Artistic Plurality and Inclusive Institutional Culture in HME

1. Introduction

Artistic Plurality and Inclusive Institutional Culture in HME is rooted in the knowledge and understanding we have been building through several years of collaborative and dialogic work within the Diversity, Identity, Inclusiveness Working Group (DWG) of the AEC - Strengthening Music in Society (SMS) project. The first publication of the DWG – How Are Diverse Cultures Integrated in the Education of Musicians across Europe? – as well as the second – Decentering Curricula: Questions for Re-evaluating Diversity and Inclusiveness in HMEIs – are both available on the SMS publication website, having evolved from our personal experiences and reflections, continuous discussions and from insights gained through a vast body of scholarly literature.

At the same time, the publications were enriched in myriad ways by reaching out to different Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEIs) in search of existing practices and reflective actions on challenges posed by the wide area covered by our Working Group under the SMS project.

This eBook combines both publications into a holistic framework for reflecting upon and evaluating diversity, identity and inclusiveness in Higher Music Education today, supported by a wealth of examples of inspiring practices across Europe and beyond.

1.1 On the importance of plurality and continuous self-reflection

Concepts of quality and success become more inclusive when different genres and musical traditions coexist and influence each other through teaching, performance and research; this, in our Working Group’s view, is the essence of Artistic Plurality. As a Working Group engaging with the various topics linked to diversity and inclusion and compiling this document, we have not only been influenced by our own experiences working in higher music education, but also by recent broader movements like #metoo and Black Lives Matter. These movements have highlighted many difficult questions that have been acknowledged before, but have at times been brushed aside (or even ignored). We are also aware that these issues have been received and are being discussed in a variety of ways by different institutions, and that they have also led to uncertainty on how to deal with many of the topics they raise. Institutions are dealing with questions about artistic and pedagogical content, code(s) of conduct, and about the responsibilities of staff and students; many of these issues overlap. While there may be several shared aims for equality and respectful behaviour, there are also voices that call for a substantial shift in conservatoires’ core activities.

These discussions evoke strong responses, reflecting the professional integrity and passion that music professionals carry for the field. For instance: should we start decolonising our curriculum by replacing the ‘bro-triad’ of Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven with composers of colour like Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Chiquinha Gonzaga and Nora Holt? Should we call for a one-year moratorium on performing Beethoven, and instead focus on works by current composers neglected due to their race, ethnicity, gender, class or genre? The latter was proposed in an episode of the podcast Switched on Pop dedicated to Beethoven’s 5th symphony (accessed 02.10.2020).

These are issues on which we as a Working Group do not have a common opinion. But what we agree on is that we want to start a reflective process through our questions and supporting case studies, which will hopefully lead to a more inclusive and diverse institutional culture by decentering current paradigms. While this process is intended to improve access to and inclusivity within our institutions and a greater recognition of artistic plurality, we are also aware of the fact that other omissions will emerge. We acknowledge therefore that re-examining our institutions is an ongoing process that will never be completed.

1.2 Structure of the eBook and link to the publications

Acknowledging different histories and legacies, and thus also different contexts in which individual HMEIs across Europe operate, the first part of this publication offers a framework of common questions that allow institutions to consider a wide range of factors according to their own unique circumstances. This compendium of self-reflective questions aims to challenge the ways of thinking of curricula and institutional culture from a diversity perspective within HMEIs. Our aim is not only to challenge perceived dogmas, but also to raise some issues with which our field and institutions have not yet actively engaged. These questions are meant to be used as a self-assessment tool for you, the reader (whether an individual, a team, a department or an entire institution), and will be prefaced by a brief introduction to our Working Group’s key terms.

The second part of this publication explores these issues by providing case studies from across Europe (and, at times, beyond), meant to stimulate discussion and provide new ideas and possible pathways for institutions to undertake. These case studies focus on three interrelated and mutually-reinforcing streams of higher education activity or policy that have emerged as central to music education’s relevance, role and visibility in seeking to strengthen music in society. Please keep in mind that these are also context sensitive: each HMEI works within a national and international web of laws, customs and institutional networks. Different solutions might therefore have to be applied within a Norwegian and a Croatian context, for example.

1.3 Questions at a glance - the content wheel

In the graphic below you will find the content of Artistic Plurality and Inclusive Institutional Culture in HME at a glance. All case studies from the first publication, as well as the framework of questions from the second publication mentioned above are displayed in a way that you, the reader, can easily identify the links between the two publications and the extra material gathered in this document.

2. Embedding within AEC-Strengthening Music in Society (SMS)

In 2017 the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC) won 4-year funding from Creative Europe for a project called Strengthening Music in Society (SMS). This project marked an ambitious next step in the organisation’s work.

‘Strengthening Music in Society’ takes a particular lens on the broad agenda that the title suggests, focusing on the education of the next generations of professional musicians through specialist training institutions: what is needed in developing this education to ensure that emerging professional musicians are able to make flourishing lifelong careers and contribute to the societies in which they live; and equally in what ways these institutions may strengthen the part they play within their own localities, and the societal impact they have through the work they do with young musicians.

Through this project, together with experts from AEC member institutions and partner organisations who have formed different Working Groups (WGs), AEC has been pursuing the following objectives:

To raise consciousness of contemporary potential and challenges for musicians and HMEIs in society, and how these interact with the complex responsibilities that HMEIs have, artistically, educationally, economically, socially and environmentally.

To encourage HMEIs to open their educational offer towards more diversity and to promote inclusiveness throughout their activities.

To embed entrepreneurial skills in the education of the artist to better prepare students for their future role as musician-entrepreneur.

To help music students and teachers internationalise their careers and activities, and to achieve a greater impact of the most important online tool for student mobility in HME.

To explore and discuss new Learning & Teaching models enabling HMEIs to educate creative and communicating musicians.

To encourage the use of digital technologies in music education.

To strengthen student voice within the Association and within all AEC member institutions and to establish a European network of HME students.

To increase the quality of early childhood music education and thus extend the audience of tomorrow.

AEC organizes its different platforms and activities through the establishment of different WGs, composed by experts in different areas within the field of Higher Music Education. Proactivity, as well as geographical and gender balances are the applied criteria to guarantee the diverse and dynamic character of the groups, who recreate the diversity of AEC membership. In the frame of the AEC - Strengthening Music in Society (SMS) project, each strand is carried out by a WG composed by representatives of AEC member institutions, a student representative, a WG coordinator and relevant external partners.

2.1 Musicians as “Makers in Society” Academic Paper

Some months ago, the working group on music and HMEIs’ role in society (responsible to pursue the first objective stated above) has published an academic paper informed by research: Musicians as “Makers in Society”: A Conceptual Foundation for Contemporary Professional Higher Music Education, which sets the rationale for the entire SMS project, problematises the fundamental challenges in creating an appropriate education process, as well as the opportunities, and encourages institutions to rethink the nature of HME along these lines.

The article proposes a conceptual foundation: the “musician as a maker in society,” in which developing vision as a musician in society, underpinned on the one hand by immersion in musical artistry and on the other hand sustained practical experience of connecting and engaging with communities, offers invaluable preparation for and transition into professional life. It proposes that this idea, connecting societal and artistic vision and practise, is equally essential for HMEIs as it is for musicians, and sits at the heart of the roles they evolve within their local communities and wider society.

This paper also offers a provocation for HMEIs to reconsider how they themselves connect in societies in richer, more diverse ways, embracing civic mission, and knowledge exchange.

The reflections on diversity, identity and inclusiveness in HME gathered in the present eBook have informed the academic paper and at the same time offer concrete directions and examples to start rethinking HME through the concept of the “musician as a maker in society”.

2.2 Working Group members and contributors

The content of this publication is mainly provided by the AEC-SMS Diversity, Identity, Inclusiveness Working Group, consisting of experts selected from the European Higher Music Education community within the AEC membership, seeking examples of learning, teaching, recruitment and (equal) access among all member HMEIs in order to identify good practices which in turn can promote increased access to HME for all. The following members are part of the DWG:

David-Emil WICKSTRÖM, Popakademie Baden-Württemberg (Mannheim, Germany), chair

Baptiste GRANDGIRARD, Pôle Aliénor (Poitiers, France), student representative

Mojca PIŠKOR, Academy of Music, University of Zagreb (Zagreb, Croatia)

Katja THOMSON, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)

Joshua DICKSON, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom)

Stefan HECKEL, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Graz, Austria)

Clara BARBERA, Berklee College of Music - Valencia Campus (Valencia, Spain)

Alfonso GUERRA, AEC Office (Brussels, Belgium), working group coordinator

The members of the AEC-SMS Diversity, Identity, Inclusiveness Working Group would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all contributors to the case studies from How are diverse cultures integrated in the education of musicians across Europe? as well as to all participants in the various sessions and workshops that DWG members have delivered in the framework of the AEC main events (2017-2021). All contributions represent a very important outcome of the project and have been greatly influential for the development of this publication.

Finally, Working Group members would like to thank Jef Cox and Gabriele Rosana, former Working Group Coordinators from the AEC Office, and all peer-colleagues from the SMS community for their continued support and their highly valuable work in accomplishing the publication of this outcome.

3. How are diverse cultures integrated in the education of musicians across Europe?

“Diversity leads to a great variety of perspectives … depending on working environments, cultures, countries and levels of experience … ln this fluidity and constant questioning may well lie the key strength of cultural diversity in music education for the 21st century.”

Campbell and Schippers, Cultural Diversity in Music Education, 2005

3.1 Diversity and inclusivity: in context

The conservatory environment in Europe has changed significantly in the past 40 years. In addition to opening their doors to different musics of the world, Jazz, Popular Music as well as local traditional musics, the studentship has changed. Not only has the collapse of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, the expansion of the European Union as well as the Erasmus-program dissolved intra-European borders but European conservatories also attract more highly talented students and faculty from beyond the geographical borders of Europe, creating a more diverse student and faculty body.

However, cuts in government funding and implementation of neo-liberal policies have changed how conservatories are funded and how they function and acquire students. In order to remain competitive some institutions thus rely on recruiting and keeping international students. At the same time, calls for conservatories to open up to those segments of the population not previously catered for like working class or minority backgrounds are becoming louder. This, however, is counteracted on a pre-conservatory level by government cuts to general music education in primary and secondary schools, thus turning music education more and more to an endeavor limited to middle- and upper class children (Alberge 2019, Jeffreys 2018, Savage, Barnard 2019).

Conservatories are thus also required to justify their existence to the outside world and define their ethos and strategies in order to communicate what they stand for in current societies. This has led to new policies and practices that affect the everyday life of conservatories. The institutions can no longer rely on taken-for-granted understandings of institutional aims and criteria, but instead need to re-define the very purpose of the system and identify what can be commonly shared in music education and music profession stemming from the students’ and faculty’s different backgrounds.

This has opened up for new challenges: how does an institution accommodate a heterogenous student and faculty body while at the same time retaining their high artistic standards? Heterogeneity means not only opening up to underrepresented groups of society (be it socially, ethnically, gender, based on disabilities etc.) but also to those musics currently not represented in Higher Music Education.

Plurality of artistic standards?

While access is one keyword in this discourse, another one often mentioned when talking about diversity and higher music education is ‘maintaining high artistic standards’. What do these ‘high artistic standards’ constitute? While seemingly universal, we all have different, individual notions of these standards. Standards are context-sensitive and discursive. They can be based on an agreed set of skills or they can be based around a perceived set of skills. Artistic standards often include a combination of craftswomanship / craftsmanship (technical/motoric skills) and artistic expression (interpretation, artistic vision). But what exactly are these parameters and who judges what is considered high or low? While artistic expression and vision often weigh more in discussions than technical and motoric skills, artistic expression is often dependent on mastering the instrument technically in order to recreate the musical vision an artist has.

Furthermore, are these the only relevant components that will guarantee the (prospective) students an artistic career within the music business? What about non-artistic skills like the ability to reflect on music’s role in society – in other words, a cognitive / intellectual skill set? These notions not only differ between the genres (e.g. the pop vs. rock discourse within Anglo-American popular music – e.g. Keightley 2001), but also within the genre. Different national or regional education traditions have different ideas on what constitutes artistic standards. In addition, each conservatory also has different visions when planning the admission exams meant to examine the applicants’ skill set. What repertoire does the applicant have to prepare for their main instrument? Is a secondary instrument exam also required? Is there also a theory test? What skills does the music theory exam evaluate? Is there an essay requirement examining the cognitive skills? These questions are also linked to what role the development of individual artistic vision and creative music making in the education of future musicians plays within the institution’s degree programs. Ideally, the admission exam clearly links to the degree programs visions. Finally, the discourse on what artistic standards constitutes has changed over time.

Moving further, culturally diverse institutions bring together a variety of worldviews, understandings, and working cultures. This is manifested in the everyday life of the conservatory: from daily communication practices including a common spoken language, to practice habits, teaching methods and questions of hierarchy and power. At the same time opening up the conservatories for new forms of music also means questioning previous admissions standards. Does a DJane or DJ have to pass a music theory admissions exam if their primary instrument is a Digital-Audio-Workstation? Does a Bulgarian folk singer applying for a traditional music program have to master Western Art Music theory? Should the admissions exam in the latter case not focus on different, more relevant musical aspects? Related to this is how such a student body is integrated within the conservatory. What is the ‘common language’ that a conservatory can draw on and what has to be established within the degree programs?

It starts with an inclusive understanding

The way forward starts with finding a common understanding and exploring terms and questions which can help us address the new challenges and at the same time make students from a variety of backgrounds feel welcome. It remains important to regularly reflect on and review the language we use in our professional life – regarding how we address our students and colleagues as well as what language and terms we use in our teaching. Going beyond the language level, this also applies to our teaching and day-to-day routines.

One such seemingly mundane example is the concept of ‘classical music’. While prominently used within a European context other musical cultures also have ‘classical’ music. Hence we choose to use ‘Western Art Music’ to delineate that we are talking about an art form which (primarily) comes from a Western (in other words, European) tradition. At the same time this example also highlights the problem of who is included and excluded from the teaching canon: In addition to female composers and artists often being excluded in Western Art Music history this includes people of color as well as people outside the Western Art Music centers of Central and Western Europe. While a shift has emerged since the 1990s (see e.g. McClary 2002; Brett, Wood, Thomas 1994; Whiteley 1997; Whiteley, Rycenga 2006; Grotjahn, Vogt 2010; Beer 2016; Hess 2017) the dominant narratives have been predominantly written by European and North-American white men.

Queering the canon, in other words, (re)questioning why certain composers, artists and prevalent (heteronormative) cohabitation forms are included and others not, is an important task for musicologists as well as concert programmers and curriculum designers. This remains an ongoing discourse both within academia as well as outside: in 2016 a 17 year old female student successfully launched a petition to change the Edexcel program used by exam boards for A-levels in the UK since they did not include any female composers (Gallagher 2015, Khomami 2015).

Another, equally complex issue, is the exploration of concepts such as ‘disability’ or ‘impairment’ and the correct use (or not) of person-first language when needing to refer to this specific characteristic of an individual or individuals. In our discussions as a working group, we have arrived at the understanding that it will ultimately depend on the preference of the source/s of such a discussion, the cultural context in which these discussions are being held as well as the national discourses surrounding inclusive language in each country. Here we also have to take into consideration the rapid pace in which language, perceptions and social customs evolve (and will continue to evolve) in today’s world, hence also the need for a regular review of our language to reflect such progress.

3.2 Brief discussion and problematization of the terms

The questions from Decentering curricula: questions for re-evaluating diversity and inclusiveness in HMEIs and the subsequent case studies from How are diverse cultures integrated in the education of musicians across Europe? are preceded by a brief discussion on four spotlights, introducing our Working Group’s key terms: ‘identity’, ‘diversity’, ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘accessibility’.

Spotlight on: Identity

As one of the key issues of contemporary societies, the concept of identity has gained different meanings and understandings across different academic disciplines. In this document, identity is conceived of as individuals’ understanding of the various “personal, social, and cultural aspects of the self or of groups of selves” (Westerlund, Partti & Karlsen 2017). How we see ourselves is (trans)formed in relation to others and our environments. Identity formation is seen to occur through three intertwined dimensions: who we are, what we are able to do, and who we are becoming. This highlights how identity is connected to making meanings based on assumed differences, similarities, positions and possibilities as individuals, and as ‘members’ of collectives.

How is identity constructed?

Identity categories rationalized by ethnicity or geography are increasingly considered insufficient in explaining how identity is constructed, negotiated and performed. Such ‘groupist’ perspectives of identity (Cantle 2016), often assigned from above, put strong emphasis on a person’s background, neglecting or undermining other intersecting aspects of one’s identity. This is particularly relevant in relation to the idea of national and/or ethnic identity, which continues to hold a central place in education when it may no longer be necessary. The readiness and ability of HMEIs to recognize the varied ways in which people themselves relate to their national, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and how they choose to put these into play in their cultural practices (Folkestad 2017) becomes important.

By understanding personal identity as a process in relation to others (Jenkins 2008), and seeing group identities as fluid, unstable and processual, we challenge the view of (musical) identity as static. We also recognise that there may be multiple identities encompassing a wide range of ‘differences’ and ‘diversities’. When located in the context of higher music education, these perspectives of identity inform our understandings of academic identity, student identity, musical identity, as well as of the identities of the institutions themselves. If our aim is to strive for institutions that promote and perform diversity, we need to reconsider identity as an evolving process that shapes and is also actively shaped by the institutions.

We welcome debate

While this reconceptualization of identity in music and music education questions some dominant understandings of cultural/national/ethnic identity, it is not disputing the value and importance of (musical) traditions. Acknowledging and proactively reviving traditions may even advance social cohesion and inclusion in our superdiverse societies, as some of our chosen cases aim to demonstrate. Identity being a contested concept, it is anticipated that the case studies we share in the posts to follow will be interpreted through a variety of perspectives on identity. The potentially ensuing debates are welcome and encouraged as part of developing higher music education in and for pluralist societies.

