| 1. |
- Johansson, Karin
(författare)
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Organ improvisation : Activity, action and rhetorical practice
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis focuses on contemporary organ improvisation in Western European musical culture. The aim of the study is to explore organists’ descriptions, constructions and definitions of improvisation in words and music, with an interest in the interaction between receptivity, creativity and change. As a research object, the art of organ improvisation is defined as a source for exploring learning and creative processes in self-directed learning and artistic performance. The framework of activity theory is applied in order to study organ improvisation as forming part of dynamic cultural-historical activity systems, where music-making and learning develop, transform and expand.For methodological purposes, the participating organists’ production and use of improvised music in professional practice and performance are seen as discursive practices. Five male and five female professional organ improvisers from four countries participated in the study. The data collection took place at two occasions: (i) a semi-structured, in-depth interview at the organ, and (ii) a public musical performance, followed by a concluding interview. Both occasions were DV documented and MD recorded. Data thus consisted of verbal as well as musical statements, and were submitted to a qualititative and interpretive analysis through the use of the computer soft-ware Hyperresearch. The results show that the organists in this study display an expansive approach towards notation and music-making, which thus deconstructs the opposition between interpretation and improvisation. Moreover, the results show how the character of organ improvisation depends on the performance contexts: Two discourses on music - music as a means and music as an end in itself - and two discourses in music - contextual communication and individual expression - were identified as situated in the liturgy and the concert, respectively. These discourses regulate the scope for musical expression, and are connected to clearly defined learning and creative strategies as well as to the shaping of the communicative events of sounding music. The gender differences found in the study are discussed as connected to two historical tracks, and to differing, but equally successful strategies, covering an imagined scale from historical style studies of composed musical works to individually conceived instant compositions. In conclusion, organ improvisation is viewed as a contemporary rhetorical practice, where the organists as musical orators act with (i) a well-informed discourse awareness, (ii) an ability to make self-assessments, and (iii) a stable, integrated sense of musical quality, in expressing intentional and important musical messages. A model of expansive teaching and suggestions for the use of activity theory in artistic research are put forward.
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| 2. |
- Asp, Karl
(författare)
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Mellan klassrum och scen - en studie av ensembleundervisning på gymnasieskolans estetiska program
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Singing and playing instruments in Swedish secondary schools follow a long tradition, where playing in orchestras or singing in choirs are common historical examples of ensemble activities. In the last decades ensemble playing and teaching have undergone different changes, both in relation to musical practices at large, and with regard to repertoire, use of instruments, technical equipment and not least the philosophical and pedagogical ideas about music education. The aim of this thesis is to get a deeper knowledge about contemporary classroom ensemble in Swedish upper secondary schools. The research questions are: What does the object of learning look like in classroom ensemble? How are objects of learning in classroom ensemble legitimated? The theoretical framework is inspired by Foucauldian discourse analysis where the concept of discourse is used in an ecclectic way in order to grasp how ways of thinking about music, music education, pedagogy and didactics inform the music teachers and by that legitimizing different objects of learning. Data has been collected by focus group interviews, where four groups of music teachers participated, and by observing and interviewing three music teachers teaching classroom ensemble. Data has been analyzed following Foucault’s concepts of the event, the series, the regularity and the condition of possibility. In the analysis, two discourses are found to permeate the practice of classroom ensemble: (i) the discourse on artistry, which articulates objects with relevance for the performance (a concert, a show), where pupils try to simulate and implement an informal music practice and, (ii) the discourse on schooling, which articulates objects relating to schooling and education. The results show that the performances play a major role in the teaching of classroom ensemble, and as a result, what pupils learn is limited to what they are playing during those performances. This leads to questions about what the pupils learn by participating in such performances
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| 3. |
- Bjerstedt, Sven
(författare)
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Storytelling in Jazz Improvisation : Implications of a Rich Intermedial Metaphor
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The phenomenon of intermedial conceptual loans is central to our understanding of the time-based arts. This thesis focuses on the usage of the term storytelling with regard to jazz improvisation. The aim of the investigation is to clarify how this concept is used by Swedish jazz practitioners. The framework of the study includes theories of narrativity and of metaphor as well as educational and sociological perspectives. The study aims at an exploration of a multivariety of perspectives. Accordingly, the analysis of the empirical study – which consists of qualitative interviews with fifteen jazz musicians – as well as of relevant previous writings is carried out by means of a broad inclusionist hermeneutic approach. Throughout the multitude of issues thus explored, qualities of openness, wholeness, and listening stand out as crucial to jazz improvisation and to musicians' understanding of it as 'storytelling'. The quality of temporality permeates any improvisational activity; the results of the study are structured in accordance with this perspective. The study points to several implications of the usage of the concept storytelling regarding jazz improvisation. From a theoretical point of view, the results exemplify the bidirectional function and relevance of rich intermedial metaphoricity on a conceptual level. Artistic implications of the usage of 'storytelling' in jazz contexts include the dynamics between structural and communicative aspects of the music, as well as the dynamics of different kinds of authenticity: on one hand, authenticity regarding the tradition in which the improviser is situated; on the other, authenticity regarding the improviser's own individuality. With regard to educational issues, the multivariety of required artistic skills in the improviser arguably calls for a rich learning ecology framework including collective, experiential, and exploratory approaches to improvisation. From a sociological point of view, the storytelling metaphor is shown to function as a kind of exclusionist counterdiscourse employed by an older generation of musicians against a younger one, by an autodidactic musical culture against an educationalist one, or by advocates of authenticity against technical proficiency. In conclusion, the concept storytelling as a rich intermedial metaphor is shown to be significant to the practice and reflection of performing artists through its ability to mediate holistic views of what is considered to be of crucial importance in artistic practice, analysis, and education.
