstnärliga och estetiska verksamheter: 1)Medvetande sig själv, 2) Medvetenhet om andra, 3) Medvetenhet om uttrycksmöjligheter, 4) Medveten om roller och ansvar i kommunikationen.
I ett uppföljande paper året efter skrev vi om fantasins, delning av erfarenheter och drivkrafters roll i estetisk kommunikation som en utveckling av hur och varför skolan skulle kunna arbeta med de fyra medvetenhetsformerna.
Efter detta skildes våra vägar och vi har sedan på varsitt håll utvecklat varsin gren gällande teorin om estetisk kommunikation, den ena primärt med Arendt, Dufrenne & Heidegger, den andra med hjälp av Dewey, Spinoza, Næss och Deleuze. I denna dialogiska presentationen söker vi att visa på och analysera hur dessa två grenar av estetisk kommunikation ömsesidigt kan berika varandra och tillsammans kan bidra med i förståelsen av vilken roll estetisk erfarenhet och upplevelse kan spela i utbildning och lärande.