Spotlight on: Diversity

The AEC Annual Congress and General Assembly 2014 in Budapest chose as its main theme ‘The Future of European Higher Music Education: upholding tradition, promoting diversity and encouraging innovation’ (AEC 2018).

In its European Agenda for Music, issued in early 2018, The European Music Council (EMC 2018) states diversity as one of the core objectives and calls it ‘the oxygen of a thriving music scene, the key to a varied, innovative sector that resonates with everyone.’

While cultural agencies and HMEIs in Europe seem to welcome a diverse approach to music and music education, many institutions still struggle to change from past academic objectives and traditions to the needs of the contemporary musical world. Can one uphold tradition and perceived high artistic standards, promote diversity and encourage innovation at the same time and thus open HMEIs to musical forms previously excluded?

An appreciation of differences

Anna Benedikt, researcher at the Centre of Gender Studies at Kunstuniversitaet Graz/Austria (2018) sees the concept of diversity as the appreciation of differences (and common features) in individuals and groups of people based primarily (but not only) on gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age and physical ability. These differences are legally referred to as ‘protected characteristics’ under UK’s Equality Act 2010 and ‘protected classes’ under the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. These dimensions of diversity have an impact on the opportunities and chances of individuals. In short, the concept of diversity celebrates difference and promotes anti-discrimination and inclusion.

The case studies presented in the pages to follow are meant to facilitate reflection and discussion about HMEIs’ diversity management, a multi-dimensional approach to foster diversity and to target and remove discrimination.

Institutional approaches

One dimension of such an approach can be to look at the institution in itself. HMEIs can reinforce their commitment to acknowledging and celebrating the differences aforementioned in their students, faculty and administrative staff by adopting policies that ensure that rights, obligations and expectations on behaviour are clearly specified for all its community members.

Another dimension open to institutions can be exploring musical genre and genre diversification. To find common areas relevant to several (or all) genres can help foster interdisciplinary activities that may help to better prepare musicians and artists for the present and future scene. This can also include common courses across genres like music business, a Studium Generale component to the degree programs or a mandatory introduction course to different styles. Some of the case studies in the following pages discuss various approaches to interdisciplinarity within and beyond the conservatory walls.

Within the AEC, the issue of diversity has been taken on most explicitly by the Pop & Jazz Platform (PJP). While remaining a genre-based network by name, the platform has continuously worked over past years to call attention to changing paradigms in Higher Music Education. The ideal situation seen by the PJP is that musical communities who share the overall aim to strengthen music’s impact in society work together.

Spotlight on: Inclusiveness

One part of creating a diverse environment is to promote inclusiveness. The European University Association, in May 2018, referred to ‘inclusiveness’ as ‘diverse backgrounds being valued in a group or by the institution which, as a pre-requisite, needs awareness about differences and privileges’, the definition of such term being inspired by Bolger (2018).

But if we understand inclusiveness as the outcome of inclusive attitudes and strategies (or of inclusion in itself), what are we referring to when we talk about ‘inclusion’? And what are the conditions necessary to achieve inclusiveness?

Inclusion in context

In the context of (music) education, inclusion has traditionally been referred to in educational systems’ response to students with disabilities. As a concept therefore, it has its origins in special education, evolving from the exploration of additional services to supplement general education provision, to the establishment of entirely separate systems (the appropriateness of which has been challenged both from a human rights and from the point of view of effectiveness), to a desired ‘integration’ (which calls for organisational changes that appear both unrealistic and homogenizing)

Developments in educational practices as a response to constantly evolving educational environments have however expanded the inclusion agenda. In 2006, UNESCO’s Guidelines for Inclusion defined inclusion as ‘a dynamic approach of responding positively to pupil diversity and of seeing individual differences not as problems, but as opportunities for enriching learning’ and acknowledging the below as four elements in the conceptualization of inclusion:

● ‘Inclusion is a process’

● ‘Inclusion is concerned with the identification and removal of barriers’

● ‘Inclusion is about the presence, participation and achievement of all students’

● ‘Inclusion involves a particular emphasis on those groups of learners who may be at risk of marginalization, exclusion or underachievement’

In this definition, a further dimension to inclusion appears to be included: the idea of diversity beyond an individual’s physical or learning ability. Nowadays, inclusive practices in education refer to the removal of barriers to provide equal education opportunities for those who have traditionally been impacted by other forms of disadvantage beyond physical or learning disabilities (i.e.: socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, religion, linguistic, cultural heritage, gender or immigrant status)

Social inclusion and the conservatory

In today’s EU higher education environment, we see that “social inclusion” is highlighted as one of the top current priorities. The Bologna Process Implementation Report of 2018 (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice 2018) summarizes that at the Yerevan Comuniqué of 2015, EHEA ministers’ reaffirmed their commitment to this social dimension of higher education. And it is perhaps within this broader definition of inclusion that the term poses further questions. By understanding the broader definition of “inclusion” as “the action or state of including, or of being included, within a group or structure” (Oxford Dictionary n.d.) we assume the existence of an “us” (a group / a structure that includes) vs. a “them” (others that need to be included). Applied to our context, this definition would imply that the existing group or structure (i.e.: communities, HMEs, conservatories) is, by definition, static and homogeneous, that there is no ‘them’ within these socially constructed, living, structures. Our experiences tell us, however, that this is not the case.

If we dismiss this rather problematic understanding of “inclusion” but accept “inclusiveness” as the ultimate positive outcome of inclusive practices, we must acknowledge the need for HMEIs to engage in the difficult task of leveling the playing field (or creating a new level playing field all together). Recognizing the different starting points of students, the multi-layered, ever-evolving composition of individual identities, the complex realities of our increasingly diverse communities; and the myriad of attitudes, behaviors, abilities, and contexts present in such communities, is only the first step. We argue that ensuring equal access to educational opportunities at all levels of the institution through more holistic systems that cater for the individual needs of community members (ie: admissions practices, support services, universally designed curriculum, teaching strategies, student success / retention programs, and a healthy, safe and respectful campus climate) should enrich both our communities and the learning experience of individuals within them.

Spotlight on: Accessibility

One way to remove barriers, level the playing field and to enable diversity and inclusiveness at our institutions is through accessibility. In its basic definition (according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accessibility, accessed 17.07.2018) ‘accessibility’ not only refers to the ‘ability to reach something (moving through space), but also:

● that information can be physically used (access to the information); and

● that the person can actually use the information (is able to understand it).

In other words, accessibility has to be looked at from different perspectives.

Perspectives on accessibility

It touches on the ability for students and faculty to navigate the buildings they study and work in. This includes students with different disabilities: can a student with a seeing or walking impairment navigate the building on their own?

On a more abstract level this also refers to inclusion in the broader meaning: our institutions being accessible for students who normally would not enter the building, in other words, who are musically talented, but would not consider studying at a conservatory – e.g. female/male applicants within certain degree programs, people coming from a working class background, people with a migrant background as well as refugees. One central element here is financial: if the institution charges audition or tuition fees, are there exemptions or scholarships for students who cannot afford them?

Making an institution accessible also means to reach out to new areas of employment and to make them accessible to students, as future posts on audience engagement and working in refugee camps will demonstrate.

This also includes implementing universal design policies where “access” to education is treated proactively (rather than reactively) by designing curriculum as well as infrastructures and policies that are accessible and usable by everyone, including people with disabilities, in a sustainable manner rather than on an individual basis.

Accessibility within the conservatory environment

This also refers to the (virtual) navigation of the conservatories. Do students know and understand the internal communication streams/networks? Are they introduced early enough to start their courses without any delays? Are the course documents easily accessible for the students? Are the students given an introduction and overview of the tools needed to study at the institution? Are the learning management systems and the online tools accessible for a seeing impaired student and who is dependent on a screen reader? As stated by David and Fernandez in 2019, “[this includes] ease of navigation without a mouse (many users with vision or mobility impairments may not be able to use a mouse); the presence of alternative text for screen reader users; closed captions for those who cannot hear or have learning disabilities; and appropriate use of color. (Is contrast between text or controls and backgrounds high enough? Are alternatives provided when color is used to impart meaning?)”.

Furthermore, is the digital content only accessible for students with mobile internet devices? Is the language used not only one that the students can understand (in other words, speak), but also a language whose syntax and lexical structure is comprehensible for the students?

Accessibility in the context of GDPR

The enshrining of General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) into EU law in 2018 may incidentally have impaired accessibility in higher music education contexts in some important respects. Intellectual property or copyright issues can produce barriers to access to musical material unless solutions specific to educational contexts are agreed upon, and the bureaucratic imposition of barriers to access by staff to student information, whilst well-meaning and no doubt justified in most contexts, may present challenges to both student care and applicant outreach.

Access for all

Accessibility fundamentally means that the conservatory is open for all students and faculty, and does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion or disability. That requires that information about the institution and application process is accessible for all potential applicants (accessible language, information also in (minority/other) languages). Ideally these aspects are anchored in publicly accessible policies and guidelines that enshrine the rights of students and faculty.

4. Decentering curricula: questions for re-evaluating diversity and inclusiveness in HMEIs

“Diversity can enrich as well as challenge the educational experience, and HME institutions play a critical role in this effort by strengthening the focus on promoting access and inclusivity.”

4.1 Posing the questions – how to use this publication?

We have structured this publication in four sections highlighting the four pairs of fundamental questions. Each section, bringing further questions aimed at highlighting different aspects of the overarching pair of questions, is preceded by a brief introductory paragraph explaining the main aim behind the section. A useful addition to our document is the AEC handbook on Learning Outcomes.

Although the questions in this section could be used in surveys open to students, teaching staff and administration making the community of HMEIs, followed by analytical process and re-evaluation, we strongly encourage institutions and individuals to use them in the more participatory ways – in different kinds of forums and discussion groups that allow for dialogic and collaborative exchange of experiences, knowledges and ideas and open the safe space for different voices to be heard and acknowledged.

Bearing in mind that diversity labour is a never-ending effort, and that exclusionary practices are not always immediately perceptible, but often persistent and elusive, the questions this section brings should not be considered exhaustive. We hope, nevertheless, that they will provide a good starting point to be further developed by productive discussions bringing change to institutional practices across the field of HME in the future.

4.2 Domains

The following questions have been at the base of change already undertaken by several HME institutions across Europe and beyond. The case studies from How are diverse cultures integrated in the education of musicians across Europe? are linked to the four pairs of fundamental questions below, and might inspire you to consider new paths within your own institution.

What do we study? What do we teach?

This section focuses on the curriculum and what is taught at our institutions. This touches upon the learning outcomes defined in the course modules and how that is linked to the future career of our students. It also touches upon the (non-)linearity of the degree programs and how open or rigid they are: Can a multi-talented student study several main subjects? What happens if a student is injured and cannot play her / his instrument anymore - can s/he switch?

A central aspect here which makes Higher Music Education (HME) unique compared to other non-artistic degree programs is the concept of artistic standards. Artistic standards can be understood as the set of (predefined) criteria used to evaluate an artistic practice against a perceived aesthetic norm drawing both on technical as well as interpretational skills While central to the idea of what the institutions perceive as how a future artist should be, these also function as the entry barriers to the institution as well as the ‘rules’ defining a students artistic progression. Hence these questions also touch upon this area.

A) Plurality of artistic paradigms

What does your institution define and articulate as high artistic standards in the context of music?

- What criteria are included in these artistic standards?

Do different departments have their own approach to artistic standards?

- If yes, why do they differ? Is it due to different genre or department traditions?

- How are these standards reflected / assessed in the admission exam(s)?

- How are these standards reflected / assessed in the (main instrument) exam(s)?

- How often do you challenge / discuss these standards yourself / with your teachers / with your students?

What genres of music are taught at degree level in your institution?

- How are they organised in relation to each other (e.g. separate departments by instrument or genre; separate degree programmes; etc)?

B) Choice and mobility of study

How does your curriculum or academic framework provide a study path tailored to the aspirations and artistic ideas of the individual student?

How does the institution provide formal arrangements for students to receive academic, career and personal guidance?

What links do you have between different departments inside your institution?

What bridges have been taken by some of your students that help them to build their own artistic identity?

C) Canon

How is the repertoire selected for the artistic classes / main instrument lessons?

- What considerations are made to reflect diversity in gender, race / ethnicity, life experience, and geographical balance?

How is critical reflection on issues of gender, race / ethnicity, geographical balance, etc embedded in our academic and artistic courses?

How is critical reflection on issues of gender, race / ethnicity, geographical balance etc. embedded in extracurricular activities and within the student union?

How are students trained in questioning the canon and exploring artists beyond those taught in the institution or seen as part of the institutional / national canon?

How are students trained to question prevailing artistic standards?

How regularly is the academic and artistic syllabus reassessed?

- What criteria are used for reassessing the syllabi?

- What feedback loops exist?

What role do students, faculty, alumni and external (music) professionals play in the process of re-assessing the curriculum?

D) Research

What role does research in all its forms play throughout the programmes offered?

How are both students and staff engaged in discovering and communicating new knowledge at any level?

E) Employability

How is employability embedded in your curricula?

How does your institution or programme address the development of vocational and collaborative skills as well as social entrepreneurship?

How do the employability skills relate to national or European contexts?

- What scope is there for transferability of these skills outside the country of study to a transnational / global context?

How do your students reflect on their future professionalization?

Link to case studies:

World In Motion Ensemble: university teacher and students working with refugee musicians (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thomson

Intercultural Communication at the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (HMDK Stuttgart) by Hendrikje Mautner-Obst

Musicians with disabilities teaching on the music pedagogy course at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki by Katja Thomson

Masters in CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition): diversity and collaboration between four European conservatories and ten international students (KMH Stockholm, HfMT Hamburg, EAMT Tallinn, CNSMD Lyon) by Sara Constant and Mélanie Vibrac

Reflections on a performance program for folk and art music from ‘other’ cultures at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) by Susanne Rosenberg

Curriculum Reform: transforming the student experience through trans-disciplinary collaboration (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) by Joshua Dickson

CoLab at Trinity Laban College London by Joe Townsend, Co-Lab coordinator at Trinity Laban Conservatoire London

Creating bridges between world music and popular music (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by David-Emil Wickström

Decolonial Strategies for the Incorporation of Ecuadorian Indigenous Music in Higher Music Education - The case of the LAM-UCE programme (Universidad central del Ecuador) by Abner Pérez Marín

Concerto Caledonia: Cross-Institutional Collaborations in Early Scottish Dance Music (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and University of Glasgow) by Joshua Dickson

Piobaireachd, or early music in a Gaelic context (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the National Piping Centre and Cambridge University) by Joshua Dickson

Diversity as an institutional identity (Pôle Aliénor, Poitiers, France) by Baptiste Grandgirard

How do we study? How do we teach?

Teaching and learning are closely interrelated and happen in diverse settings that are influenced by the people involved, the facilities, the curricula and more general factors such as societal and institutional orientation. In this context, the question of how we teach (from the point of view of teachers) and how we learn (from that of students) in higher music education is just as important a consideration as where, what, why, etc, as a measure of the diverse and inclusive nature of an institution, department or programme and its internal culture.

How is the core activity of a Higher Music Education Institution (HMEI) carried out in your institution? Individual (1:1) lessons are the classic model in instrumental and vocal teaching based on the transmission of knowledge, understanding and skill from master to apprentice over time. Students certainly benefit from a close relationship with a teacher. At the same time, this model is challenged today by factors such as the need for students to individualize as emerging artists through synthesis with diverse stimuli; the social dynamics of power relations and the rising awareness of their impact on learning and teaching; and, not least, rising costs. Collaborative teaching and learning has been implemented in many institutions across Europe and supports team-based qualities and competencies often needed in artistic and creative processes.

The establishment of short, intense, festival-like periods of free creative collaboration among peers, more or less indirectly supervised, has emerged in recent years within the curricula of various institutions as an effective mechanism or practical framework for facilitating the creative process, independence, increased ownership of learning and trans-disciplinary collaborative skills. These periods have been likened to Foucault’s heterotopia, comprising cultural and institutional spaces that are ‘intense, transforming and contradictory’.

On the premise that assessment and feedback are as much a part of the learning process as didactic teaching and peer-based collaboration, consideration of issues surrounding how and what we assess, how such assessment is constructed, and how it is communicated to students, comprise a significant and impactful opportunity for ‘decentering’ institutional teaching and learning. Issues of assessment pervade the learning journey from start to finish – from initial admittance to the institution or programme to the final performance examination prior to graduation. Similarly, the mutual construction of a student’s assessment of progress and performance issues (in which both teacher and student contribute) has grown more frequent in recent years.

In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the issue of distance learning more to the fore and has compelled many HMEIs to consider their facility with eLearning more urgently. It is not just a pandemic issue; geographical and financial considerations have long contributed to barriers to access in higher education. In this way, an institution’s ability to extend access to those outwith its geographical vicinity can be a powerful measure of inclusiveness. It can be valuable and timely, therefore, for an HMEI to review regularly its tools for eLearning, the efficacy of its ‘virtual classroom’ and its processes for training staff and students to use these tools effectively.

A) (Main) instrument lessons

How are (main) instrument lessons conducted?

- What role do one-2-one lessons play?

- What other models of main instrument lessons are used?

B) One-2-one lessons

In what ways does your curriculum provide one-2-one lessons for students?

How much time per week is spent on one-2-one with each student?

What provisions are in place for students who want to choose more than one instrument and have one-2-one lessons?

To what extent may the student contribute to determining the repertoire / style / genre taught in one-2-one lessons?

What procedures are in place to combat power abuse and misconduct (sexual harassment, verbal harassment) within one-2-one lessons?

What provisions are in place if a student wants to change their one-2-one lesson teacher?

C) Peer and collaborative learning

To what extent does your curriculum contain compulsory activities or electives for learning collaboratively (other than teacher-led group lessons)?

To what extent does such collaborative learning involve students of different artistic genres / practices?

How are students engaged in peer- or group-based assessment at any level?

If appropriate, please describe one or more examples of collaborative learning in your curriculum.