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| 4. |
- Bygdéus, Pia, 1963-
(författare)
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Medierande verktyg i körledarpraktik : en studie av arbetssätt och handling i körledning med barn och unga
- 2015
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Konstnärligt arbete (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Sweden, approximately 5 % of the population sing in a choir or a singing group which means that about 500 000 people plus a number of choral conductors regularly meet in choir related practices. The aim of the present study is to describe, verbalize and make visible the mediating tools used by choir directors working with children and youth. The study is qualitative in character: four choir directors were observed closely while working with their children and youth choirs. They also took part in semi-structured interviews. The empirical data material consists of observation notes, reflective writing, individual interviews, focus conversations, videotapes and stimulated recall interviews.The results demonstrate that the role of the choir director is complex. When working with a choir, choir directors often use several aspects of their professional role. Analysed from a sociocultural perspective, the result points at eight categories of working approaches: (a) A listening attitude towards the choir, with the music in focus; (b) a variation in ways of working with the choir; (c) the use of musical routines; (d) the choir director acting as a role model in shaping musical expression with the group; (e) a concentrated cooperation with the choir through short and expressive commands and instructions; (f) reflection in practice by planning and self-evaluation; (g) storytelling, which results in memory training, stimulation of the imagination and the sharing of common experience, and (h) the use of target images expressed as visions, goals or jointly stated, communicated targets. These categories are generated through the analysis of the choir directors’ actions and activities in their work with the choirs. This is situated in choir singing as a social and cultural practice. The participants display great individual variation in their choices of strategies for communication and in their decision-making when working with children’s and youth choirs. A large variety of cultural and mediating tools are used. The working approaches and mediating tools become available in a social, situated and cultural practice. In conclusion, choral conducting with children and youth involves a great variety of negotiations and renegotiations of working approaches and mediating tools.
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| 5. |
- Di Lorenzo Tillborg, Adriana
(författare)
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Music Education and Democratisation : Policy processes and discourses of inclusion of all children in Sweden's Art and Music Schools
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to critically investigate the discourses of Sweden’s Art and Music Schools (SAMS, kulturskolor in Swedish) connected to policy processes for the democratisation of music education for all children and adolescents. A further aim is to contribute to knowledge on the development and enactment of policy processes for the democratisation of music education. The empirical material is based on focus group conversations with sixteen SAMS leaders and policy documents related to SAMS. The overall research questions are as follows: (1) What discourses of inclusion and exclusion constitute and are constituted by leadership positioning in relation to policy processes for the democratisation of music education? (2) How is the enactment of policies constituted within and through SAMS leaders’ discursive practices? (3) How is the inclusion of all children constituted within and through SAMS leaders’ discursive practices and within and through policy documents with relevance for SAMS?SAMS were originally developed as a loosely coupled system of locally shaped schools for learning musical instruments. Gradually, they have embraced other subjects like dance, drama and the visual arts, along with different forms of collaboration with the compulsory school system. The inclusion of all children and the training of professional musicians have been part of the rationale for the development of the system. However, the inclusive aim of SAMS has been problematised in policy and research, exposing an unfulfilled democratic potential.The theoretical framework of the thesis constitutes of discourse theories – Foucauldian discourse analysis and discursive psychology – and policy theories. Among the concepts applied are discourse, regime of truth, policy enactment and policy cycle.The results show that several discourses constituted by and constituting subjectivity are at play: multicentric inclusion discourse, normalisation discourse, specialisation discourse, market discourse, economic discourse and collaboration discourse. The results indicate that there is a need to raise awareness of discourses involved in SAMS activities. Finally, the study offers possible pathways towards the democratisation of music education through engagement in policy processes.
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| 6. |
- Ericsson, Claes
(författare)
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Från guidad visning till shopping och förströdd tillägnelse: moderniserade villkor för ungdomars musikaliska lärande.
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Abstract In the Swedish compulsory school system there is a trend towards increased student influence. School ideologists have for at least ten years strongly emphasised this issue. This tendency is in line with a more general direction in Western societies, which in many aspects has moved toward individualisation. Based on these developments, the main reason for undertaking the presents study was to contribute to the discussion about different aspects of learning, which have as their starting point the issue of how adolescents experience musical learning. The study moves in and between the two fields of musical learning in school and in leisure time, and the data consists of seven group conversations carried out with eighth and ninth graders in secondary school. The analysis is undertaken in three steps, each one of which represents a gradually increasing level of abstraction. The theory is grounded on two different areas which have some common aspects, namely theories of modernity and philosophy of music education. The results show that value related issues such as preference and interpretation in the greatest possible extent should be left to the students, and the teacher should instead provide help to students by giving them tools for expression, such as training skills and providing a suitable milieu for musicing. Adolescents give expression to an apprehension that an important task of the school subject music is to expose musical genres and activities, whereupon the students can then choose what suits them. This way of acquiring music does not correspond to the way in which students assimilate music in everyday contexts and highlights a contradiction between how they legitimise musical learning in school and in leisure time. In their leisure time, students acquire preferences for music in an unsystematic and random manner. Their discussions strongly emphasise a search for music “to call their own”. Furthermore, the study shows that learning often occurs in situations where it is not intentional, for example when music listening is a background activity, but still an analysis of musical parameters takes place in an unconscious matter. Some of the adolescents consider ability to collaborate as the most important knowledge that comes out of music education in school. This attitude can be seen as a move from content to form. Two main discourses were identified: the discourse music and the discourse the school subject music. The discourse music is wide and embraces music in leisure time as well as in school. It consists of listening and musicing. The discourse the school subject music is narrow and legitimised only through its position as a school subject. The study also shows that musical learning has a therapeutical dimension and can be considered as a means to strengthen the self. This function seems to be an important end in musical activities. Finally, modern aesthetical values were applied to a post modern context, which implies that the aesthetics of modernity is still alive, and occupying a new body. Music educators in schools ought to consider the above outlined modernised conditions for musical learning, and thereby reflect upon the implications they might bring for music education.