D) Team and collaborative teaching

In what ways does your curriculum allow lessons to be taught by a team of teachers or in a collaborative way (e.g. a rota system of teachers, groups splitting up, etc.)?

E) Group lessons

How do our students reflect on their future professionalization?

What forms of group lessons does your curriculum provide?

Which subjects are taught in a group? Please name a few.

How would you describe the purpose of and rationale for the group lessons (peer learning, tradition, financial etc.)?

How many students are there in a group lesson?

In group activities that require an audition (orchestra, ensemble etc.) or have a restricted number of participants, what measures are in place to avoid favoritism / nepotism and power abuse?

F) Project-based studies

How does your curriculum promote and instil project-based work skills for students (and teachers)?

Where do the projects happen (inside and / or outside the institution)?

How are teachers involved in the projects?

Who are the teachers (faculty staff, external tutors)?

Can you give a brief description of one or more projects (what is the content, who is involved, duration, outcomes, long-term vision)?

G) External tutors / artists in residence

How does your curriculum provide the opportunity to bring in external tutors and / or artists in residence?

What specific (formal) qualifications, if any, must external tutors or artists in residence have?

If formal qualification is not required, what qualities replace the formal aspects?

What is the approximate balance of the amount of lessons taught by faculty and those taught by external tutors / artists in residence (e.g. 90% - 10%)?

H) Virtual classroom / E-learning / Use of location-independent learning / Teaching tools

How does your curriculum utilise the virtual classroom (webinars, online one-2-one or group lessons etc) to enhance learning and teaching?

- How do you ensure that all students have equal access to class?

- What provisions are in place for students without a computer?

- What provisions are in place for students with learning disabilities related to computers and seeing-imparied students?

How much of the content of your curriculum is delivered through a virtual classroom format (e.g.: tutorials for specific content / resources, delivery of assignments, discussion forums...)?

How does the faculty at your institution use these tools? Are they expected to use them regularly?

- Do you feel that the right tools are available to students and faculty?

What regular training do teachers and students receive in this field?

- How is this supported by your institution?

How have the tools enhanced pedagogical approaches?

I) Assessment and Feedback

What do you assess?

How do you assess it (e.g. through formal exams, peer / self-evaluation, etc)?

- Is the assessment mutually constructed in dialogue with students?

- If yes, formatively or summatively?

- If no, why not?

How is the assessment appropriate to the artistic standards you define?

What are the most important criteria for you when assessing?

How are these criteria communicated, both to the student and to the examination panels / juries?

What is the purpose of feedback in your institution?

How and in what settings do you communicate assessment as feedback?

How frequent is feedback offered from tutors to students, and vice versa?

How are your juries composed for performance examination, whether it be for individual or group performance?

- How do you consider the composition of juries?

- What role do considerations based on gender, race / ethnic background, musical genre, external / internal faculty, number of members play in the make up?

How are your juries composed for admission exams?

- How do you consider the composition of juries?

- What role do considerations based on gender, race / ethnic background, musical genre, external / internal faculty, number of members play in the make up?

J) Difficulties

What procedures are in place to

- file formal complaints?

- challenge an exam assessment?

- change teachers or class?

- report misconduct and abuse between

 teachers

 teachers and students as well as

 students?

Link to case studies:

Engaging with Communities: Am Ende. Leben and MiMiC (Kunstuniversitaet Graz and University of Applied Sciences Groningen) by Stefan Heckel and Rineke Smilde, Professor for Lifelong Learning, Prins-Claus-Conservatory Groningen

The Le Chéile Project and the Open Youth Orchestra of Ireland: the first national youth orchestra for musicians with disabilities (Royal Irish Academy of Music) by Brendan Breslin

Dealing with (institutionalized) forms of power abuse by David-Emil Wickström

Conducting admission without using traditional music theory tests: Piteå Music College by Anna Wedin

Inclusion of seeing-impaired staff and students at HKU Utrecht and Popakademie Baden-Wurttemberg (HKU Utrecht / Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by Hannie van Veldhoven and David-Emil Wickström

Global Music bachelor programme providing pathways for students with diverse cultural backgrounds (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thompson

Curriculum Reform: transforming the student experience through trans-disciplinary collaboration (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) by Joshua Dickson

CoLab (Trinity Laban Conservatoire) London by Joe Townsend

NextDoors - interdisciplinary project week (Royal Conservatoire Antwerp) by Ine Vanoeveren

Diversity as an institutional identity (Pôle Aliénor, Poitiers, France) by Baptiste Grandgirard

Where do we study? Where do we teach?

While the majority of teaching in Higher Music Education has traditionally taken place at the institution, there are many initiatives within which the students learn in other professional contexts, socially engaged projects, and through distance learning and teaching. These practices may be tied to core teaching practices or they might be offered as elective studies or special projects.

What kind of professional partnerships and community connections does your institution provide for the students and staff? Into what kinds of artistic and social spaces does your institution extend, and how is social responsibility perhaps connected to these spaces? At the same time, your institution’s own premises have an impact on the way teaching is organized. The spaces might be particularly suited for individual or group teaching, or for hosting cross-arts collaboration, for example. Furthermore, there may be issues that you might like to raise from the perspective of accessibility concerning disabled students or staff, or the location of the premises.

A) Culture and society of location

How is your institution funded?

- Is your institution largely dependent on students’ tuition?

In your opinion, how involved is the local / regional / national government in the design and potential revision of your institution’s vision and strategy?

To what extent does your institution engage with surrounding communities (civic, academic, professional) and how effectively do you believe it does so?

How do these factors impact on

- your student body?

- your curriculum?

B) University / Conservatoire premises

How large is your institution in terms of number of students enrolled?

Is your institution included in a larger university complex - and subject to policies ruling all the different learning environments- or is it largely autonomous in its decision-making strategic processes?

Does your institution comprise several art forms. If yes, which ones?

- How does this impact on the curriculum?

- How does this impact on the student body?

What steps does your institution take to ensure equal access for all prospective students?

C) Community Settings

How much of your students’ learning experiences happen in a traditional setting (ie. classroom)?

What kind of experiential learning opportunities do your programmes offer outside of the institution (for example short projects or long-term collaborations with schools, prisons, health care and social services, intercultural contexts, refugee centres)?

What other settings is your institution involved in from a teaching and learning perspective?

How do students gain the artistic and educational skills required in these settings (for example specific pedagogical courses)?

How does your institution prepare students for social entrepreneurship?

How are the students supported in encountering unexpected and potentially challenging situations within these settings (e.g. formal supervision)?

How is the input from partner organisations taken into consideration when assessing students’ learning, including the input from external participants?

D) Partnership organisations

What formal agreements has your institution established with local, national or international (arts) organisations (ie: internships, regular programming, educational opportunities)?

- How many, if any, does your institution have?

Does your institution maintain a strategy for internationalisation that supports the academic and artistic aims of your music courses?

- Can you give any examples of what you would consider to be effective international partnerships in your institution?

On what level are the partnerships formed? Who is responsible for creating and maintaining the partnerships?

E) Virtual classroom / E-learning / Use of location-independent learning / Teaching tools

See H) Virtual classroom / E-learning / Use of location-independent learning / Teaching tools in How do we study? How do we teach?

Link to case studies:

World In Motion Ensemble: university teacher and students working with refugee musicians (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thomson

Intermusik - Using music to include refugees (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by David-Emil Wickström

Engaging with Communities: Am Ende. Leben and MiMiC (Kunstuniversitaet Graz and University of Applied Sciences Groningen) by Stefan Heckel and Rineke Smilde, Professor for Lifelong Learning, Prins-Claus-Conservatory Groningen

A musical and orchestral device with a social vocation putting diversity at the heart of its pedagogy: Démos by Baptiste Grandgirard

Berklee College of Music’s equity policy and its adaptation to the European environment (Berklee College of Music, Valencia campus) by Clara Barbera

Masters in CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition): diversity and collaboration between four European conservatories and ten international students (KMH Stockholm, HfMT Hamburg, EAMT Tallinn, CNSMD Lyon) by Sara Constant and Mélanie Vibrac

NextDoors - interdisciplinary project week (Royal Conservatoire Antwerp) by Ine Vanoeveren

Who is the student? Who is the teacher?

Higher Music Education institutions we study and / or work in are built, developed, and experienced through complex and interdependent networks of all the individuals inhabiting them. If we think of them as complex, living and thus inevitably changing environments, the continuous revisiting of the fundamental question of Who is the student? – Who is the teacher? could be seen as one of the crucial practices ensuring their sustainability in both present and future. Seemingly simple questions addressing how the different individuals inhabit our institutions; from which spaces and practices and by which existing mechanisms are some of them excluded; how are their individual experiences, needs and aspirations acknowledged and valued; what kind of support do institutions usually provide; and which areas still need our immediate attention might provide a starting point for rethinking issues of diversity and inclusiveness in the realm of HME.

This section of the document introduces a series of questions divided into three main segments – Diversity; Access and Inclusiveness; and Support and Feedback – aimed at highlighting potential areas of further discussion within individual institutions.

A) Diversity

How would you describe diversity within the faculty and student body at your institution?

- In which ways do you feel the diversity of your faculty reflects the diversity of your student body?

- Who do you think might be left out based on your institution's understanding of diversity?

Are you aware of any efforts to increase diversity in the recruitment of your students?

Are you aware of any efforts to increase diversity in the recruitment of your faculty?

- In what ways are these recruitment policies (both for students and faculty) at your institution connected to the strategic mission of your institution?

What is the ratio of domestic vs international students at your institution (feel free to offer a rough estimate if you do not have a specific statistic to hand)?

Does your institution have principles that guide the curriculum in terms of diversity and inclusion (such as Inclusive Excellence in the US)?

Are there any specific offices managing issues of diversity and equity within the student body? If so, what are the main issues that they deal with?

Are there any specific offices managing issues of diversity and equity within the faculty body? If so, what are the main issues they deal with?

- How does your institution take these issues into consideration in the development of institutional policies, strategies, and curricula?

How is cultural sensitivity and unconscious bias training embedded into:

- your professional training for faculty and staff?

- the curriculum?

How often are issues of diversity and equity formally discussed at your institution?

Do you feel that the existing principles that guide curriculum and institutional culture in terms of diversity and inclusiveness at your institution are sufficient for the challenges that the future brings to higher music education?

- How is faculty encouraged to embrace these values and embed them into the curricula and everyday practices of institutional culture?

- What values – pertaining to issues of diversity and inclusiveness – are your students left with after graduating from your institution? In what ways are they empowered and encouraged to embed these values and guiding principles in different aspects of their professional careers after graduation?

- What areas do you feel are still neglected or underdeveloped?

- What areas do you feel need the institution's immediate attention?

In what ways are wider social movements, and global political, social and environmental crises impacting:

- who is the student at your institution?

- who is the teacher at your institution?

B) Access and Inclusiveness

What policies and practices for students and faculty who need specific accommodations on the basis of a documented disability exist in your institution?

- What are the most common accommodations requested by students at your institution?

- What are the most common accommodations requested by faculty at your institution?

- Are you familiar with the process that students go through to request an accommodation?

- What assistive technology equipment for students with visual impairments does your institution provide?

What type of support is offered to students and faculty who experience issues with mental health while enrolled or working at your institution?

- How is this support offered on a case by case basis?

- Is there a support system already in place that all students and faculty know how to access?

- What areas are underdeveloped or neglected?

- What plans do you have to take on these issues in the near future?

- Can you give an example on how your institution deals with access for students and faculty with specific needs?

How are issues related to mental health embedded into:

- your professional training for faculty and staff?

- the curriculum?

What financial tools (scholarships, tuition reduction schemes, student-loan programs etc.) do you have for students coming from working-class and other backgrounds lacking financial funds?

How do you accommodate very talented prospective students (e.g. working-class background, refugees, without formal school education, mental / physical health issues) who do not fulfill all the formal requirements (language level, high school diploma etc.)?

C) Support and Feedback

What type of support services are available to students at your institution?

What type of support services are available to faculty at your institution? Is training provided to the faculty as it pertains to these additional services?

- What resources (human, financial...) are deployed to provide these support structures?

What kind of support does your institution offer to students whose language is not the main language of instruction?

What kind of support does your institution offer to students who do not come from a Western-music theory background?

What are the formal structures for students at your institution to provide feedback to the academic leadership team around the student experience?

What are the formal structures for faculty at your institution to provide feedback to the academic leadership team around the faculty experience?

- How does the institution take these into consideration in their decision making processes?

To what extent are complex issues of power relations / power abuse reflected upon in the decision-making processes at your institution?

- How are these sensitive issues approached?

- What mechanisms are available at the moment to address these issues?

- How transparent are these mechanisms to all the individuals involved?

- What type of official policies exist at your institution that address these issues (Codes of Conduct, Codes of Ethics...)?

- How are issues of dealing with misconduct (e.g. sexual, verbal, ethical) embedded into institutional policies?

 How transparent is the process of dealing with misconduct complaints?

- How often are the existing policies, mechanisms and practices questioned, revisited and adjusted?

Link to case studies:

Reaching out to Syrian refugees (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by David-Emil Wickström

A musical and orchestral device with a social vocation putting diversity at the heart of its pedagogy: Démos by Baptiste Grandgirard

The Le Chéile Project and the Open Youth Orchestra of Ireland: the first national youth orchestra for musicians with disabilities (Royal Irish Academy of Music) by Brendan Breslin

Engaging Female Students at Berklee College of Music Valencia (Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus) by Clara Barbera

Berklee College of Music’s equity policy and its adaptation to the European environment (Berklee College of Music, Valencia campus) by Clara Barbera

Elevate! Empowering, promoting and supporting women across Leeds College of Music (Leeds College of Music) by Patsy Gilbert

’Contextualized Admissions’: in pursuit of diversity and the widening of participation at Scotland’s national conservatoire (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) by Joshua Dickson

Conducting admission without using traditional music theory tests (Piteå Music College) by Anna Wedin

Inclusion of seeing-impaired staff and students at HKU Utrecht and Popakademie Baden-Wurttemberg (HKU Utrecht / Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by Hannie van Veldhoven and David-Emil Wickström

Musicians with disabilities teaching on the music pedagogy course at the Sibelius Academy (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thomson

Global Music bachelor programme providing pathways for students with diverse cultural backgrounds (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thompson

Decolonial Strategies for the Incorporation of Ecuadorian Indigenous Music in Higher Music Education - The case of the LAM-UCE programme (Universidad Central del Ecuador) by Abner Pérez Marín

5. Case studies from across Europe and beyond

The following case studies are meant to stimulate discussion and provide new ideas and possible pathways for institutions to undertake. These case studies offer reflections and questioning of different aspects of conservatory life, and are meant to be used for inspiration and debate. They represent only a small selection of what was happening at European HMEIs at the time they were written, and are divided within three different interrelated and mutually-reinforcing streams. These have emerged as central to music education’s relevance, role and visibility in seeking to strengthen music in society.

‘Reaching out’ offers a range of case studies illustrating efforts in recruitment and the widening of access to higher music education by under-represented groups. ‘Institutional policies’ draws attention to institutional efforts to promote equality and parity of experience for both students and staff, beginning with a discussion of issues relating to the abuse of power in the higher music education environment. Finally, ‘Genre / transdisciplinary approaches to curricula’ reviews ways in which institutions in recent years have made efforts to facilitate and nurture greater artistic collaboration between students of diverse genres or disciplines; these case studies offer reflection on the benefits as well as challenges of such collaboration educationally, professionally and artistically.

A. Reaching out

This stream deals with the widening of access and proactive engagement with groups not previously or normally focused upon within HMEI. This includes refugees, underrepresented parts of the student population as well as previously under-recognized areas of work or community (e.g. terminally ill patients).

a1) Reaching out to refugees: Below are three examples of HME institutions taking action amidst the recent refugee situation in Europe. The institutional responses raise questions about continuity and the project-based nature of many of the initiatives, and the systems enabling refugees to enter higher music education as a long-term strategy. Furthermore, refugees from different regions of the world are not necessarily met with equal treatment and policies at governmental level, which complicates the position of the higher music institutions.

- Reaching out to Syrian refugees (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by David-Emil Wickström (link to Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#Refugees #Admission #WorldMusic #InstitutionalFramework #LanguagePolicy #Policies

Following the influx of Syrian refugees in Germany from 2015 onwards the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports explicitly called on universities to admit Syrian refugees. Heading this call the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg decided to open the institution to Syrian refugees for them to study there. While there is no restriction in who can study at the Popakademie (once they pass the admissions exam) there are several hurdles for students who have not graduated from a German high school. This meant that we had to make some compromises within our admissions procedures, our degree program, as well as how to deal with cases of hardship. While this case is focused on those students the measures demonstrated can also be transferred to other groups.

Within the admissions procedures the main issue was the language level. Formally applicants need to be fluent in German on the level of C1. This was waived for the refugees and the students had the first year of their studies to achieve German proficiency and pass the required language exam. In addition, we managed in cooperation with the Goethe Institut and the Abendakademie in Mannheim to reserve and thus provide the students with places in those institutions’ German courses. The Goethe institute also provided some of our students with stipends so the initial courses were essentially free. This does leave some challenges for the academic courses where language plays a more important role than in artistic courses. Here the students were given the opportunity to move those courses to the second year so they could focus on their German studies in their first year. While this obviously prolonged their studies the students did not risk any penalty from the Popakademie by studying longer.

A challenge which remains until today (2021) is the students’ legal status as refugees combined with their age. Once they start studying they lose their financial benefits from the unemployment office. Those under 30 are eligible for the student financial aid program Bafög (the conundrum here is that if they take a sabbatical term e.g. in order to learn German this state stipend is normally put on hold until they resume their studies). Those older are mostly not eligible and have to find work in order to finance their studies since once their status changes from refugee to student they lose their financial aid. This makes financing their costs of living difficult. Here we have tried to expand the stipends we award our students. With financial support from Youtube (Google), the Wilhelm-Müller-Stiftung and other donors we have been able to provide some of our World Music students with monthly stipends (primarily through the “Deutschland-Stipendium”-program, a public-private stipend program where the Federal government matches pledges from private donors). This, however, remains an ongoing issue and we often have to do case-by-case decisions on how to help the students.

Finally, adjusting to a Central European academic institution also brings challenges for students coming from a (mainly) patriarchal and hierarchical cultural context. In addition, the students also carry lingering (war) trauma which appear in unexpected contexts. This has forced the faculty to not only rethink what examples are used when teaching, but also to provide time to discuss different cultural stereotypes. These students also have a higher need of mentoring and we thus also dedicate more time on one-on-one discussions with them.

Our experience has thus shown us that enforcing the same rules as for our students born in Germany is not very productive. Many of the problems the refugees come with are specific to them and have to be dealt with on an individual basis. While this is time consuming it is also very rewarding to see the new perspectives they bring both to the band and ensemble work as well as to the classes - enriching the experience of all the students.

- World In Motion Ensemble: university teacher and students working with refugee musicians (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thomson (link to What do we study? What do we teach? / Where do we study? Where do we teach?)

#Refugees #CommunityEngagement #CollaborativeComposition #Research

World In Motion is an open-access music ensemble aiming to reach professional and non-professional musicians with a refugee or immigrant background. The ensemble project was founded as a response to the European refugee situation requiring meeting points and collaborative spaces for musicians. It began in January 2016 as a collaboration between the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki and the Caisa Cultural Centre Helsinki, Finland. Initially the participants were recruited through reception centres for asylum seekers, and as the project evolved, new members joined through informal contacts of the participants and through other organisations working with refugees. The structure of the project has alternated between weekly workshops and intensive, short projects. Led by a teacher at the Sibelius Academy, the project involves bachelor and master’s students co-leading and playing in the ensemble as part of their compulsory and elective courses.

The World In Motion ensemble offers a space for intercultural musical exchange, and collaborative composition. It is a space where musicians from different musical traditions can play, sing, share their knowledge and artistic ideas. The participants are encouraged to bring suggestions for musical starting points such as traditional rhythms and melodies, songs, and lyrics. The ensemble’s music has included for example Arabic, Bulgarian, Greek and Finnish traditional music mixed with contemporary styles and improvisational experiments. The working methods involve collaborative composition and arrangement, andimprovisation.Music is often taught by ear and using the body, and sheet music is in use when appropriate. The university teacher, students, and the participants take turns in teaching each other and work on the chosen ideas to create new music collaboratively as a group. This type of musical practice requires specific leadership skills as it is based on the participants’ aspirations influenced by their varying musical backgrounds, previous experiences of ensemble work and music learning in general. The leader of the ensemble needs to be resilient and facilitate unpredictable musical processes and be prepared to take lead whenever necessary. The leader’s role involves being a teacher, conductor, composer, facilitator, motivator, and negotiator while sensitively distributing these roles amongst all the participants.

Since the ensemble project was initiated dozens of professional and non-professional musicians have participated in the workshops and performance projects. A group of regularly attending participants and students have gradually developed ‘a shared working language’, shared repertoire as well as friendships beyond the ensemble work. The ensemble collaboration with its intertwined artistic, educational and social dimensions has provided the music university teacher and students with important insights into the kind of artistic, music educational, and social competences required in working with refugees. The key has been establishing relationships that enable the participants as well as the students to work from their strengths as musicians and collaborators. This is supported by the emerging sense of “we” emerging from continuity, which can be hard to achieve due to funding issues, institutional structures, and the unpredictable life situations of the refugees. Furthermore, the collaboration has enhanced awareness of the complex ethical questions and political dimensions of the music we make, teach, and perform in increasingly more diverse social environments.

- Intermusik - Using music to include refugees (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by David-Emil Wickström (link to Where do we study? Where do we teach?)

#Refugees #AudienceEngagement #CommunityWork #WorldMusic #Inclusiveness

Together with Mannheim’s municipal department “Arbeit und Soziales” (Work and Social issues) and funded by Baden-Württemberg’s “Innovationsfond” the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg initiated a two-year project working in refugee camps in the Mannheim region in 2016. The goal was to use music as a tool to promote interaction between the different cultures and thus inclusion. Initially aimed at Syrian refugees the program quite quickly changed and focused on refugees from the African continent. The coaches were mainly students and graduates from the Popakademie’s World Music and Popular Music degree programs. The goal was for the refugees to both draw on “their” music as well as musical idioms prevalent in Mannheim.

Organized around three steps the project's initial one was based on weekly workshops in the refugee camps. These workshops were open for all refugees in the camps. Following the project’s musical philosophy these workshops aimed at bringing the refugees’ music together with the local idioms (mainly within popular music). The second step focused on empowering the volunteers in the camps and providing them with the necessary tools to continue the coaches’ work. The third step aimed to provide the participants with the tools to continue the work on their own (with the Popakademie providing advice and support). An important part of this project was also the integration of the workshops into the Popakademie’s events - including concerts showcasing the refugees’ musical projects.

While well received by the refugees and the volunteers this project faced some difficulties: The initial target group mentioned in the grant application (Syrian refugees) were no longer present in the refugee camps when the project started. This meant that the musical approach (including the used instruments) had to be changed. Another issue was that the political situation changed since the inception of the project and the political support as well as funding for the work in the camps was decreased. Another aspect is that the time needed for a refugee’s case to be tried was reduced. That means that the refugees were both being moved out of the initial camps as well as being deported faster. That made long-term sustainable work with individuals difficult.

The participating refugees’ feedback, however, was been overwhelmingly positive. Music has had a therapeutic function and enabled participants to escape their day-to-day problems. With support from the district office Rhein-Neckar (where Mannheim is located) the project was also extended to include two childrens’ homes where unaccompanied minor foreigners live.

a2) Community (Audience) Engagement: Reaching out to and engaging new audiences is one of Creative Europe’s priorities for funding and developing projects in the cultural world. The European Commission states in its Study on Audience Development that it is also clear that cultural institutions and their venues are unintentionally often designed for ‘traditional’ audiences and don’t reflect the actual social environment and complexity of the societies they operate in.¹

While most musical promoters cater for audiences in concert venues such as halls, clubs, festival stages, churches etc. live music often does not reach out to people who cannot make their way to such venues. Elderly and seriously ill persons are often immobilized and confined to their beds in hospitals or special care homes. It is just to say that this part of the society constitutes an often neglected but important part of the general audience. Higher Music Education institutions catering for the needs of their graduates have to always look at new perspectives of the job market of future professional musicians. Music in health care as an artistic practice can become a part of the contemporary musicians’ portfolio career. Two case studies based on this are introduced in this section. The remaining cases focus on reaching out to and engaging with musicians with disabilities.

- Engaging with Communities: Am Ende. Leben and MiMiC (Kunstuniversitaet Graz and University of Applied Sciences Groningen) by Stefan Heckel and Rineke Smilde, Professor for Lifelong Learning, Prins-Claus-Conservatory Groningen (link to How do we study? How do we teach? / Where do we study? Where do we teach?)

#AudienceEngagement #CommunityWork #ReachingOut #Social Environment #Improvisation

#LifeLongLearning #Employability

Am Ende. Leben

Am Ende. Leben is a project of Kunstuniversität Graz and the Krankenhaus der Elisabethinen, a Graz-based hospital. Bachelor or Master students of instrumental pedagogy and jazz perform for terminally ill patients in the palliative care ward. The project is structured in three steps:

First, hospital representatives give a half-day workshop at the University about the special environment of palliative care and working with people who only have a few days left to live. The workshop also confronts the participants who are in their early 20s with their anxiety related to death. Music can enhance the quality of life at any stage.

In the second step, the project group visits the hospital with a short guided tour and a talk about palliative medicine and what effects live music can have in such an environment.

Photo credit © Elisabethinen-Graz

In the third and last step, the group plays a set of 45 minutes in front of a small audience of patients who can attend and hospital staff. Patients can be rolled in their beds to an open space where the ensemble plays. Sometimes doors are left open so patients can hear the music but are not directly exposed if they don’t want to. The music is carefully chosen to suit the special environment (for example, hard rock and heavy metal are avoided) and to a large extent improvised. A moderator (teacher) asks whether somebody has a wish or picture or story that the ensemble shall then make into a musical piece.

MiMiC – Meaningful Music in Health Care

Meanwhile, another project engaging audiences in a healthcare environment, similarly improvised but taking place over a longer period, has been established in the Netherlands: MiMiC (Meaningful Music in Health Care) is an interdisciplinary project of the research group Lifelong Learning in Music of the Prince Claus Conservatoire in Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen. The aim of this project is to have professional musicians create meaningful live music experiences for people staying and/or working in hospital. A typical MiMiC project takes place six days in a row on one particular surgical ward in the hospital.

A team of three musicians creates ‘in the moment’ improvised pieces of music for a patient or a group of patients, where possible together with their nurses. Alongside person-centred improvisation, the musicians perform pieces of repertoire from different genres of music or play an idiomatic improvisation (i.e. the musicians don’t have the actual piece wished for by the patient on their repertoire but improvise one in a similar style). Patients are also sometimes invited to conduct the improvisation, thereby getting a sense of control back, which is often lost when one is admitted to hospital.

Photo credit © Deborah Roffel – MiMiC

In the research, the UMCG explores how interactive live music sessions can contribute to the well-being and recovery of elderly surgical patients, through physiological measurements, scales and questionnaires of patients on their experienced pain, stress and anxiety before, during and after each music intervention. The LLM group researches – how these sessions can contribute to the well-being of the health care professionals, – what professional skills musicians need for interacting within this context, and – what learning and (professional) development of musicians emerges. LLM uses participant observation, interviews with musicians and nurses, and musicians’ reflective journals.

Outcomes

For the patients and staff involved in Am Ende. Leben, the pieces are a unique and personal gift. This builds upon the fact that the distinct quality of each moment is important in both improvised music and in the life of a terminally ill person. For the players, improvising offers a profound learning experience (e.g. how does one spontaneously transform a wish from outside and one’s emotions into sound in a collective ensemble?).

Some notable responses from participants in past projects include:

- To play for people who only have a few days to live – a sad but at the same time immensely positive and important experience for me! (Simon, jazz trombone student)

- I was impressed how fast everybody was inside the music. (Desiree, nurse at the palliative care ward)

- These projects are so important – low threshold, music as communication. (Günter, participating teacher)

With regard to MiMiC, important outcomes of the research show a kind of pyramid, building up from participation to compassion, and from there to excellence. These three areas are important for musicians and health care professionals alike. For musicians, artistic excellence is naturally of great importance, but it is equally important in this context to show ‘situational excellence.’

As a further important outcome of MiMiC, Prince Claus Conservatoire’s Lifelong Learning in Music developed a new music practice and training for professional musicians. To this end, Masters students of the Conservatoire have participated in a number of pilot projects. Since January 2019, Masters students of Prince Claus Conservatoire can choose participation in MiMiC as an elective.

- A musical and orchestral device with a social vocation putting diversity at the heart of its pedagogy: Démos by Baptiste Grandgirard (link to Where do we study? Where do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#Bridges #Trans-disciplinary #WesternArtMusic #Inclusiveness #ReachingOut #AudienceEngagement

http://demos.philharmoniedeparis.fr

“Questioning an urban cartography linking musical styles and community belonging, questioning the sociological determinisms that reserve ‘western classical music’ for graduates of the HME system and ‘music of the world’ for people of immigrant background, [...] build, teach, convince children who, for the most part, hold far from the orchestral practice, these are some of the ambitions of the Démos project.” *

Démos (french acronym of Musical and orchestral education device with a social purpose) is a project of cultural democratization centered on the musical practice in orchestras. This nationwide project was initiated in 2010 and coordinated by the Cité de la musique - Philharmonie in Paris (now consisting of almost 30 orchestras with about 100 children in all of France). The project is implemented where children’s access to arts and cultural education is difficult due to economic and social factors or due to the geographical distance of educational structures. Démos aims to enrich the children’s educational background, promote the heritage of western art music and contribute to their social inclusion. It is built on a strong cooperation between actors of the cultural and the social field. One of its model can be found in El Sistema from Venezuela. Even if these orchestras are not driven by the Higher Music Education system, it has to be mentioned that they are indirectly a big employer for students who have / will have their pedagogical degree from one of the French HME’s institutions.

Diversity is at the core of the Démos project because each orchestra is different, due partly to its respective audience, its region, and which local musical structure supports the project. For example, the Démos orchestra of Thouars, in New Aquitaine, was connected with the contemporary ensemble Ars Nova, which gives it a strong and specific identity compared to the others orchestras. Indeed, the children of this group build their own PVC instruments during the first year of the program so they can perform/play a piece composed especially for them by Violeta Cruz, a young Colombian composer. 70 kilometers to the east in the same region, in Châtellerault, another Démos orchestra was implemented one year before, and its children has activities with musicians coming from a more “classical” perspective, because of its connection with the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Aquitaine, a symphonic orchestra dedicated to repertoire from the 18th and 19th century. Both ensembles are on a meta level part of the same project with various concrete achievements in reality.

The transmission of western art music is seen from a very broad point of view. Pieces by Beethoven, Mozart or Lully are on equal footing with contemporary works (as shown in Thouars) or music based on oral tradition from around the world when orality is the main axis of transmission in Démos, whether it concerns a ‘bransle du Poitou’ or a contemporary creation.

Moreover, the notion of diversity is also found at the pedagogical level. Each teacher has a different background. Working in pairs, a duo can be constituted by a violinist with a folk music background and a renaissance dancer, or by a percussionist and a saxophonist. These pedagogues, confronted with new ways of doing group pedagogy, have to mix the variety of their conceptions in order to conceive and lead two workshops of 90 minutes per week during 3 years. In order to help them to deal with this inclusiveness and pedagogical challenge, a social worker who knows every child is present at every workshop. Typically, and this is valid for almost every Démos orchestra, a workshop gathers 15 children who are 7 to 12 years-old. In the first months they learn some basic notions of music (about rhythm, singing), of dance (relation to the body, to each of theirs members) and social skills (how to behave in group, to join it humanly and musically) through group exercises based on oral transmission. Because the final objective is to gather more than one hundred of these children in a big orchestra, learning how to stay focused in a huge group is maybe as important as singing in tune. Then, when the instruments arrive, a three-year-free-loan quite ritualized, these three pillars continue, and the least we can say is that the regular one-to-one transmission is abolished in this project. Concretely, it means that seven children will learn together and at the same time how to produce G, A, B, C and D on their saxophones with one teacher, while 6 others will do the same on their clarinet with another one. Each teacher needs to find his own pedagogical way first, but then must confront it with his colleague, to finally transmit together what they need to transmit. How to deal with diversity, concretely. That said, the crisis of the COVID-19 and the massive recourse to one-to-one video courses has upset the perspectives during the project, nourishing in another way the atypical path of these young musicians.

“We want to allow children to own a cultural legacy that belongs to them, but to which they would not necessarily have access and that is still often considered the preserve of an elite.”²

- The Le Chéile Project and the Open Youth Orchestra of Ireland: the first national youth orchestra for musicians with disabilities (Royal Irish Academy of Music) by Brendan Breslin (link to How do we study? How do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#Bridges #Western Art Music #Inclusiveness #ReachingOut #AudienceEngagement #Disability

Le Chéile is a project to develop music ensembles for young disabled people in the four provinces of Ireland using Assistive Music Technology (AMT) culminating in the founding of the Open Youth Orchestra of Ireland (OYOI), Ireland’s first national youth orchestra for disabled musicians. These ensembles will bring together disabled and guest non-disabled artists in groups, comprising of 8-12 participants each. Between January and September of 2019, the participant groups met regularly to improvise and compose music together, developing a shared musical experience led by its members.

In order to create a sustainable model for Le Chéile, four third-level institutions were asked underpin the delivery of the project, based in geographical locations appropriate to a four-province delivery. These institutions are;

1) The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM), Dublin and Leinster: The RIAM is the project lead, Ireland’s national music conservatoire

2) Ulster University (UU), Derry and Ulster: UU are the primary research organisation, from which the Le Chéile project stems

3) Cork School of Music/Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), Cork and Munster: CIT are one of the leading music conservatoires in Ireland, that have a strengths in Music Technology and Inclusive music outreach, supported by the Cope Foundation.

4) Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT), Athlone and Connacht: AIT have a robust Creative Industry department that promotes collaboration between their engineering, science, and sound engineering departments.

Le Chéile harnessed and shared the skills and specialisms amongst this unique and exciting multi-organisation network.

Background

According to the Census of 2016 13.5% of the Irish population have a disability. Persons with intellectual or physical disabilities are excluded from music ensembles because of:

Accessibility challenges to venues for rehearsal and tuition

A dearth of skilled music teachers in the area of disability

A lack of awareness of technology-based and adapted music instruments

The perception that music ensembles with the end goal of quality performance are not for the disabled.

For so long, active music participation has been a very remote concept for disabled people that take up has been identified as a risk. A concerted campaign of information and encouragement will be required to ensure that these opportunities are seen as real and attainable for them. Issues around transport, accommodation and comfort while travelling for musicians with disabilities cannot be overstated. In round terms, ensembles with disabilities are at least twice as expensive as ensembles with musicians without disability and the stress associated with journeys can be considerable. However, the impact of getting musicians to venues and overcoming these logistics is hugely important, and is a relevant part of this project.

Project Goals

Offering music ensemble participation, training and opportunities for personal and professional development to people with a disability will challenge the perception of what makes a performing musician in 21st century Ireland. Le Chéile aims to change a mind-set, embrace equality, and celebrate difference; acknowledging ability, at any level. To affect societal change, Le Chéile will need to reach many people beyond the participants, through:

Information: disseminated by Third Level institutions, Arts Offices, and disability organisations.

Training: designed for music schools, teachers, healthcare facilities, and community volunteers though an online how-to guide, regional workshops and attendance to concerts. This includes 7,000 music teachers connected to RIAM.

Networking: building strong links between those involved in creative industry, arts, education, and healthcare.