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| 7. |
- Fridell, Ingemar
(författare)
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Talk on Musical Interpretation — Visual Tools for Perceived Dynamics and Points of Gravity
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Typical for Western classical music is the process of interpreting and conveying a written score into sounding music. However, sometimes the communication of musical issues between musicians may be experienced as aggravating. In educational contexts in a broad sense, it might be advantageous if this communication could be facilitated, for example, by using visual illustrations as a complement to the verbal language. The final aim of the present PhD project is to introduce a further investigation of the relationship between what musicians do when performing classical compositions and how the music will be experienced by listeners familiar with this kind of music. As an indispensable preparative step for this purpose, based on established conventions of melody phrasing, two special visual tools were developed: the Melody Phrasing Curve and a system for notating metrical points of gravity. In two empirical studies, the relevancy of these visual tools, intended to simplify the communication of matters linked to musical interpretation, was tested. This purpose includes the exploration of musical thoughts coming up when the tools are employed by professional musicians as instruments for illustrating their musical experiences. The Melody Phrasing Curve is a continuous line that is drawn by free hand into a special device indicating approximately the experienced dynamical fluctuations within the melody part of a composition. In the two phases of Study A, this phrasing curve was tested from the perspective of music professors listening to classical piano excerpts recorded on audio tape. The results indicate that the visual tool mentioned might be used as an instrument for illustrating the experienced changing dynamics of the melody part, primarily in piano music of a clear homophonic character. In the consecutive Study B, the other visual tool, the system for notating metrical points of gravity, was introduced. This tool was used by four professional musicians, together with the Melody Phrasing Curve, as an aid when preparing performances of three classical piano excerpts, as well as for the purpose of visually illustrating musical aspects of their recorded performances. The study included in-depth-interviews revealing some of the participants’ musical ideas. The results revealed that the participants respected the traditions of classical music, but they were also interested in further exploring the expressive potential of the music, in order to find new interpretative solutions. Moreover, the results indicate that the visual tools employed might be used in educational contexts as triggers for activating musicians’ self-reflection and for developing a bigger awareness when interpreting classical music. Aside from the participants’ diverging drawing styles, the results further support the functionality of the Melody Phrasing Curve as a visual tool for mirroring the experienced dynamical progression of the melody part. Finally, the phrasing curve may be used for the purpose of planning musical interpretations, as well as for illustrating a given performance.
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| 8. |
- Heiling, Gunnar
(författare)
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Spela snyggt och ha kul : Gemenskap, sammanhållning och musikalisk utveckling i en amatörorkester
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a Swedish brass band a program for change was pursued which aimed to improve the artistic level of playing of the ensemble without replacing less competent members. At the time for the study the band comprised 34 members, four of whom were female. The research question was: How does community and group coherence interact with the goal to improve the musical standard in an amateur brass band? The music-making of the band is approached from two perspectives, one of social psychology and education, and the other of aesthetics. The band is seen as an organization, where the activities and the roles of the musicians as well as the relations between them are described. The activities are either oriented towards the musical results, the social relations, or both. The unit of analysis is the social practice. Attention is focussed on what happens in the daily work during rehearsals and concerts The musical standard of the band is discussed according to two different perspectives on aesthetics, one traditional, based on technical criteria of quality, the other also concerned with musical expression and extra-musical factors such as the composition of the program and on-stage deportment, the so called “passepartout of music”. Data-collection include participant observations, interviews and audio- and videotapes of rehearsals and performances during a period of one and a half years with a follow-up about two years later. Major conclusions include: The band can be described as a social community with a balanced group coherence, which is neither too strong nor too weak. The aesthetical code of the band is characterized by a striving for artistic perfection which is restricted by time, by the leadership-style and the competence of the conductor, and by the goal-acceptance of the individuals who comprise the band. With a simultaneous emphasis on the “passepartout of music”, shortcomings in artistic perfection can be compensated by a desire to work for and cooperate with the audience. Thus the likelihood increases that there will be goal-acceptance and goal-fulfillment among the individuals who comprise the band, when the goal is: Play well and have fun.
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| 9. |
- Hofvander Trulsson, Ylva
(författare)
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Musikaliskt lärande som social rekonstruktion. Musikens och ursprungets betydelse för föräldrar med utländsk bakgrund.
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Swedish higher formal aesthetic education, students from ethnic mi-norities are significantly underrepresented. This also seems to be the case in music education for younger children. Accordingly, the relation-ship between music education and the ethnic diversity of the contem-porary Swedish society, not reflected in the selection of students to the Swedish music and culture schools, is of vital importance for research. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate music education in the eyes of immigrant parents, by examining the narratives of parents with non-Swedish backgrounds on the significance of music in their families. The specific aims of the study is to investigate how these parents de-scribe (i) the presence and role of music in their everyday lives and how it relates to their origin, and (ii) the importance of music learning to their children. The theoretical framework rests on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu and his definitions of various forms of capital: cultural, social, economic and symbolic capital. Furthermore his concept of habi-tus has been useful in order to understand the musical upbringing and the impact of the music in peoples’ lives. Qualitative in-depth inter-views were undertaken with 12 parents, six women and six men, now all living in Sweden, but with their background in eight different count-ries. The results are presented in three parts: (i) portraits of the par-ents and their backgrounds; (ii) the parents’ own narratives on music and music education and (iii) an analysis adopting the concept of social mobility. The discussion consists of perspectives on the practice of music as a potential tool for social success and integration of the chil-dren. It emphasizes the concepts of identity and music as a potential tool for social reconstruction. Class remobility, the reclaiming of social position through the next generation, and its possible impact on the upbringing of the child are also themes in focus. In conclusion, the complex interactions between teacher and parent, parent and child, student and teacher, three parties trialectically creating and nourishing teaching situations, are elucidated.