Research: reflecting upon international work, and commissioning new project based analysis and recommendations for Ireland. Shared through online blogs, attendance at conferences, and peer-to-peer communication

Programme Delivery

At the heart of the Le Chéile project is ownership and choice – participants will choose to use conventional instruments or Assistive Music Technology (AMT), which by using equipment such as iPads and motion sensors allows physically and intellectually challenged musicians to compose, improvise and perform music on a level never possible before.

As Ireland’s national music conservatoire, the RIAM can advocate for change. We wish to make a strong, positive statement for music and disability, and to support this with projects and accredited programmes leading to jobs in the creative industries for the musician participants. This will have a positive effect on the wellbeing of those with disabilities in providing equity of access to music. Society must see that difference is valuable in artistic expression.

Third level institutes in each province of Ireland, all leaders in diversity and equality, will partner to develop four unique ensembles. Ulster University (UU) the RIAM and Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) will welcome participants from Ulster, Leinster and Connacht respectively, whilst the Cork School of Music (CIT) will host the Munster ensemble with the support of disability rights group the Cope Foundation.

AIT will later become home to a residential programme that will see all four groups join musical forces ahead of the inaugural performance of the Open Youth Orchestra of Ireland (OYOI) in September 2019. A flagship Creative Ireland initiative, the OYOI will be an orchestra drawn from members of the four provincial Le Chéile groups and will be the island’s first disabled-led national youth orchestra.

The four ensembles will utilise a ground-breaking methodology for directing musical performance for disabled artists developed by Dr. Denise White of Ulster University called ‘Conductology’, which will rely on the use of 18 gestures agreed upon by the musicians. This specialised body language will be used by the ensemble conductors to facilitate performance and improvisation in all four ensembles, the first of its kind in the world.

The Future of Le Chéile and the OYOI

The work of Le Chéile will go beyond the ensembles and orchestra by developing a national framework for bringing musical composition and performance to young disabled artists. The project will allow for the professional development of teachers and musicians across Ireland and will create a handbook and resource repository in order to support facilitators in sustaining inclusive ensembles across the island.

Beyond the timeline of Le Chéile, RIAM and its partners continue to support the development of the OYOI and regional ensembles; encouraging the expansion of new ensembles; accredited programmes to recognise participants’ achievements; and training music teachers and volunteers across Ireland in the resources and tools available for teaching music to people with disabilities. This is the first step towards changing the perception of what it means to be a musical artist in the 21st century, and opening up musical creativity to a sector of society for whom it is currently unattainable.

The Le Chéile Project has already seen the systemic growth of programme development within the arts education sector in Ireland; Dublin City University and Ulster University to host modules within their B.Mus. Education programmes that will include Assistive Music Technology; University of Limerick have now included Assistive Music Technology within their Masters in Music Therapy programme. The most substantial development in this sector will see the RIAM as an organisation utilise the learning from Le Chéile to codify its overall inclusive and widening participation. Primary through to third-level programmes will all be enhanced by a broader, more diverse scope in music performance and education.

New found synergies between the Le Chéile Project and other established Outreach projects have unearthed opportunities in programme development. The particular use of VR and AR within the Le Chéile programme are now amplified across national programmes supporting disadvantaged youths, helping to overcome financial and geographical barriers to music composition and collaboration.

It is envisaged that within the next 12-18 months, an accredited programme for both participants and facilitators will be launched by RIAM, a direct expansion of the Le Chéile programme. These programmes will deliver a wide range of topics that recognise best current practice in Assistive Music Technology, Adapted Musical Instruments, Musicianship, Inclusive Creativity, Special Needs support, co-developed composition processes, ensemble leadership/administration, Music Therapy, virtual reality for Inclusive means, and inclusive music software development. Central to these new programmes will be the agency by RIAM on behalf of programme graduates, leveraging opportunities in employment as tutors, developers, and professional performing artists in their own right. All of which will be realised in the redeveloped RIAM Campus open from 2022, which will include a dedicates Inclusive Arts hub, and the official home of the Open Youth Orchestra of Ireland.

- Engaging Female Students at Berklee College of Music Valencia (Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus) by Clara Barbera (link to Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#Gender #equality #studentinitiatives #admissions #mentorship

Ever since the launch of Berklee College of Music’s Valencia campus in 2012, there has been an institutional commitment to diversity and inclusion. Initially, the campus in Spain aligned its Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to the one developed at the HQ campus in Boston, but through the years, further consideration has been given to its different geographical location, the specific programs offered in terms of academic levels and length of the programs, its demography in terms of the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of students, faculty and staff at the Valencia campus, and the actual time that enrolled students spend there.

During the second academic year (2013-2014), female graduate students raised their concerns around the smaller proportion of female faculty and students on campus, and the impact this was having on the campus dynamics and overall learning environment. In an effort to overcome this reality, the campus’ leadership team, and the students themselves, initiated a coordinated and long-term commitment to host initiatives that brought female music industry professionals to the campus so as to better understand the challenges they face and the strategies they use to overcome them.

Since then, the main objectives have been to understand the intersectionality embedded in gender dynamics as it applies to the music industry, acknowledge the important work carried out by female leaders within the various professional fields; and ultimately widen the pool of references and mentorship / networking possibilities for students, so as to provide diverse narratives of today’s music industry.

Outlined below are some of the initiatives that have been hosted at Berklee’s Valencia campus. Some are student led – supported by the adjudication of diversity grants issued by the office of Student Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion – while the institution’s leadership team organizes others. All are aimed at engaging current students, external partners, and future Berklee applicants in acknowledging the aforementioned objectives.

She Knows Tech

A student-led initiative launched by two graduate students from the Music Production Technology and Innovation program and a graduate student from the Global Entertainment and Music Business program in academic year 2017-2018 saw a number of female tech specialists offering workshops and guidance on specific technology-related topics on campus. The objective was to break down the stereotypes around gender in the field of music technology, open safe spaces for young female and female-identifying students to practice their skills, and provide female references within the music tech industry to the student body as a whole.

This program evolved significantly during academic year 2018-2019 under the leadership of one of the founders, who also became the Diversity and Inclusion Fellow for our campus. She not only created a Femaletronica festival in celebration of International Women’s Day that featured a number female DJs within the campus (see Figure 1), but she also established a mentoring program between graduate and undergraduate students that focused on five different areas of music technology:

● Live visuals;

● Live recording;

● Music production;

● eResume; and

● Tech ensemble.

Twenty female undergraduate students benefited from the generosity of these five graduate students contributing to the efforts of engaging more female students in music technology fields. She Knows Tech has continued to grow in scope as well as dimension well beyond Berklee, becoming the main career focus for its leader and attracting the attention of sponsors, conferences and, of course, female-identifying music technology emerging professionals. The culmination of She Knows Tech’s latest project will be the upcoming SKT Summit 2021 (March 5-8, 2021).

Figure 1: Femaletronica Festival. Photo credit © Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus. Tato Baeza

Women in Music Berklee

A collaboration between the non-profit organization Women in Music and Berklee emerged to organize a number of on and off-campus seminars, concerts and conversations to inspire action around Women in Music’s mission “to advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition”. This initiative constituted the end-of-year thesis (Culminating Experience) of three graduate students of the Global Entertainment and Music Business program of the class of 2018, and three more of the class of 2019. These teams also produced two compilation albums in collaboration with student-led record label Disrupcion Record, the first one entitled “Sincerely, Women” and the second one “Women in Music”. In its first edition (2017-2018), this project constituted the first official collaboration with the Women in Music organization that welcomed a male contributor.

Shifting the Conversation: Towards Balance in Music

Berklee collaborated with UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Fund and held this event to reflect on gender inequalities persisting within the music industry with the intention of discussing potential ideas for change. An open debate was established with a powerful panel of industry professionals (Yvette Noel-Schure, Salomé Limón, Alf Olofson, Patricia Albednour and Pablo Munguía), moderated by the Director of the Sustainable Development Goals Fund HQ in New York, Paloma Durán. Some interesting ideas came out of this debate (see Figure 2) around the role of home, education and society as a whole, which provided the foundations for initiatives for academic year 2017-2018.

Figure 2: Student Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion – Fall 2020 Programming report

The Shifting the Conversation series continues taking place today at Berklee’s Valencia campus addressing social issues that include conversations around gendered power structures within the music industry among other topics.

Women and Conducting

This was a symposium that took place in February 2017 consisting of a number of world renowned professionals aimed at speaking out against the unbalanced presence of women in the world of conducting. The panellists shared strategies and initiatives that could contribute to the elimination of the glass ceilings that exist on leadership positions in contemporary music spheres, from classical music to music direction, orchestration and film scoring.

HeForShe

Berklee collaborated with UN Women’s HeForShe campaign, a worldwide solidarity movement which seeks to engage men and boys as advocates and agents of change in favor of gender equality, to bring consciousness and awareness that gender equality is not only a women’s issue, but a human rights issue that needs to be addressed at all levels. As part of this collaboration, members of the Berklee community created a #BerkleeHeForShe photo booth and met regularly to discuss how men and women might experience gender equality differently. Berklee’s contribution to the HeForShe campaign culminated in the first edition of the Mediterranean Roots Festival (Festival Raíces del Mediterráneo) organized jointly by Berklee Mediterranean Music Institute and Berklee’s Valencia campus to celebrate the musical heritage of the Mediterranean area and its influences and fusions. A part of this two-day festival honored the HeforShe campaign in a concert featuring Mexican singer and UN Women spokesperson Magos Herrera.

Berklee Women’s Empower Symposium

This one-day student-led event in March of 2016 exposed students from all programs to leading power players in entertainment, media and music, empowering role models who are often overlooked. Speakers included Yvette Noel-Schure, Angela Martinez, Judy Cantor-Navas, Victoria Morales-Huhne, Allie Silver, Christine Krzyzanowski, Jeanine Cowen, Alf Olofson and Patrice Rushen.

————-

Whereas it is still early to assess the direct impact of these initiatives on the final enrolment number of female or female-identifying students at the graduate level, it is true that qualitative data collected through the audition and interview process by the academic program directors consistently show that female candidates do value these opportunities when choosing to pursue a Berklee education at the graduate level in Valencia.

In addition to these efforts, Berklee Valencia’s enrolment team has also dedicated a number of resources to attracting more female students to the campus in Valencia, including:

● intentional follow-ups with female candidates to facilitate enrolment;

● connections between female accepted students with current students or influential alumni;

● program-specific follow-ups with female students for the Scoring for Film, Television and Videogames and Music Production Technology Innovation graduate programs. (Worth noting is that the Global Entertainment and Music Business graduate program of academic year 2018-2019 already had an even number of male and female students);

● launch of Berklee Scholarship for Outstanding Women (covering up to 70% of tuition fees for one of our graduate programs);

● allocation of specific Financial Aid resources towards qualified female accepted students – especially in the Scoring for Film, Television and Video Games and Music Production Technology Innovation graduate programs- to promote their enrolment in those programs; and

● intentional promotional efforts that highlight the work of current female students and alumni.

Whether directly or indirectly, the sum of all these efforts since Autumn 2013 has produced a steady increase on the number of female applications, acceptances and enrollments at Berklee’s Valencia’s graduate programs. The small dip in the number of female applications, acceptances and enrolments in Autumn 2016 are due to unrelated factors, while we believe that the data for Autumn 2020 to represent a direct impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic:

(Applications and acceptances % not available for Fall 2019 and Fall 2020)

(Admissions statistics refer to sex assigned at birth)

Also important is the role that female alumni from Berklee’s Valencia campus are playing after graduating from their graduate programs. The below alumni are contributing to the empowerment of younger female music professionals by mentoring current students at the Valencia campus through the Berklee Valencia Alumni Ambassador Program and leading, or actively participating in, initiatives within their communities:

● Jasmine Kok — Founder of the aforementioned She Knows Tech initiative: an initiative to “channel waves of trained women into technical roles in the music industry and dispel the notion that there are not enough female professionals in music production and technology. We dream of working in a music industry that is flooded with female-identifying producers, engineers & tech performers”).

● Michelle Golden at NYU – Tisch School of Arts (co-Founder of Project Next Up, an initiative “to bring men and women of all ages into the conversation of reshaping the narrative of leadership and success in the music and entertainment industry”)

● Alison Zatarain at The Orchard (NY) (Founder of Instant Love, a collection of tracks, podcasts and series that intend to “amplify love by creating songs, podcasts and interviews about overlooked and nuanced inter-female relationships”)

● Stephanie Hernandez, who actively collaborates with Women in Music’s Miami chapter.

● Ganavya Doraiswamy independent artist and co-founder of We Have Voice: “a collective of 14 musicians, performers, scholars, and thinkers from different generations, races, ethnicities, cultures, abilities, gender identities, economic backgrounds, religious beliefs and affiliations determined to engage in transformative ways of thinking and being in their creative professional world, while being ingrained in an inclusive and intersectional analysis”.

This case study has provided some insight into Berklee College of Music’s institutional commitment to diversity and inclusion in its Valencia campus and some of the steps taken to empower and engage female and female-identifying students in their chosen music careers. These steps continue to acknowledge the important work carried out by female leaders within the various professional fields, and ultimately widen the pool of references and mentorship / networking possibilities for students now and in the future.

B. Institutional policies

This stream focuses on how institutions can apply policies that promote equality and facilitate access by a more diverse student and faculty body. The first section offers a discussion on power relations and the importance of combatting the abuse of power - especially sexual harassment - in today’s higher music education environments through policy. The subsequent section reviews case studies on various institutions’ efforts to make these environments more accessible for women and international students and applicants who, for socio-economic or related music-cultural reasons, are ordinarily under-represented in higher music education. The final section illustrates efforts to promote inclusion and equality of experience among faculty, staff and students with disabilities.

- Dealing with (institutionalized) forms of power abuse by David-Emil Wickström (link to How do we study? How do we teach?)

#WesternArtMusic #Traditional Music #Gender #Power #Policies

In addition to the high profile case of James Levine, recent cases at German conservatories have put the spotlight on sexual abuse of students and employees (Knobbe, Möller 2018; Bartsch et al. 2019). Similar cases are also known throughout the conservatories in Europe as well as world-wide (e.g. Gluckman 2017; Lazar 2017). A survey conducted among British music, drama and dance students by three British performing artists associations (Equity, Incorporated Society of Musicians, Musicians Union) in 2018 showed that ‘57% of these respondents reported experiencing inappropriate behaviour (behaviour that is considered socially unacceptable), 42% experienced bullying, 36% experienced gender discrimination and 27% experienced sexual harassment.’ (Payne et al. 2018, p. 2) What makes this survey so shocking is that 57% of the students did not report the incidents since 54% of them felt that they would not be believed or be taken seriously (Payne et al. 2018, p. 2). While this is not a new problem, the current focus has in part come through the heightened awareness and publicised cases brought about by the #metoo movement.

While sexual harassment is a particularly heinous form of abuse it resides within the broader category of power abuse as the mentioned survey also shows. This includes belittling the students and pointing out that they are worthless (see Josefson 2016 for examples within a Swedish context). While sexual (and other abuse) can have many reasons it almost always also reflects a power imbalance with a superior person who yields power and a subordinate person who is dependent on the person in power. Within conservatories teachers and superiors are in a position of power while students and subordinate employers are dependent of their superiors and teachers and thus in the weaker positions. This also means that they are often afraid of the consequences if they report the abuse and their claim is not taken seriously. But these forms of abuse also occur among students – in the mentioned survey 58% of the perpetrators were fellow students while the number of permanent teaching staff was at 42% (Payne et al. 2018, p. 3).

Re-thinking the one-on-one model: from teacher to coach

One issue aiding sexual abuse of students by faculty within conservatories is the close relationship between the students and their (main instrument) teachers. Besides the fact that physical contact is at times also part of the lessons (correcting the student’s posture while holding/playing the instrument, showing correct technique, playing together in proximity e.g. duets at the piano) the teachers at the same time are also influential since they decide who gets to play where and when during in-house and external recitals and concerts and they provide their graduates with jobs or awards since they are often also on the jury of grant awarding bodies. This makes the students malleable to blackmail from their teachers since they know that the teachers can damage or even destroy their career. Since many students also spend a lot of time practicing and not necessarily interacting with other students (depending on genre), their opportunities to share their experiences can be somewhat limited. While these roles shift after a student has graduated, the power relations remain since the teachers remain gatekeepers for jobs, grants and awards.

One option is to rethink the model of the main instrument teacher to main instrument coach. In this model, the student has a main instrument coach over his/her study period which follows the student´s artistic development over time. At the same time, the student has regular main instrument lessons with other teachers. This model loosens the student-teacher relationship and gives the student different teaching as well as artistic perspectives. Another option is to completely break the master-pupil model by changing main instrument teacher every year and/or by moving away from one-on-one lessons exclusively to a mix of group and one-on-one lessons. These models do not, however, eliminate the problem, since the one-on-one lessons remain anonymous to outsiders and the teachers still have the possibility to influence their students’ careers.

Creating a Code of Conduct

Here strict institutional policies are needed in which a Code of conduct clearly outlines what is acceptable and what is not (the case of “Berklee College of Music’s Equity policy and adapting such policy to the European environment” gives one example of how to deal with these issues). This document has to be easily accessible to students and faculty. The policy should include not only a staff member the students (and faculty) can go to to confide themselves, but also an anonymous instance where students and faculty can go to report cases of abuse without having to fear repercussions from their teachers. While anonymous reporting might be problematic in some countries since there is no official name behind the accusation it does provide a tool with which faculty then can investigate occurrences. It can also provide material which then can lead to general instructions to the faculty and students as well as specific action within the department or institution – not necessarily individual sanctions. This is thus also a tool to raise the awareness within the institution. In addition, there should be clear disciplinary measures and consequences for repeat offenders. The AEC provides a guide for a code of conduct: AEC Guidelines on Establishing Institutional Codes of Good Practice for Professional Teaching Conduct in Conservatoires (accessed 17.07.2018).

At the same time it is equally important to create an institutional culture which is open to feedback, creates a space for complaints from students and staff and which does not tolerate power abuse. An important step here is to raise an awareness among the teachers and students to what amounts to abuse. This starts with the simple question if it is ok for a teacher or other student to make physical contact with a student (e.g. to correct a student’s posture) and for the teacher or other students to accept “no” as an answer. Especially in the multicultural environments the conservatories operate in today both students as well as teachers are not always aware of actions that are offensive to others or actions which are normal within a specific cultural setting that can be seen as offensive in another one. This starts with every day commonalities like shaking hands or hugging male and female students and/or staff. In other words, sensibility training should be part of professional development at the conservatories. This not only includes training focusing on sensibilising faculty to issues of power abuse, but also provide faculty with pedagogical training and thus provide them with current teaching tools.

Other steps

While a code of conduct is important, it is even more important that the code is also enforced by the head of the conservatory. If the perpetrator is the head of the conservatory (or was like in the German case mentioned) then this is somewhat difficult. Another important step is to empower the students to speak up and to establish and encourage a neutral and critical student representation.

One step is to give the students a neutral and open platform to discuss these issues. In the aftermath of the #metoo campaign conservatories in Northern Europe had discussion and reflection groups with the students within the conservatory to discuss different forms of discrimination (in this case gender based).

Another way of combating sexual harassment is in the conservatory buildings’ architecture. By literally making the rehearsal and class rooms as well as the office walls transparent and thus the inside accessible to views of the public the possibility of abuse can be diminished. This also has to include a policy of not being allowed to teach outside the conservatory walls (or at least to limit this as much as possible).

Combating abuse of power is not easy and a multi-pronged approach as outlined is necessary. The central issue is to raise an awareness among faculty and students and to start talking about sexual and power abuse. While this will not eliminate the abuse, however an open discourse about the issue makes it much more difficult to continue the abuse.

b1) Opening conservatories / promotion of diversity: This section presents a range of case studies detailing institutions’ efforts and policy initiatives designed to promote greater inclusivity and diversity in the formal institutional community, encompassing faculty, staff and students.

- Berklee College of Music’s equity policy and its adaptation to the European environment (Berklee College of Music, Valencia campus) by Clara Barbera (link to Where do we study? Where do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#equity #harassment #power #policies #resources #adaptation

Background

Despite efforts to investigate claims and to act on findings relating to sexual harassment at Berklee since President Roger Brown’s arrival to the institution almost 17 years ago, recounts of a number of incidents of sexual misconduct occurring over a number of years at Berklee were published in an article by the Boston Globe on November 2017. Whereas the institution had already established policies and procedures to properly manage cases of sexual harassment by then, community members called for a more thorough approach.

As a response to this important feedback, and building on the work that had already started since Brown’s arrival at Berklee, a comprehensive Diversity and Inclusion strategy was elaborated and incorporated as an institutional priority in 2017, with a robust Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion also launching during the 2017-2018 academic year.

The new strategy focused on improving the climate, systems and practices within all learning environments within Berklee. In order to do so, it was important to recognize the multilayered, transversal approach to the work required, and so a number of working areas (listed below) was defined with the aim of setting a clear action plan within each of them, and evaluate how these areas should exist in relation to each other:

● Campus climate

● Inclusive excellence in curriculum and pedagogy

● Inclusive spaces and accessible campus

● Recruitment, hiring, promotion and retention

● Training dialogue and practice

● Student access, engagement, and success

● Equity policy and process (1)

Berklee’s Equity Policy

The following statement is drawn from Berklee’s notice of non-discrimination:

Berklee, as an educational institution and as an employer, does not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, gender expression/identity, genetic information, marital status, mental illness, military/veteran status, national and ethnic origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, or any other characteristic protected by law (collectively referred to as “protected characteristics”).

Berklee adheres to all federal and state civil rights laws barring discrimination, including, but not limited to, Title IX and Title VI of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Massachusetts Equal Rights Law. Berklee is committed not only to compliance with these mandates, but to promoting a culture that is in line with the values these civil rights laws envision.

Notice of Non-Discrimination / Title IX Compliance Statement

The main mission of Berklee’s Equity Policy is to ensure that all members of Berklee’s global community (Berklee Boston, Boston Conservatory, Berklee Online and Berklee Valencia) are able to learn, teach and work in a supporting and caring environment, prohibiting and addressing discrimination and harassment based on any characteristic protected by US law (collectively referred to as “protected characteristics”), whether that characteristic is actual or perceived.

The Equity Policy and Process had already been implemented at Berklee prior to the Boston Globe’s article from November 2017 (2) and indeed had also gone through an initial survey of student experiences related to the equity policy to improve its efficiency by Spring 2016. With said, 2017’s public demand urged the institution to strengthen the whole system under this new framework. Work was immediately enacted on the following areas:

Creation of an Equity working group – made up of students, staff, faculty and senior leadership of Berklee College of Music – who met regularly over the final two semesters of the 2017-2018 academic year to closely examine Berklee’s culture, develop a shared understanding of the foundational issues surrounding harassment, discrimination, and sexual misconduct that impact the lives of students, faculty, and staff, and recommend ways to create an inclusive and respectful community. External expertise was called in to help guide this work forward. The working group also focused on tapping into the creativity and artistry of the community as a vehicle for change and inspiration.

Establishment of a clear timeline – a working document designed to support the implementation and rollout of the plan to foster a culture that promotes respect, equity, and creativity, and that introduced, amongst others, the below measures:

● New positions were designed and hired to ensure the implementation of the policy as it relates to prevention, education of the community, support, and eradication of prohibited behaviours. New positions included a Chief Equity Officer and Title IX (3) Coordinator; Deputy for Equity Administration, Intake, and Support; Deputy for Equity Investigations; Assistant Vice-President for Diversity and Inclusion; Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion; Assistant Director for Diversity and Inclusion; permanent Counselor/ Survivor Advocate; and a Case Manager. (4)

● Berklee’s HR team committed to increase the pipeline for diverse candidates, ensuring that the language used in job positions attracts women and diverse applicants and that they posted on job boards and professional organizations and associations that attract diverse candidates.

● Training sessions for students, staff, and faculty were organised on reporting, resources, consent, and bystander intervention. Bystander intervention training is now included in the curriculum of first semester students.

● A ‘responsible employee’ mandate was communicated to all staff and faculty as a reminder that all Berklee employees are required to report any violation or possible violation of the equity policy (including discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct) that they might observe or learn about, to Berklee’s Chief Equity Officer. All Berklee employees are considered responsible employees and training is provided to new hires to ensure understanding and compliance during their on boarding. Licensed professional counselors acting in that professional capacity (and who are thus designated confidential resources) are exempted from this rule.

● A comprehensive and campus-wide messaging and promotions campaign clearly stating what incidents should be reported and how, was produced for the Boston and Valencia campuses.

● ‘Moving Forward: A Speaker Series on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ was launched aiming to further Berklee’s goal of inclusion and respect for all community members through a series of conversations open to all students, faculty, and staff and geared towards examining community values around diversity and inclusion, reflecting on present dynamics, and growing together as a community.

● A new relationships policy for Berklee faculty, staff, and others engaged to perform services at or for Berklee was approved and implemented. This new policy prohibits dating, romantic, or sexual relationships between Berklee students and those working for or on behalf of Berklee, as well as between supervisory employees and those who report within the same line of management, with limited exceptions as set forth in the policy.

Transparency, clear communication and external auditing – updates from the senior leadership team on the progress of specific actions such as the above were regularly shared throughout the following year with all community members across the global institution. This progress led to the selection of Berklee’s Equity Team for participation in NASPA’s Culture of Respect Collective, a highly respected two-year program that assists colleges and universities in reviewing and improving their practices around sexual violence through self-assesment and targeted organizsational change. During academic year 2019-2020, Berklee joined 60 other schools from across the US who participated in the first two cohorts of the collective, as well as 40 other institutions that took part in the third cohort, including partners in Canada and Mexico. (5)

Adapting the Policy to Berklee’s European environment

One of the biggest challenges for Berklee’s campus in Valencia has been adapting this Equity policy, and its reinforcing measures, to fit its European reality, particularly as it relates to external variables (ie: labour laws and other legal and cultural implications) but also those that impact the internal life of the campus (ie: available campus resources, expertise, nature and length of academic programs, student body composition…) Needless to say, some of the aforementioned policies and resources were incorporated immediately (ie: responsible employee and relationship policies, and others) but for the purposes of highlighting this adaptation process, below are some of the additional actions and observations that the Valencia campus took on board over the past four years to adapt the Equity policy to its particular context in order for it to serve its purpose: (6)

● Formulation of a Valencia Equity Leadership team – a team of selected and properly trained staff members from different departments that respond to equity related incidents as they emerge, as either intake officers and / or investigators. This team juggles their equity role with other campus responsibilities, and so to ensure due process is followed, they closely collaborate with Boston counterparts in similar positions to manage complex incidents. This can, at times, slightly delay the resolution of an incident.

● Access to external legal advice: Labour laws in Spain as well as those related to GDPR in Europe differ from those in force in the US. This, at times, impacts the Spanish campus’ ability to apply approved interim measures or final sanctions that are usually enacted at the Boston campus in cases of a similar nature. Spanish external legal counsel may be consulted during complex processes if deemed necessary.

● Collaboration with local officials to support community members in an immediate response: A close examination of local protocols (ie: police and public health administration) to support and assist as needed was also carried out by those in the first line of response (ie: Berklee’s public safety department, medical team and student services) in order to be ready to support community members off campus if they become involved in a sexual assault.

● Connection to similar programs in Spain: The Association of North American University Programs in Spain (APUNE) is also a valuable source of expertise and collaboration connecting US programs in Spain dealing with cases of sexual assault. APUNE provides its members resources, training, connections and expertise that is specific to the location and the nature of programs abroad.

● Educational work, and ownership of community membership: Orientation sessions explaining Berklee’s Equity policy, as well as behavioural expectations for community members as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion, are carefully presented to students, taking into account the nature of the campus and the specific cohorts that arrive to it every fall. Additionally, co-curricular programming throughout the year is offered to complement the academic experience by highlighting ethical practices within the music industry offered by guest speakers from around the world. Initiatives addressing social themes in the context not only of the life of the campus, but also the music industry as a whole, aim to turn the focus on the importance of becoming engaged citizens, agents of social change, and active bystanders and allies.

● Support for student leadership initiatives and encouragement of student feedback: The campus also considers financing, advising and supervising student initiatives that explore the promotion of gender equality as well as anti racist and sustainable practices in the music industry. Additionally, through the Student Advisory Board, students are also encouraged to share their feedback, and that of their peers, with the Valencia Executive Team. This open and regular line of communication between students and leadership is fundamental to understanding campus’ dynamics every year, as well as the most pressing needs of the student body as they emerge.

● Diversifying the pool of candidates for employment opportunities in the faculty and staff bodies: Labour laws in Spain can potentially consider any affirmative action measures that the campus takes to diversify the faculty and staff body as discriminatory practices, and hence there are limitations to how the campus can incorporate diversity in hiring practices. Additionally, GDPR legislation also needs to be considered in the daily work of HR departments across Europe. The campus compensates these limitations by including specific language in job postings that encourages the application of candidates from diverse backgrounds. It also relies on professional networks from different departments to promote employment opportunities among candidates from diverse backgrounds; and it establishes onboarding processes that highlight the importance of inclusive practices at all levels of the organisation (ie: in the classroom as well as in each of the administrative departments). Specific training to explain the Equity policy, the role of all staff and faculty as responsible employees and Berklee’s relationship policy is also required during all onboarding processes of new employees.

● During the current semester, Berklee deployed a Diversity & Inclusion campus climate survey to understand how community members (students, faculty and staff) perceive Berklee’s climate and level of support for diversity and inclusion, as well as whether or not community members have experienced discrimination or harassment, and if so, how often. In order to comply with GDPR legislation in Europe, a number of questions that referred to demographic aspects of respondents were left out for the Valencia edition. Collected responses will be analysed with the understanding that Valencia-specific feedback might shed light on aspects to be considered about the academic experience but that might differ from those deemed as priorities by community members in Boston.

● Transparency and access to information related to rights and expectations: A ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ web section within valencia.berklee.edu was launched to include resources, services and initiatives that Berklee students have access to in Valencia. More importantly, it also offers an opportunity for prospective students to understand institutional priorities when it comes to prohibiting discriminatory practices at Berklee. Additionally, a feedback section on the main contact us section in this web section encourages stakeholders to share their general feedback, reminding them that equity-related reports are to be submitted through a specific Equity Policy Violations Reporting form where additional information is provided.

The ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ web section allows all community members to review their reporting options and includes detailed flowcharts explaining how Berklee addresses equity reports:

Further considerations in policy adaptation

Progress as it relates to the adaptation of the Equity process to Valencia will need to continue as the campus consolidates some of these services, while the global institution considers and re-examines others as a result of social movements pushing global communities to rethink the foundations on which they are built with a renewed energy (see Berklee’s commitment to inclusion echoing “the sentiments of many Berklee community members that institutions acting as systems of oppression—whether explicitly or implicitly—have an ethical duty to acknowledge their role in aiding supremacist values and the replication of oppression)”. As this ongoing process continues, there is a final set of considerations to take into account in the process of policy adaptation at the Valencia campus:

● Although the number of equity-related cases occurring at the Valencia campus is currently very small, when these incidents occur, depending on their severity, they can critically impact both the workload and the emotional wellbeing of those managing the case. Comprehensive training is fundamental to the success of the process for all involved parties.

● Respecting the privacy of the people involved in an equity investigation when the campus is small is not always easy to ensure, particularly when, to dutifully follow the process, a number of people might need to be involved. Furthermore, sanctions might imply issuing of no contact orders or other types of accommodations that hardly go unnoticed. It is critical that the maximum level of privacy and care is ensured at all times, despite this additional challenge.

● Every fall, the Valencia campus receives “new to Valencia” first year abroad, study abroad and graduate students, and these students usually only stay for a maximum of one year in this campus. This short cycle allows for a “fresh start” every fall, a unique opportunity to analyse student feedback from the year before and incorporate it to the design of future academic years.

● In a community that receives new students from more than 40 different countries every year, the institutional culture of the campus as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion needs to be not only very well defined, but also well communicated at the start of every year. Cultural and social norms that might be accepted in some regions of the world, might not be accepted in others, and at Berklee’s campus in Spain, the additional need to review US-centric policies and processes through a non-US (international) lens is a reality in all its operations: from admissions, to human resources, to the extent of the support services available and more. All educational, preventive and disciplinary work taking place at Berklee’s Spanish campus to erradicate discrimination, harrasment or misconduct on the basis of, for example, gender, sexual orientation or race, needs to consider and incorporate the exogenous and endogenous mechanisms that impact students’ experiences in this context (Valencia, Spain and Europe) at the same time as the different starting points of community members at the time of their arrival.

Conclusion

This experience of working to establish inclusive practices that are contextualised, impactful, and sustainable over time, manifests how important it is to recognize the multilayered, transversal, intersectional and ever-evolving approach to the work required. To create a truly inclusive culture that is conducive to the success of all of its members, institutional policies are not enough. They are there to manage individual incidents, however complex they might be, but they cannot single-handedly eradicate the existing systems of oppression that have allowed for these incidents to perpetuate themselves across generations. The real, underlying, work lies on all the different pieces required to create institutional cultures where there is a shared understanding, and an embodiment, of the values to uphold; where all perspectives and backgrounds see themselves reflected; and where commitment to these values is seen across the board: from the executive leadership to the new students that arrive every year. The transformation of an institutional culture requires time, commitment, trust, resources, and the inherent understanding of the connection of the institution to the context in which it exists. It requires the necessary boldness to re-examine its past, and an unwavering willingness to own, and act upon, the position it wants to take in the future of this connection.

References

Since this case study mainly focuses on providing an example of how issues of discrimination and harassment are managed within Berklee, and in particular, in its European campus, it will focus mainly on the final bullet point above: equity policy and process.

How One College Has Set Out to Fix a Culture of “Blatant Sexual Harassment, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 2017

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 provides that no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

These positions suffered a number of changes during the 2021-21 academic year to better serve the changing environment in which Berklee operates.

NASPA’s Culture of Respect Collective program was affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic in March 2020, after the initial self-evaluation carried out in December 2019. The program has since been reinstated, with initial recommendations related to the successful implementation of the Equity policy being shared with the institution.

The legal responsibility for US colleges and universities to protect students from sexual assaults while studying abroad, or at a satellite campus outside of the US, has suffered some changes under new regulations issued by the US Department of Education in May 2020. Whereas prior to these new regulations, universities and colleges had been encouraged to investigate sexual assaults. and support victims abroad under Title IX (the law prohibiting sex discrimination at federally funded institutions) the new rules clearly state institutions are not obliged to investigate reports of sexual misconduct in their study aboad programs, or to provide support to those who report misconduct outside of the US. With this said, many international institutions receiving US students continue today to operate under the understanding that the university is expected to investigate sexual assault allegations occuring abroad as well as provide access to resources and support, in light of possible iterations of this law.

- Elevate! Empowering, promoting and supporting women across Leeds College of Music (Leeds College of Music) by Patsy Gilbert (link to Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#Equality #Gender #GenderEquality #Resources

Across the UK music industry, the issue of gender equality is constantly being referred to, questioned, debated and reported on. The fact remains that women are less represented across the music industry than men.

At Leeds Conservatoire (LC), as of 2019 this unequal divide was also prevalent:

● Professional Support Staff: 47% Female / 53% Male

● Academic Staff: 21% Female / 79% Male

● Students: 29% Female / 71% Male

As a way of counteracting this, LC has launched Elevate – a programme of activities and initiatives which look to support, inspire and motivate women who work across the institution.

Elevate launch event, 2018, Leeds Conservatoire

Rather than imposing central processes for empowering female staff, the Elevate programme provides platforms for staff to speak together, discuss the various issues which relate to women particularly, as well as gain insight from women in leadership roles across the arts and cultural sector. The intention is to put gender firmly on the agenda for the institution, giving female staff visibility within the organisation as well as a network of other women and ‘allies’ across the conservatoire and beyond.