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| 10. |
- Holmberg, Kristina
(författare)
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Musik- och kulturskolan i senmoderniteten : reservat eller marknad?
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis focuses on the education at Swedish community school of music and art. The aim of the study is to investigate how teachers at those schools talk about their own activities, and thereby also to explore, describe and analyse how the teaching is manifested. In the study 27 teachers from six different community schools of music and art participated. All together about 10 hours of group conversation were recorded and subsequently transcribed in to text for further analysis. In line with the theoretical approach of the thesis naturally occurring talk was strived for. The study uses two discourse analytical perspectives, both founded in social construction- ism and post-structuralistic theory. Discursive psychology, influenced by ethnomethodology and conversation analysis in the field of social psychology, and discourse theory, inspired by the work of Foucault. The combination of the approaches is considered as more productive than a one-sided use of one or the other. In order to create options for discussing the conditions society offers on the basis of the macro-discourses generated by the data, theories of modernity has been chosen as a relevant approach. The results are divided into four areas; Change (Förändringen), Future (Framtiden), Frustration (Frustrationen) and Freedom (Friheten), all describing distinctions between systems of difference. Each area is extensively analysed. In the discussion the changed conditions in the teachers work at the schools of music and art are discussed in relation to the tendencies of late modernity. The teachers in the present study are experiencing a loss of influence concerning teaching and are explaining this in terms of an in- creasing demand for participation from the students. At the same time, the changed students are seen as responsible for the changes in the lesson contents. The changed condition in society consequently illuminates what has happened at the schools of music and art. Both teachers and students are by cause of the cultural liberation more free as the norms of the traditional have lost most of its power. This gives consequences for the students, who more actively seek influence according to the music of the lessons. On behalf of the teachers one consequence can be seen in their increasing openness to new ideas and in a higher wish to manage a pleasant teaching for their students. In conclusion, as long as traditions were able to guide the contents of the activities and the students adjusted to it, there was no need for greater clarity. However, in late modernity, when ideas that were once obvious are getting questioned, things come to another situation. A scenario for the future without control documents, would, according to this study, lead to an abandoning of the ambition, and the schools of music and art would transfer into an amusement park for the ”ego children”. But with an increasing distinctness on the mission, it is my conviction that the cultural heritage will also be better able to survive in late modernity. There is no doubt that community schools of music and art have capacity to carry on a market adapted activity and at the same time to mediate a tradition.
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| 11. |
- Houmann, Anna
(författare)
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Musiklärares handlingsutrymme - möjligheter och begränsningar
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- ABSTRACT Titel: Music teachers’ discretionary power – possibilities and limitations. According to previous research in music education, during recent decades the working conditions for professional music teachers in schools have changed radically. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the working conditions of music teachers by focusing on their experiences of and ideas about discretionary power in their professional lives. This is accomplished by addressing the research questions: What does discretionary power mean to the music teachers? How and where is the discretionary power of music teachers created? What enabling and constraining processes in the creation of discretionary power can be identified? The theoretical framework rests on phenomenology and the assumption of the life-world as the complex, everyday world in which we live. In this study, the life-world is perceived as an intentional, lived and social world, and research is understood as the study of lived experience. The methodology is qualitative and the data collection was conducted as in-depth interviews. Student constructed three-dimensional models of what it means to be a music teacher were used as a ”key” to the life world in the interviews. The meaning of discretionary power is shaped in the interplay between knowledge, action and motivation. The creation of discretionary power develops when the inner reality of a music teacher corresponds to the shape and nature of external reality. In relationships with pupils and colleagues different proportions of power, control, demand, social support and trust can be identified. These illuminate the social processes through which discretionary power is created, and they are also enabling and constraining in various ways. The results are discussed as three themes; the meaning of discretionary power in the relationships between (i) music teachers and their institutional settings, (ii) music teachers and their tasks and (iii) music teachers and others. The findings point out the tension between enabling and constraining processes in these three themes. Meaning is formed together with pupils and colleagues. In conclusion, the knowledge base of discretionary power and the creation of discretionary power consist of three dimensions: knowledge about discretionary power, knowledge through discretionary power and knowledge in discretionary power.
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| 12. |
- Hultberg, Cecilia
(författare)
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The Printed Score as a Mediator of Musical Meaning Approaches to Music Notation in Western tonal music
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Abstract Centering on notation is a characteristic of Western tonal music. The printed scores are expected to provide the necessary information on musical expression. In this study, strategically selected contemporary musicians’ ways of under-standing the printed scores are investigated. All participants are thoroughly familiar with musical practice in Western tonal tradition. The intention is to describe their ways of using music notation in order to comprehend musical meaning. Conclusions on functions of the printed scores are drawn through exploration of how the musicians cope with these. The participants performed well-prepared interpretations of freely chosen, as well as prescribed, unknown tonal pieces of music played by all of them, and commented on how they understood the printed scores. The data were collected through video-recorded performances and explorative interviews including gestures and played examples. Two main approaches to music notation were found: an EXPLORATIVE and a REPRODUCTIVE APPROACH. In the EXPLORATIVE APPROACH, the function of the printed score is that of an invita- tion to seek out implicit meaning according to the musicians’ individual judgement, within a frame of agreed understanding in Western tonal music that they share with the composer. In the REPRODUCTIVE APPROACH, the function is that of an explicitly normative document prescribing how to play, and through which the performance is to be assessed. Different senses are coordinated for identifying musical expression in explorative statements. These are based on the musicians’ familiarity with the discourse in music. Visual observations dominate reproductive statements, in which personal experience of musical practice is not regarded. Strategies of coping with music notation, used on early levels of instrumental education, may strongly influence musicians in the long term. Teaching methods based on a REPRODUCTIVE APPROACH to the printed score may even prevent professional musicians from applying musical understanding later developed. Based on these results, a theory concerning strategies of using printed scores in instrumental teaching has been developed.
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| 13. |
- Johnson, David
(författare)
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Raising Voices : Singing repertoire and practices in Swedish schools
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This doctoral study aims to (i) investigate current song repertoire and singing practices in Swedish elementary school music education and (ii) to critically assess what factors may be seen to affect singing practices and repertoire choice. It looks to map out how much young students are singing in the general music classroom, what they sing, and how they sing, and to discuss possible implications for pedagogical practice from an ethnomusicological perspective.Data was collected through a survey of music teachers, conducted on a national level between May and September, 2016. In a mixed-mode questionnaire, teachers (N=287) provided a complete list of songs sung during the 2015-16 school year with a chosen grade (grade 4), as well as information such as chosen key, sources of repertoire, and other issues surrounding repertoire selection and classroom singing. Questions concerning factors that might potentially influence singing practice such as teacher age, sex, work experience and professional training, and choice of accompanying instrument were also included.The resulting repertoire list of 2,917 songs was analyzed according to such factors as vocal range, genre, age, and country of origin.Results show singing to be a popular and important element of classroom music education among teachers and students; singing occupied on average just under two-fifths of class time. Student participation in choice of repertoire was found to be the most important criteria for teachers in repertoire selection. Singing repertoire was found to have a strongly traditional Swedish character in terms of song origin, language, age, and function. The songs tended to be older Swedish music drawn from popular, children’s, traditional and singer-songwriter music. Music of minority cultures from within Scandinavia and non-Western popular and traditional musics had a very low prevalence.Prescribed singing range was found to be somewhat low and narrow in relation to students’ expected vocal range. A majority of songs descended below C4 and did not exceed C5. While teacher education was found to be associated with wider prescribed singing ranges, even those teachers with relevant training tended to place songs below C4. This low singing range was employed regardless of genre, with participants transcribing downwards well-known traditional music that did not conform to the low range. The low and narrow tessitura was also found to persist independently of school form and other background factors such as accompanying instrument, teacher age, sex, and professional experience. A dominant school singing style regarding prescribed singing range could thereby be described, with most participants placing music within the lower ranges of their student’s voices close to spoken pitch while avoiding the upper or head register. These findings suggest that musical change on the microevolutionary level is occurring in Swedish classroom singing culture.
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| 14. |
- Jonasson, Camilla
(författare)
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”Jag har också rätt att ljudsätta världen” : Om tjejers och transpersoners tillblivelser som musikskapare i musikteknologiska lärmiljöer
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better understanding of the relations between music technology and girls and transgender persons (aged 13–21) in music making. The research subject is leisure time music making in music technology learning environments, where issues of gender equality are emphasized. A further aim is to discuss the music technology learning environment from the perspectives of music education and gender equality.The dissertation draws from sociomateriality, a post-humanistic theory chosen as it lends itself to the study of the “entanglement” of the social, the cultural, and the material. The choice of sociomateriality is rooted in the desire to contribute to a better understanding of the relations between humans and non-humans. In particular, Actor–Network Theory (ANT), as developed by Latour (2015), is utilized as a theoretical and methodological approach. The study also refers to more critical approaches, for example, feminist materialism, thus inviting the concept of the “cyborg”, which questions not only the male/female and nature/culture dichotomies but also the human/machine dichotomy.The design of the study is inspired by ANT and Latour’s (1999) ideas of science as a collective experiment for humans and materiality which allows for the creation of a network of knowledge. The chosen methods include participant observations and focus group conversations based on visual and auditive communication methodology (photo, audio and film). The empirical data was generated in three music-learning environments: two music camps and one music hackathon. All three cases had a clear mission to improve equity in music education and in the music industry.The results show how "becoming", in Latour’s sense, is made possible in the meeting between humans and non- humans. Based on the analysis, this “becoming” should be understood as a cyborg or a music-making hybrid (a temporary relation), which is thus, a contribution of the dissertation to the understanding of the relations between humans, technology and music making. The study found that individual knowledge of technology enabled the participating persons to, in cooperation with tutors and non-human materiality, take control over their learning and music making. Thus, the dichotomy of male/female technology in music technology learning environments is suspended. The majority of the girls and transgender persons in this study were, in relation to technology, given the power to become music-making hybrids. The study’s result also shows the significance of lyrics in music making. In other words, the studied projects gave the participants a chance to take power over learning. They were also given the opportunity to express themselves and soundscape the world. Finally, the study shows the potential of music technology projects designed for girls and transgender persons to promote gender equality in music education.