During 2018/19, activities included:

● Panel events with inspiring leaders from across the sector and beyond

● Opportunities to observe boards and committees across the institution

● Introduction to Peer Mentoring

● LC Woman of Excellence Award

● Elevate Photography Exhibition – showcasing 30 women from across the institution in a year-long exhibition. These images will also be published in a book available in our library.

● Academic Promotion Workshops for women

● Library collection – on gender equality and intersectional equality topics, by male, female and non-binary authors.

Elevate launch event, 2018, Leeds Conservatoire

In 2020 we began collating statistical evidence which demonstrates engagement with the Elevate programme: for example, women applying for academic promotion; library books which have been borrowed; and attendance at an Elevate event.

Developments so far

Early indications are that women across the institution are developing stronger informal networks from attending Elevate events.

Elevate has also contributed to LC policy in anonymising all job applications during the selection process which has been trialled in recent opportunities for new Theatre programmes at the conservatoire. The initiative has also inspired strategic actions in the conservatoire’s equality and diversity action plan: in the next five years, we aim to have a 50:50 gender split in our academic teaching staff in all pathways.

Plans for next year seek to broaden the conversation around Elevate. Elevate will expand to engage more men in conversations about gender equality, to connect with LC’s student-led activities, and to link up with other institutions and initiatives outside LC.

To that end we will to develop an online repository for ideas and events inspired by the Elevate programme which other institutions can use in their own environments. This platform will also share the activities of other organisations and, together, share good practice and monitor progress.

But we also go into the future being bolder, asking more provocative questions of ourselves, our work, our disciplines, our attitudes and our institutions:

● Are we an ally to all women?

● Do we support women who are white, straight, cisgender, able and educated?

● Can we support women of colour, women who are trans, who have disabilities, who are homeless, who are in sex work, who are refugees?

Leeds Conservatoire’s Libby Raper Elevate Award for Women in Music Production

To celebrate International Women’s Day on Monday 8 March 2021, LC are looking back at the winner and nominees for the Libby Raper Elevate Award for Women in Music Production, details for which can be found here: https://www.leedsconservatoire.ac.uk/about-us/news/international-womens-day-libby-raper-women-in-music-production-award.

The Elevate programme is a platform for ALL women, and we look forward to joining with women across the AEC.

- Intercultural Communication at the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (HMDK Stuttgart) by Hendrikje Mautner-Obst (link to What do we study? What do we teach?)

About 35% of approximately 800 students of the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart (HMDK) are international students. Most of them originate from the Bologna region (about 20%). Therefore, the student body is international – as is the teaching staff. This international composition of the university’s members represents a very favourable starting point for a lived diversity, a lively intercultural communication and, last but not least, an ‘internationalisation at home’. Everyday life at HMDK is characterized by national, cultural, social and religious diversity. Thus, already today the university shows itself as a space for intercultural encounters and mutual exchange. Individual references to European neighbouring countries as well as to non-European countries are manifold and are established in a broad spectrum of individual and artistic biographies and identities.

Based on this situation, HMDK decided to initiate a process of discussing fundamental values and goals of the institution in regard of international communication. This process has ended in the mission statement Intercultural Communication, in which a common vision has been documented.

In order to start the discussions, a working group was installed, chaired by the Vice President for International Relations and Intercultural Communication. Further, the group consisted of one representative of each of the four faculties, one representative from the administrative staff and two students, nominated by the faculties respectively by the AStA (student union), as core members.

In preparation of the discussions within the university, HMDK applied to a peer-to-peer consulting offered by the Hochschulrektorenkonferenz HRK (Conference of Presidents and Rectors of Universities and Other Higher Education Institutions) within their project ‘HRK – Expertise Internationalisation’. Taking part in this peer-to-peer consulting allowed us to discuss our project ‘mission statement international communication’ and related processes with colleagues from other Higher Education Institutions working in the field of international relations / internationalisation. This practical peer-to-peer counselling enabled to rethink and sharpen certain aspects of the project.

The discussions within HMDK concentrated on the following main subjects:

The starting point was the observation that teaching and learning as well as everyday life at HMDK can be characterized as international: People from different cultural areas and with diverse biographies and identities learn and work together. In terms of opportunities of internationalization at home, of increasing intercultural communication skills or intercultural competences HMDK offers a good framework. In contrast to this diversity, however, the content of the study programs focuses mainly on the tradition of the European music. Other musical cultures – even those having a vivid presence in our society – are hardly included in the teaching / learning contexts. This can be interpreted as a field of tension: What kind of relation exists between the reality of society as a whole and its musical / cultural practices on the one hand and education at music academies on the other? The focus on the European music tradition brings a high level of expertise with it, and students from all over the world come to European music universities because of this expertise. However, music universities must admit that they are aware of the diversity of different musical cultures represented in society, but they are not able to fully reflect this diversity in their education.

The HMDK derived the following tasks from this observation:

One of the main tasks is the permanent reflection and mediation of the European cultural tradition. This includes the reflection of diversity based upon cultural conditions in a globalised world and, in particular, to reconsider the attitude towards non-European cultural traditions time and again.

Special attention has to be paid to the support and education of culturally-hybrid biographies and identities.

The creation of artistic fields of experimentation is necessary to open up a space for new (transcultural / culturally-hybrid / interdisciplinary) forms of art practice.

Language can be regarded as a basic component of (intercultural) communication. Students should therefore be supported in acquiring a high level of language competence.

HMDK should pay attention to advancing international networking to remain an international player in the field of Higher Education Institutions in Music / Performing Arts.

Diversity-conscious actions in all areas of the university should be promoted.

Having discussed these and other aspects and having formulated a mission statement out of the results of the discussion, the working group has also developed ideas on how the existing potential of lived internationality and international communication could be used more consciously. In practice, this means identifying and strengthening existing approaches / ideas / projects on intercultural communication and making them more visible. However, it also means developing new projects and approaches to intercultural communication within HMDK itself as well as in cooperation with other institutions in Stuttgart.

Finally an example: In December 2018 HMDK hosted the so called “Brunch global”, an international breakfast meeting organized by the umbrella organization of migrant associations in Stuttgart, called ‘Forum der Kulturen Stuttgart e.V.’ (‘Forum of Cultures Stuttgart’). As first part of this event, we created a program on the stage of the concert hall of HMDK with contributions of HMDK students and migrant associations. As second part, a brunch for all participants (musicians, dancers and audience) was organized, with food from different regions of the world prepared by the migrant associations. This example shows how the discussions in context of the mission statement and the formulation of a paper ended up in a cooperation project that opened our institution to an audience that partly had never been in a concert of HMDK before and with participants on stage who had never been in HMDK before either. This event opened HMDK towards the city society of Stuttgart and its diverse musical / cultural practices.

The mission statement can be found on the homepage of HMDK: https://www.hmdk-stuttgart.de/unsere-hochschule/ (downloads).

- ’Contextualized Admissions’: in pursuit of diversity and the widening of participation at Scotland’s national conservatoire (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) by Joshua Dickson (link to Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#admissions #diversity #folk #traditional #participation #access

Music has been at the core of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s artistic milieu since its founding in 1847 as The Glasgow Athenaeum. Over the generations, as Western society has liberalized and democratized, so too has the Conservatoire’s subject and student demographics continued to diversify, socially and artistically. For example, the Conservatoire was the first Higher Education Institution in the UK to offer a Bachelors degree in Scottish traditional music in 1996, which at a stroke widened participation in higher music education to include a large, and hitherto largely neglected, artistic and socio-economic constituency (Duesenberry & Miller, 2007). In more recent years, the Conservatoire has continued to widen participation by establishing pre-Higher Education programmes that reach out to Scotland’s under-represented, including to those showing artistic potential who come from the top 20% of the Scottish Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation – that is, the Government’s method of determining which areas of Scotland are deemed to be the most economically deprived.

Today the Conservatoire seeks, through the range of its pre-Higher Education programmes and its recruitment and admissions processes, to maintain, and continue to develop, this richly diverse learning community. It is the Conservatoire’s strongly held belief that the professions it serves will be more effective and of greater benefit to society and culture at large if their members are representative of a diverse society.

Where these principles are reflected in admissions as institutional policy, the Conservatoire recognises that the pursuit of greater diversity in the student body requires an admissions process that is flexible and pays specific attention to the background, needs and potential of each individual applicant. This process is known at the Conservatoire as ‘Contextualized Admissions’.

For Scottish domiciled applicants only, the Conservatoire uses contextualized data to assist in identifying talent and potential that may not be fully demonstrated through prior academic achievement or through current quality of performance. The following types of data are considered:

● Geo-demographic: As mentioned above, we lend particular consideration to applicants who live in postcode areas with the highest levels of disadvantage in Scotland. For this purpose we check the applicant’s postcode compared with postcodes within the lowest two quintiles of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

● Educational background: Applicants whose pre-HE experience and achievement was at a school with pre-dominantly low attainment. For this purpose, we check the applicant’s secondary school compared with the list of Scottish secondary schools with low rates of progression to HE as defined by the Schools for Higher Education Programme.

● ‘Widening Access’ background: Applicants who have successfully participated in a ‘widening access’ programme, or a programme that reaches out to underprivileged or under-represented constituencies: some examples in Scotland include a Conservatoire Transitions Programme, the Lothians Equal Access Programme for Schools (LEAPS), and the Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP).

● Care-experienced: Applicants who have experienced being raised under foster or state care. For this purpose, we look for data provided by the applicant in their application.

Non-Standard Entry

The Conservatoire’s Contextualized Admissions process can culminate in the offer of a place to an applicant who does not, or cannot, meet the minimum academic requirements for entry to a particular Conservatoire programme, but whose musical talents and potential, on the basis of the range of assessments made during the application and audition process, are sufficient to cope with the demands of the programme. In these instances, an applicant may be recommended to a committee imbued with the appropriate authority under ‘Non-Standard Entry’. The Conservatoire may then waive the minimum academic entrance requirements either completely or conditionally upon further appropriate assessment being satisfied. The relevant Head of Department or Programme is required to vouch for the applicant’s prior learning and comparable achievement, which is submitted for approval.

Contextualized Admissions and the process for ‘Non-Standard Entry’ provides an institutional framework within which the Conservatoire can consider the whole person upon application. This is useful in reference to those socio-economically under-represented in higher music education. In the experience of the Scottish Traditional Music department specifically, this framework is especially useful when considering those who have been homeschooled in remote Highland or Border regions, and whose formal academic achievements may not truly reflect their artistic training to date, their achievements or their potential in the largely non-formal sector in question.

The deferring of theory testing

In keeping with the principle that our admissions process(es) should consider the whole person, and thereby that auditions processes should be tailored to the unique characteristics and needs of each programme and the kind of applicants each hopes to attract, the Royal Conservatoire’s music performance programmes do not require the applicant to undertake a music theory test at the point of audition. For the traditional/folk music applicant, it is especially important that selection not be based on a pre-existing knowledge of western art music theory, which, whilst certainly applicable, is often not the language through which such otherwise highly-skilled young musicians tend to communicate with each other.

For successful applicants in any music discipline, selection depends rather on the strength of the applicant’s Principal Study discipline at audition in combination with the range of contextual, personal, academic and non-academic factors outlined above. Incoming students then sit a music theory test during their first week at the Conservatoire – purely as a diagnostic tool to determine the most appropriate level of seminar group for the student in question. For traditional/folk students, this theory test is written entirely from a Scottish traditional/folk perspective that reflects the modern cosmology of Celtic forms and structures (melodic, rhythmic, harmonic and ornamental) and notational practices within which practitioners communicate and collaborate.

These admissions processes, founded on the pursuit of diversity and the widening of participation to the fullest possible range of Scottish society, has made a real difference in the lives of aspiring musicians, whether from the point of view of Western art music, jazz, or the vibrant traditional/folk scene for which Scotland is rightly renowned.

- Conducting admission without using traditional music theory tests (Piteå Music College) by Anna Wedin (link to How do we study? How do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#admissions #popularmusic

Our programme

At the music college in Piteå, we have for the past 11 years had a rock musician Bachelor degree program. At our institution, we differentiate between jazz and rock. This means that the umbrella term ‘rock’ includes, for example, blues, soul, metal, pop, country etc. as well as rock. The degree program’s focus is on developing musicians / singers with a strong personal expression and style in both performing and songwriting. Students also receive instrument training because we believe that good craftsmanship makes it easier to express oneself. The students are matched together in bands during their studies.

When we planned the program’s structure, we wanted to be able to reach prospective students without musical education in the classical sense, but hopefully with a lot of experience playing in rock bands. Thus, we chose not to include theory tests in the program’s admission procedure.

Traditional theory tests measure knowledge in Western art music theory, which is not compatible with, or particularly useful in, contemporary rock music; so why should we measure such knowledge? Instead, we have several practical listening tasks where the applicant uses their instrument.

The admission process

The admission process takes place in three steps:

The applicant submits two examples of their music. Here we ask for live recordings, either from concerts or rehearsals because we want to hear how they sound together with other musicians since rock music is a very collective experience. From this sub-sample, we screen out a number of applicants.

The applicant may play any song together with a band consisting of students from the second year of our rock program. This sub-sample also includes a jam in which the applicant is asked to join with something they think fits with what the others are playing.

‘Minus one’: within the framework of their education, the band from the second year writes a song that is recorded and mixed so that there is a version for each instrument where that specific instrument is missing (minus one). The applicant gets a copy of the song’s lyrics and gets 20 minutes to listen to the track and create/arrange a part for their instrument. They then play the song along with the band. Then another jam is played and the admission tests continue with rhythmic and melodic imitations (on their instrument). They get to listen to two chord progressions: an easier one where the applicant identifies chords without using an instrument and a more difficult one where they can use instruments. These progressions are played on guitar as most rock music is guitar- rather than piano-based. Drummers and singers may choose which harmony instrument they want to play. Finally, they are shown a chord progression where we ask which chords it would be if, instead of starting with chord X, it starts with chord Y.

We did not have the ‘minus one’ task from the beginning, but we started with it 7-8 years ago. Before that we provided an existing song which the applicant was asked to learn in 30 minutes. We changed because we are more interested in what choices the applicant makes and how they choose to approach and color the song rather than how quickly and precisely they mimic / cover the song. We prefer the current approach.

Rationale for the current approach

We think that our tests give the applicants a better opportunity to show their creativity in the jam and in the ‘minus one’, which we think is important considering that they do a lot of songwriting and arranging during their three years with us.

We have, through these tests, been able to accept students with high competencies in rock music. Some of these students would certainly never have passed a traditional theory test. Therefore we feel like we are opening the academy to a new group of students.

b2) The inclusion of faculty and staff with disabilities: Bearing in mind that impairment (involving loss or diminution of sight, hearing, mobility, mental ability, and so on) only becomes a disability ‘when the ambient society creates environments with barriers’ (Davis, in Howe et al. 2016:2), this section introduces two cases focusing on the efforts of removing the existing barriers and opening the HMEIs environments to musicians with disabilities. Moving away from perception of disability as human 'deficit' and toward understanding of disability as one form of diversity, these cases demonstrate how moves toward inclusion of people with disabilities positively change the learning process, performance experience, as well as institutional environment of HMEIs.

- Inclusion of seeing-impaired staff and students at HKU Utrecht and Popakademie Baden-Wurttemberg (HKU Utrecht / Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by Hannie van Veldhoven and David-Emil Wickström (link to How do we study? How do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#Inclusion #disabilities #accessibility #blind

Seeing-impaired musicians and composers are nothing new within the realm of music. But are conservatories accessible enough to teach seeing-impaired students and have seeing-impaired teachers work for them? Drawing on the experience from the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht and Popakademie Baden-Württemberg, this case study will focus on some issues to keep in mind.

Physical accessibility

This begins with getting to the conservatory: in Utrecht the conservatoire is in the center of the town, and it’s not easy to find a safe way to travel there. Going from one place to another takes extra time, both between the campuses as well as outside the university. While the Popakademie is accessible by a direct bus from the city center there is no safe way to cross the street from the bus stop to the university since the street both lacks a traffic light as well as a pedestrian crossing (while requests to the city have been made this is still under consideration).

While most newer buildings are built with accessibility in mind this might not always be the case (especially if the building is an older building that was repurposed). This also includes minor details like tripping hurdles, automatic doors and clear pathways. In other words, making sure that the hallways are free from instruments, chairs etc. is important. Adding signs in braille facilitates the navigation in the building. Another detail is providing electric outlets close to the desks in all the classrooms so that the students using text-to-speech software (see below) can plug in their laptops.

Room sign from Kunstuniversität Graz with writing in braille.Room sign from Kunstuniversität Graz with writing in braille.

Teaching

This also applies to the classes: While providing documents in braille is probably the most elegant solution, this is not always possible (and currently not always the most needed – especially when primarily working with digital documents). In some countries, like the Netherlands, one can ask for books (coded with ISBN) in braille. This, however, needs some time: Dedicon, who converts books to braille in the Netherlands, needs about two months for this. Their website also offers information on music and braille (this resource has been made in cooperation with Bert van den Brink, a seeing-impaired piano teacher at HKU).

Besides braille, another way seeing-impaired students ‘read’ is with a specialized software that converts text into speech (e.g. JAWS – Job Access With Speech programmed by Freedom Scientific, Inc. or NVDA by NV Access). This software not only converts the text, but also the text formatting into speech. The more complex the text formatting, the more speech is needed to describe the formatting. Hence the documents used and shared should be created with a simple layout and thus without using e.g. tables to structure the text. Another aspect is to describe the images in the digital documents handed out to the students with descriptions so that the software can also read the description.

This also applies to the learning management system as well as room booking and other software the students access over the intranet. The simple question is: Are they accessible and easy to navigate for people using screen readers? An example from Utrecht demonstrates what happens if that is not possible: A blind student there complained, since he could only book rehearsal rooms via the school’s service desk. But by that time, however, his fellow students had already reserved the rooms, since they were able to go online from the first moment reservations were possible and book directly through the Asimut room reservation system.