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| 15. |
- Karlsson, Maria
(författare)
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Musikelever på gymnasiets estetiska program : En studie av elevernas bakgrund, studiegång och motivation
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In previous studies research on motivation in education has tended to be focused on attribution (perceived causes of success and failure), self perception, goal orientation and autonomy. This thesis aims to describe the background and schooling of music students and to measure their motivation for music education. Motivation is viewed as a cognitive process, which influences learning through achievement behaviour. The study is based on a survey which included 61% of the students (mainly 19 years old) studying specialised music in Swedish high schools. Items were analysed using regression analysis, ANOVA procedures and structural equation techniques. The results show that most students have a long record of voluntary music education. However, one third of the boys, in marked contrast to virtually no girls, can be characterized as autodidacts with a long music experience but short formal studies. Gender differences seem to strengthen during the students’ gymnasium studies. Students’ self-perception in music factored into three components - creativity, technical skills, and musicality. Self-perceptions explained 29% and attributions 24% of the students’ variance in achievement behaviour. Attribution covariates strongly with self-perception but moderately with autonomy and goal orientation. Finally, 62% of the variance in the students’ results were explained by attitudes and three components of achievement behaviour: activity level, choice of activity and persistence. The results of the attribution study confirm earlier studies in that teacher, effort and ability are common factors used by students to explain their success, while effort, previous knowledge and learning strategy often are used to explain failure. Students’ explanations of success and failure tend to be uncorrelated. Only references to ability was strongly connected between success and failure situations. The results on the effect of goal orientation also confirm earlier studies in that mastery orientation has a positive effect on achievement behaviour. A structure of self-perception in music has not been reported earlier. Results here can be viewed as a development of the artistic factor proposed by Vispoel. Finally, the results show that a large majority of the music students in the Swedish high school aesthetic program display a healthy motivational orientation. However, few students seem to be aware of their learning strategy. Teachers should therefore help their students to become aware of different techniques when studying and practicing, and to monitor their own learning. This can be achieved through individualized and structured teacher feedback on the students’ progress during their musical learning.
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| 16. |
- Ljungar-Chapelon, Anders
(författare)
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Le respect de la tradition : Om den franska flöjtkonsten: dess lärande, hantverk och estetik i ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- ABSTRACT The present study describes topics related to music education, and the education of flautists, primarily on a professional level, covering a period from early 18th Century up to the early 21st Century within the French flute tradition. Further related areas of importance are concepts such as intuition, imitation, mimeses and maieutics and their relation to a flautist’s learning and teaching. For this purpose the form of two empirical studies has been chosen. The study as a whole can be described as a comparative method combining printed artefacts such as flute methods, literature, compositions and exercises for flute, historical recordings together with two case studies based on interviews. The theoretical framework concerning method and theory is based on hermeneutics and the universe of German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. Other important sources are Plato (maieutics), Aristotle (mimesis), Schopenhauer (mimesis), Larsson (intuition), Heidegger and Vygotskij. Concerning thoughts about artistic creation, and the action of performing music, important ideas are drawn from the output of Marcel Proust and Jean-Philipp Rameau. The research question is formulated as: Which are the learning tools within the French flute tradition and its teaching of the art of flute playing concerning its craftsmanship, artistry and aesthetics when this is described in (i) related texts, music and historical recordings; (ii) interviews with flute virtuoso players and teachers who represent the above mentioned tradition, including changes over time. The first study – Study A – attempts to describe and analyse the art of flute playing with its focus on the French flute tradition, and its teaching and learning methods. The description is done from a historical point of view, including a survey of related flute instruments, flute methods, as well as secondary literature and flute studies, exercises, flute music and historical recordings covering the period from early 18th Century up to the present day. The second study – Study B – is based on interviews with flautists Peter Lloyd (1931) and Alain Marion (1938-1998). The interviews deal with questions about teaching methods, aesthetics of flute playing, and mechanisms related to how to practice, and how to develop flute technique and interpretation within the French flute tradition. Parts of the interviews represent genuine values as being historical documents, never before documented, within research concerning the flute and its 20th Century history and its teaching, with a focus on the French flute tradition. Special attention has further been given to flautistic aesthetics, artistic ideas as well as topics concerning instrumental skills and learning as realised within the framework of a branch of the French flute tradition often coined as L’École de Marseille during the 20th Century. The results show that imitation, maieutics and intuition have been used as mediating tools within the French tradition during three hundred years. Further concepts as Du naturel dans l’art, Le son naturel and Bon Goût have been of significant importance concerning the development of craftsmanship, aesthetics and learning. Other findings are differences if a student is: (i) born into a tradition, and (ii) adopting a tradition coming from another cultural context. These differences show two ways of learning whereby being born into the tradition amplifies the need for less reflection whereas adopting a new tradition requires more reflection. A final result is the traditions inherent tendency to teach the students to be their own teachers. The conclusion is the need for a new concept – automaieutics – to further development of self-teaching skills.
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| 17. |
- Lonnert, Lia, 1966-
(författare)
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Surrounded by Sound : Experienced Orchestral Harpists’ Professional Knowledge and Learning
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Orchestral playing is a central practice within Western European classical music. Previous research in the field of orchestral musicians’ learning and knowledge has mainly focused on students’ learning orchestral playing. Working conditions and work-related problems were also emphasized in previous studies. This thesis, however, focuses on professional orchestral musicians’ knowledge and learning. The method to investigate these issues was to let musicians verbally describe their professional experiences and orchestral practice. Interviews with a low degree of structure were conducted with four orchestral harpists from renowned orchestras. In the analysis and interpretation a hermeneutical approach was used. This approach also offered guidelines for considering the researcher’s role and pre-understanding. The findings showed that skilled musicians developed their knowledge throughout their careers. Knowledge of orchestral playing was contextually based, and based on experience. All skills used by the musicians when playing in an orchestra had to be contextually adapted. A main finding was how musicians were able to create, by their knowledge, a space for musical freedom and personal interpretation when playing in the orchestra. There were also knowledge issues that always had to be maintained and others that constantly had to be developed within practice. In conclusion, there are major contradictions that are important elements of the profession of orchestral musicians. The musicians should have a personal musical expression as well as a highly developed ensemble skill. They should focus on the extreme detail and the totality of the performed musical piece at the same time. They have to be able to express themselves musically within a restricted framework. This framework, and the interspace between the frames, can be negotiated by knowledge, skills and the choices of the musician.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Nilsson, Bo L
(författare)
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”Jag kan göra hundra låtar”. Barns musikskapande med digitala verktyg
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Today’s children live in a world where music in all its different forms has become a significant factor in their everyday life. From earlier research we know that young children are able to create music by singing and using musical instruments. The present study was undertaken with eight-year-old children in school year 2 in order to investigate the children’s composing and composition processes using a synthesizer and computer software. The research questions are aimed at (a) clarifying the creative processes young children employ when they create music using digital tools, (b) describing and analysing the musical outcomes that are produced by the children as a result of this process, and (c) reaching a deeper understanding of what creative music making means to the children. These different aspects of creative music making, were examined by collecting data over a period of eighteen months: step by step computer MIDI-files from the compositions; observations, and in-depth interviews. The tasks given to the children were formed as invitations to create music to different pictures, but the children were only given explicit instructions related to the use of the synthesizer and the computer software. In the analysis, five different variations of the practise of creative music making were found, each with different objects in the foreground of the activity: a) Putting the synthesizer and computer in the foreground of the activity, trying out the possibilities of the equipment and testing its limits, b) Using creative music making as a means of expressing personal fantasy and emotions including deliberate as well as non-deliberate use of memories and various techniques for generating musical ideas, c) Putting the playing in the foreground of the activity resulted in long pieces with many repetitions where improvising and composing were integrated, d) Placing the music itself in the foreground in which rehearsing and planning were used in deliberate ways together with spontaneous ideas e) Putting the task in the foreground, which in some cases led to convergent thinking. The finding of the present study, which demonstrates that young children are able to create music with form and structure, is in conflict with some previous research that suggests that children younger than nine years of age are unable to create music with meaning. The final discussion of the variations found in the children’s practice of creative music making is extended into a discussion of how these variations relate to an already existing cultural practise, such as the practise of play, earlier musical experiences and to the suggestions of meaning, affordances, that were perceived by the children in the situation. The discussion also considers the ways in which the digital toolsrepresent a medium where planning, improvising and elements of chance coexist. This suggests that for the children the computer simultaneously opened up for the different kinds of mediation represented by orality and literacy.
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| 20. |
- Saether, Eva
(författare)
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The Oral University. Attitudes to music teaching and learning in the Gambia.
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The present study seeks to examine attitudes to teaching and learning among jalis in the Gambia. Although this is the main focus, the horizon of which the study is carried out, analysed and discussed, is the development of music teacher education in Sweden during the last three decades, and of which I have been a participant. The intention of the study is to expand current views on music teaching and learning so that teachers will be better equipped to work and function in a multicultural society. Specifically, the intention is to open the doors to the Mandinka approach to music education, in order to illuminate their philosophy of music teaching. The research question is: What are the attitudes to music teaching and learning in the Gambia, and in what ways are the jalis experiences of, and attitudes towards music and music education expressed? This study concerns cultural meetings on a number of levels: between people, between institutions and between literal and oral worlds of knowledge. The methodology chosen reflects these meetings: all results stem from the travels that I and my informant and co-researcher jali Alagi Mbye have made visiting musicians in the Gambia and, during a long period, moving in and out of each others cultures. The core of the empirical data consists of observations and interviews with jalis and other Gambian musicians. The emic and the etic perspectives of these interviews are reflected in different ways. In one of the interviews my main informant, jali Alagi Mbye, acts as a co-researcher, thereby opening up new dimensions to the study. In this interview, it is the accompaniment of the 21-stringed kora that leads the conversation, just as much as the questions. Because of the multifaceted content of this interview, the full transcript and a CD-recording is attached in the appendix. The results show that the oral jali tradition is in some respects both structured and formalised. Hence, it is described as ‘the Oral University’. Delving deeper into the conversations with the musicians ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the jali musical culture, the thematic outcome is differing. While the ‘insiders’ highlight the intellectual dimension of music education expressed in thoughts on culture and identity, and with references to the Sunjata orature, the ‘outsiders’ highlight the practical instrumental training dimension of music education, expressed, for example, by praising ‘the art of not talking’ as a way of teaching, and claiming that the master level and position is reached when people start to dance to your playing. In conclusion, these differences in attitudes to music teaching and learning reflect different ways of expressing knowledge.
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| 21. |
- Söderman, Johan
(författare)
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Rap(p) i käften : Hiphopmusikers konstnärliga och pedagogiska strategier
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Title: Verbally fa(s)t. Hip-hop Musicians' artistic and educational strategies. During the last decade there has been an awakening interest in concidering not only the formalised learning situations within institutional settings, but also all forms of learning that goes on in informal musical learning practices outside schools. My own personal experience of informal learning, my fascination and curiosity concerning hip-hop culture, and my interest in school, education and learning - are the foundations for my interest and reserach focus and the driving forces behind this doctoral theisis. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to study how hip-hop musicians talk about learning and artistic and educational strategies in different contexts. The study is focusing on both amateurish and professional milieus with female and male informants. How the informants talk about creative strategies, aesthetics, identity, transmitting tradition, fostering and adult education is the focus of the four articles. The research question in articles (1-4) are formulated as: How is the meeting between words and music in the creation of a hip-hop song and how do the informants talk about creativity and learning strategies? What interpretation repertoires are in use when the rappers construct a professional identity, how are they being legitimised and what discourses are they influenced by? What aspects of learning appear when two American rappers talk about their activities in interviews, group conversations, media interviews and in texts produced by themselves? How do rappers talk about hip-hop, their activities and learning with the focus on musical craft, education and activism? The theoretical points for this dissertation are: social constructionism, discourse, identity, field theory and culture criticism. It may seem like many theoretical perspectives, but every article has its own specific theory. The methodological approach suggest a broad attitude to method which is more about describing how the researcher has approached the topic. Methodology is, in the first place, a reflective activity. Individual interviews are the dominating research method in all the articles and discourse analysis has been used as a method in article 2. Howewer, there are inspiration from discourse analysis throughout the thesis. The hip-hop musicians are seen as fosterers, popular adult educators, jazz musicians, tradition-bearers, preachers, craftsmen, artists etc. Finally, it is important to emphasise that aesthetic contexts like hip-hop should not be described as radically different compared to the schools or other institutions. It seems as if both formal learning and informal learning exist in a dialectic way in and outside school.
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| 22. |
- Tullberg, Markus
(författare)
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Wind and Wood : Affordances of Musical Instruments: The Example of the Simple-System Flute
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to explore and describe the relationship and interaction between musicians and their instruments. In order to achieve a high level of detail, a certain instrument is in focus: the simple-system flute. Although primarily developed as a product of 19th-century Western art music, this instrument has since become established in other genres and traditions.Empirical data is generated through two qualitative studies. Study A consists of interviews with six flute players, including one flute maker. Together they represent a variety of European music traditions, and hence, the simple-system flute is perceived and used in different ways. In the cooperative inquiry of Study B, six flute players came together to investigate their own musical practice and approach towards their instruments.The central analytical concept is affordances, as coined by ecological psychologist James J. Gibson. The concept of affordances is combined with ideas from the emerging research paradigm of 4E cognition, in particular ideas from the extended and enactive dimensions.Through the analysis, affordances of musical instruments are defined as: perceived opportunities for actions arising from the sensorimotor relationship of the interaction with the instrument, as these unfold in the flow of musical practice.The analysis also shows that the cross-modal perceptual experience of the instrument varies between musicians. Viewed through the lens of affordances, this variation entails qualitatively different ways of playing.The perspective on musical learning that emerges through the analysis is discussed in terms of self-organization in which the development of the relationship between musician and instrument allows for an increasing capacity to perceive and act upon affordances of the instrument.This perspective on musical learning implies an understanding of music education as a form of eduction, where the learner is given appropriate space for self-organization and the educator assumes to role of sense-maker of the learning process, and facilitator and moderator of new musical experiences. The dynamic relationship between the individual learner and the educational environment is articulated as an ecological responsibility.
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| 23. |
- Törnquist, Els-Mari
(författare)
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Att iscensätta lärande : Lärares reflektioner över det pedagogiska arbetet i en konstnärlig kontext
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The present thesis examines the meeting between the artistic and the pedagogical dimensions in the work of teachers. The main aim is to describe the learning in practice, emerging from a collective creative process. The point of departure is teachers' experience of a musical-production as part of the pedagogical work in school. Research questions are: 1) What are the implications of being a teacher in an artistic context? 2) Which role and function does the teacher take on as a pedagogue in this work? 3) How does the teachers' own learning come out while participating in the activities associated with a musi-cal production? The empirical study is based on interviews with six teachers in compulsory school. In the analysis two central dimensions are appearing: a) the participation and b) the musical production including the artistic artefacts. The character of the participation is mutual engagement, interest and the shared responsibility between the participants (students and teachers). Teachers adopt a variety of roles during the production and a variable process appears. In the result presented in four categories: the participant, the supervisor, the manager and the artist, the social and artistic characters of the process are always present, though the focus of the teachers is constantly shifting. Teachers' capability to act and enter into different functional roles is a competence of great importance to both teachers and students in their interaction. It expounds a pedagogical dramaturgy, where the participants are quite aware of each other's roles and what they can expect from each other. Two complementary processes appear in teachers' objectives regarding education: One personal with an individual alignment approach and another one dealing with self-realization and collective work with a scenic direction. The production of the musical also provides an opportunity to apply personal and acquired knowledge. Music education and the musical production are integrated activities. According to the teachers' idea of musical learning there are two creative processes touching on the predictable and the unpredictable. These concepts also appear in the teachers? learning and pedagogical work as a creative and improvised way of educating. The results are discussed in a theory of community of practice and the concepts of community, identity, practice and meaning. To understand musical production in school as a community of practice implies an individual and a collective dimension, and a boundless practice in music education. The musical production develops ways of maintaining connections with other practises and even the world as a whole, since students are creative receivers of different cultural products and can be active in their own musical production of meaning. The collective creating process promotes a balance between participation and reification in the process of negotiating meaning. The musical production is the architecture for learning and a mediator of learning in an artistic context.
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| 24. |
- Halldin, Roger
(författare)
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Stochastic Modeling and Optimization under Uncertainty of a Hydro Power System
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Electricity bought and sold on the deregulated Nordic power market is dominated by hydro power. However, hydro power generation is restricted by the amount of water in reservoirs. The inflows to these reservoirs show a yearly cycle and seasonal planning of the production is necessary. Seasonal planning up to 1.5 years for a power producer in a hydro-thermal system with a regulated river is considered. For a price-taking, risk-averse producer who wants to maximize his profit, the representation of the stochastic variables, i.e. inflows and power price, in the planning algorithm is crucial. The representation of the stochastic variables as scenario trees is the main subject of this thesis. The inflows to the reservoirs in a river are highly spatially correlated and show temporal autocorrelation, as well. These properties are used to construct scenario trees. By using time series models the autocorrelation is explained and principal component analysis reduce substantially the dimension of the stochastic variables. Since the available amount of water that can be used for power production varies between years due to meteorological reasons the spot price shows large fluctuations. This dependence is used for modeling the power price and power contracts. Altogether, this gives an efficient method to create scenario trees suitable for stochastic programming with few assumptions concerning stochastic properties of the underlying stochastic processes. Scenario tree generation is the stochastic part in the solution to the seasonal planning problem. A multi-stage stochastic programming model with the inflows to different stations and the power price as stochastic elements has been constructed as well as a program system, SPOT, for obtaining the solution in practice. The different scenario tree generation methods have been evaluated as well as a comparison between the stochastic programming model and a deterministic model.
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