Labelling what cannot be read not only applies to written documents, but also to speech: While teaching it is important to describe what is shown on a picture or what is being written down on the board, since a blind person misses non-verbal communication.

In music specific classes an essential aspect to consider is how the student will learn the music they have to play. Is the repertoire available in Braille code or in an other accessible form like Lilypond? At HKU students in music technology use the program, and the blind students get courses in using Lillypond instead of lessons in Information and communications technology. The students also work with Lillypond instead of programs like Sibelius or Logic. If such tools are, however, not available, are there recordings of the pieces that the student can use as a guide?

Finally, allowing blind students to record their lessons with a portable audio recorder also facilitates their note-taking and ability to review the lessons afterwards.

Exams

Another area which has to be thought through are exams. While performance exams are normally not dependent on writing or reading, music theory and more academically oriented courses are. Can the student substitute a written exam for an oral exam (e.g. an ear training exam, but also an exam on Jazz history)? Does the institution have computers with text reading software or a refreshable braille display which can be used for mandatory written exams? What are the institution’s policies regarding students with disabilities? How much extra time do they get? This is often an individual decision and can range from extending the duration to 1.5 to 2x the standard length (e.g. from 60 to 90-120 minutes).

The human factor

The final aspect is the social side. It is important to be proactive and ask if everything is ok and also to involve the other students as helpers and mentors. Regular evaluation and getting feedback from teachers and all the students (not only those who are seeing-impaired) is important to make sure that the seeing-impaired students’ and faculty’s needs are being accommodated. Establishing a cooperative environment is an essential precondition for the students to succeed.

At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that being seeing-impaired does not mean that the individuals do not have their own strengths and weaknesses. While issues that arise can be due to the impairment they can also be due to personality issues. In the case of a Popakademie student, the issue was that the student could not keep a band together. At first, we thought it was because of the other students. After however repeatedly recruiting musicians who then left the band after a couple of weeks we discovered that the issue was not based on the seeing impairment, but rather because the student was not willing to compromise on musical issues. While this was probably also a result of being seeing-impaired and a way both the student’s parents and the student dealt with the disability, this is also an area where students have to take responsibility for their own actions and learn to collaborate with others.

Further resources

The following sites provide more information and tips regarding accessible documents and web pages:

https://adod.idrc.ocadu.ca

https://webaim.org

https://inclusivedesign.ca

https://eduvip.nl

https://www.dedicon.nl

http://www.robotekst.nl (a free scan program which converts texts with not too many images into a word document)

- Musicians with disabilities teaching on the music pedagogy course at the Sibelius Academy (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thomson (link to What do we study? What do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

#disabilities

Over the last four years, professional musicians with disabilities from the Special Music Centre Resonaari have given lecture-workshops as visiting teachers on the Teachers’ Pedagogical Studies programme (60 ECTs) at the University of the Arts Helsinki. The Teachers’ Pedagogical Studies programme provides formal teacher qualifications required for teachers in the Finnish educational system in general. The special education course as part of the Teachers’ Pedagogical Studies programme presented here exclusively focuses on issues concerning special education compared to general education within arts education. Approximately 60–80 students attend the course every year. A large proportion of the music students are music education students, but there are also students from other departments pursuing the qualification for instrumental pedagogy including folk music, jazz, Western Art music, and church music.

Lecture-workshops

On this special education course one lecture is conducted by two musicians who may be categorized as having learning disabilities. They are employed in part-time positions at the Special Music Centre Resonaari, an extracurricular music institution offering music education for children and adults who experience various challenges in learning ‘the usual way’. Amongst an established network of Finnish extracurricular music institutions with many of them having entrance exams, Resonaari is known as a unique school for its approach and pedagogical innovations. It manifests an activist stance by supporting and encouraging its students to become active performing musicians, constantly creating links with the world outside the school. One example is the school’s pilot training programme aiming to establish a vocational degree in music.

The musicians with disabilities invited to give lecture-workshops in the Teachers’ Pedagogical Studies programme at the university are from the abovementioned pilot training programme. The lecture-workshops are recognized as a part of the musicians’ training. The Finnish government subsidizes their part-time work at Resonaari alongside the disability pension that allows the musicians to work for a limited number of hours per month. The design of the university lecture-workshops typically comprises a short introduction by the supervising teacher from Resonaari followed by the two musicians leading rhythmic exercises based on the Orff-method. The musicians continue the workshop by introducing and teaching rhythm, melody, and harmony components through a variety of exercises. This is followed by constructing and playing a simple musical piece, where the aforementioned musical components are combined through interaction between the musicians and the participating university students.

Teaching with rather than teaching about disabilities

The approach presented here emphasizes including disabilities in music teacher training through encounter and interaction (teaching with) rather than teaching about disabilities. Disability as part of the special education course is defined as one form of diversity rather than a human ‘deficit’. In this case, the encounters have caused the students to reflect on the difference as uniqueness rather than otherness. The course has prompted responses from the university students connecting the themes of equality of opportunities to wider questions of structural discrimination within institutional music education.

For example, the students have questioned why people with disabilities need to have their own music school to be able to have access to music education and music as a hobby. The experiences have also brought up important discussions about what the prerequisites are for the musicians with disabilities to teach and lead workshops. As mentioned earlier, a supervising teacher from Resonaari supported the musician throughout the lecture-workshops, which had raised questions about the division of the roles and the responsibilities between the musicians and the supervisor.

This could also be seen to reflect the students’ perception of the performative roles assigned to students and teachers in mainstream music education. A course such as the one illustrated here can disrupt the students’ perceptions of what music teaching and music performance is, or ought to be like. Furthermore, it is an example of how sometimes one intervention can have an impact on the perceptions of a large group of people and potentially instigate institutional change.

Performing disability

The researchers conducting a study on this particular special education course argue that ‘performing disability’ in music teacher education may evoke a needed shift. Instead of merely promoting tolerance for difference, or concentrating on ‘how to teach’ people with disabilities, music educators could “take advantage of the different strengths, perspectives, and types of expertise as opportunities for cooperation that not only complement inclusive music education, but also help to move beyond inclusion and towards a democratic, diverse society” (Laes & Westerlund, 2017).

C. Genre / transdisciplinary approaches to curricula

This final stream of case studies illustrates how curricula are being opened up to encourage collaborations between different musics and genres within institutions, as well as how institutions have approached the accommodating of students with various (cultural) backgrounds. Through these case studies we begin to see the emergence of ‘diversity junctures’, ‘diversity festivals’ or non-curricular ‘heterotopias’ in an increasing number of HMEIs as a model for encouraging and facilitating trans-disciplinary collaboration among students.

- Masters in CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition): diversity and collaboration between four European conservatories and ten international students (KMH Stockholm, HfMT Hamburg, EAMT Tallinn, CNSMD Lyon) by Sara Constant and Mélanie Vibrac (link to What do we study? What do we teach? / Where do we study? Where do we teach?)

#bridges #policies #StudentPerspective

In terms of collaboration between European conservatories and international students, it seems that the CoPeCo masters program is a perfect example to discuss diversity in music teaching and practice today. This case study therefore aims to present this program from the perspective of its students after one year of experience, specifying its objectives, challenges, and possible improvements.

The CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition) masters is a two-year itinerant program in artistic creation—four semesters, in four different countries. It brings together international musicians and/or composers, travelling together to a different country each semester. The partner schools in this program are, in order of semester: the Estonian National Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn (EAMT), the Royal Conservatory of Music in Stockholm, Sweden (KMH), the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, France (CNSMD) and the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg, Germany (HfMT). The tuition fees and the final diploma are internal to the enrolled school.

CoPeCo in detail

The current CoPeCo group started in September 2018. This is the third cohort of students. The selection is made every two years, via in-person auditions or online audition through Skype, at the institution to which the student is applying. This program is open to musicians who wish to renew their approach to artistic practice through improvisation, contemporary repertoire, experimentation with new technologies, and collaboration between different art forms. Building upon the potential of cross-cultural collaborative music-making for fostering cultural understanding, knowledge-sharing, and meaningful artistic research, the program approaches contemporary music as both an artistic means of expression and as a medium for exploring creative collaboration more generally. In this respect, it represents an innovative and collaborative artistic research platform based on the cross-fertilization of skills and cultures, where music-making is a meeting-point for artists with a diverse range of abilities, cultural frameworks and life experiences.

The current cohort comprises ten students, between 23 and 34 years old, coming from various countries (Poland, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Ghana, Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Greece, France), with various instruments (piano, flute, voice, saxophone, guitar, electronics, percussion, clarinet), various statuses (performer and/or composer) and registered in various institutions (KMH Stockholm, HfMT Hamburg, EAMT Tallinn, CNSMD Lyon).

Educational content and group life

The CoPeCo program defines itself artistically using the genre terminology of ‘contemporary music’. In the case of this program, this genre implies (but does not necessarily mandate) a focus in experimental and contemporary music emerging from the western art music. A continuation of this tradition is evident both in the admissions/audition process (which typically involves performance of contemporary classical repertoire and/or free improvisation), and in the coursework (which focuses heavily on artistic practices rooted in the history of 20th- and 21st-century western classical, electroacoustic, and free improvised musics). Many of the past and current students have a musical background in one or more of these genres; however, the program does not necessarily require this background for participation. This presents some challenges, both with communicating the program aesthetics/aims to applicants and with providing a level of instruction that finds aesthetic and educational ‘common ground’ between students. However, at the same time, the lack of explicit aesthetic requirements also offers a unique opportunity for students to experience aesthetic plurality, creative freedom, and artistic growth.

Each school offers a wide variety of specific courses, mentioned in the syllabus. For some subjects, there is no real follow-up from one school to another. This is particularly the case with the programming course on Max/MSP software, one of the only courses common to all four schools. This course is also especially challenging because the students, who have varying previous experience with electronic music, come with very different levels and expectations. The other courses are generally complementary from one school to another: they allow students to enrich their curiosity and artistic identity, and discover new fields and approaches. During the two years, students can also rely on their tutor, chosen or allocated, from their registered school, to track the progress of their master's project and thesis.

Apart from the pedagogical content, this program appears to be a real human experience in terms of group life, relationship-building, collective projects and cross-fertilization of skills. Students spend two years travelling, experimenting and creating together—forming relationships with their colleagues that are at once professional/musical and social/personal. As a result, the experience of this program is a truly multifaceted one, in which there is significant crossover between the community-building work of professional collaborative music-making, and the community-building work of everyday life.

This experience of group life (and the related experience of music-making as a living, co-existing group) helps to develop curiosity and adaptation, accept different concepts of life and find things in common, build bridges between cultures and reflect about the meaning of being “European”. From a musical point of view, this masters program allows students to find new ways of composing and playing in a diverse group, reflect about how improvised and experimental music can help diverse artists connect with one another, perform together as a collective on festivals, and foster collaboration within CoPeCo and with other students in the various institutions involved with this program. However, given the short duration of the residencies in each country, it is not easy to take root and carry out collaborations in the medium and long term—hence the importance of asking how to make short-term mobility sustainable. It is also important to mention that such a group experience with very diverse profiles and cultures requires the development of communication tools. It would therefore be interesting to more thoroughly take into account the human aspect and the collective dimension in this type of program, in order to optimize group dynamics and guide the students towards a concrete professionalization.

Administrative matters

In view of the diversity of students and destinations, the issue of study visas is clearly a subject to be taken into consideration. As the master’s degree is intended as an international degree program, and thus, open to international applicants, the application for a study visa is a real concern for its non-European students (30% of the current cohort). These students must apply well in advance to obtain a different visa each semester, and in some cases, must also apply for extensions because the residency in each country is longer than the duration of a typical short-term residence permit. In most cases, the visa application must be made at least three months before arrival in the country, which necessitates the provision of necessary information such as the precise place of residence, beforehand—information that is sometimes difficult to provide before the mobility period. Financially, there is also a significant investment to obtain these visas (and extensions outside the visas themselves), encompassing expenses such as visa application and appointment fees; the official translation of documents; proof of financial capacity; and travel expenses to the nearest consulates (which, in some cases, are located outside the state or country of residence of the applicant).

Financial assistance to cover these administrative costs or, in the best case, the possibility of arranging for only one residence permit to cover the duration of studies for the entire two-year programme, would therefore be very necessary to enable students to pursue their studies calmly, without having to work excessively in parallel.

In connection with this question of financial support, the question of Erasmus/Erasmus+ scholarships arises. Each enrolment institution has a different system of support for students, who themselves also have very different situations. Students often receive the Erasmus scholarship, which provides funding for one year of a two-year program. This is a problem for students from countries whose cost of living is significantly lower than that of the country of study. It would be very useful to clearly present the possible financial aid according to the different statuses (Erasmus or not, age, nationality, first master's degree or not, etc.) in each of these schools. Depending on nationality, the students' respective countries also offer different scholarships, but they are sometimes very low or non-existent since they give priority to students studying in the continent/country of origin. Erasmus/Erasmus+ scholarships are therefore fundamental in this type of program.

- Global Music bachelor programme providing pathways for students with diverse cultural backgrounds (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki) by Katja Thompson (link to How do we study? How do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)

Since 2016 Sibelius Academy has offered a bachelor’s programme in Global Music aimed at students from culturally diverse musical and educational backgrounds. The bachelor programme was developed to provide a path towards the already existing master’s programme. It is able to take approximately 5 - 6 students each year, and the students have the right to continue their studies to the master’s level once they are accepted. The selected group should represent cultural and musical diversity as well as a balance of genders.

The programme aims to fill the ‘opportunity gap’ for potential students whose aspirations and/or previous music education point at other directions than the current programmes in Western Art Music, composition, jazz, folk music etc. The programme aims to educate music practitioners with strong skills in creative collaboration and visions for socially engaged practice. In addition to individual studies the compulsory courses include subjects such as global orchestra and ensembles, rhythmics, choir, pedagogy, entrepreneurship, and community engagement. The program is open for students from any musical background, and skills in notation or reading music are not prerequisites for entry. The bachelor’s studies in Global Music are more structured than the master’s studies, but the accepted students are able to choose elective courses according to their personal preferences. Below is the description of the audition process and how it is designed to break some of the barriers associated with higher music education.

The first stage of the application process comprises a letter of motivation, CV and video excerpts sent to the admissions office. Based on these pre-assignments the audition jury selects the applicants for the auditions held at the Sibelius Academy. Many of the applicants have not taken internationally recognized formal instrumental exams so it is important that they are able to demonstrate their competences and motivation in a variety of ways. The auditions aim to accommodate different musical backgrounds and provide possibilities for the applicants to demonstrate their strengths and potential as creative musicians in intercultural collaboration. The auditions are structured as follows:

Free choice performance: solo and/or ensemble: The applicants can choose to do a solo performance on one or several instruments, or they can bring another musician/ensemble to perform with. They can also choose to prepare a combination of solo and ensemble pieces. The applicants are encouraged to perform music that best demonstrates their current musical identity and skills, possibly including music they have composed or arranged themselves. The performance can include improvisation but it is not a requirement.

Interacting with an ensemble: A three-piece ‘house band’ formed of students from the Global Music programme takes the applicant through a number of tasks. The music is composed by Global Music staff especially for this part of the audition. The session is led by the band members inviting the applicant to learn certain musical elements by ear (for example a mode, melodic and rhythmic patterns), improvise with the band, and find ways to interact with the musicians and the feel of the different sections of the music. The applicants are advised by the jury that the emphasis in this task is in the quality of interaction, listening, and creative solutions rather than imitation or stylistic idioms. The applicants have varying degrees of experience in improvisation, and the band members try to create as relaxed and encouraging atmosphere as possible for every applicant.

Interview: In the interview the applicant has a chance to elaborate on their motivation for the studies and talk about their musical background and artistic aspirations in relation to local and global contexts. Part 3 also involves a listening test, as well as a handwritten essay in English on a given topic.

Interactive group workshop and discussion: A selected group of applicants is invited to this last part of the audition. The workshop is led by a Global Music staff member comprising group exercises using voice and body. The exercises include improvisation with vocal sounds and body percussion/movement, and short group composition tasks using voice and body. The workshop seeks to assess the applicant’s awareness and communication strategies as a group member, the ability to produce and negotiate artistic ideas, and the mindset and agility to experiment and perform in this context.

The workshop is followed by a group discussion facilitated by a staff member. The applicants are asked to freely discuss given topics related to intercultural collaboration and learning environment. The questions might include topics such as musical identity, cultural appropriation, social justice in music, and other themes that challenge the applicants to consider how they understand their role and possibilities as a musician in the society.

There are two other aspects that play a significant part in the audition process and that are under ongoing scrutiny and development. Firstly, there are many questions about how the potential applicants find information about the programme, and how the information about the course manages to communicate that all musical traditions and genres are welcome. There are also more subtle and covert perceptions relating to the idea of who university is for, what kind of socio-economic situation, upbringing and education one must have in order to ‘fit in’. Some of these issues need to be dealt with beyond course prospectuses and information on the university websites. Global Music attempts to build links with relevant organizations, community programmes and schools to have personal contact with possible candidates that might benefit from possibilities to talk with current students and staff. Secondly, the line-up of the jury needs to reflect the values and ethos of the programme, and embody the diversity the programme aims for. Again, this requires careful design and ongoing reflection.

- Reflections on a performance program for folk and art music from ‘other’ cultures at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) by Susanne Rosenberg (link to What do we study? What do we teach?)

#folk #other #integration #access

This case study reflects on the experience of the performance program ‘Folk and Art Music from Other Cultures’ that was started in 2000 at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, giving musicians from non-Swedish music culture backgrounds the opportunity to access higher education within their own genre.

Background

Since the mid-1970s, we have offered higher education for Swedish folk musicians at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH), and in 1994 the Department of Folk Music was established at KMH, giving possibilities to form a performance program not only for fiddlers, but also for other instrumentalists/singers within Swedish folk music. As of 1996, a plan for providing education for applicants from other cultures was presented:

We … proposed to open a corresponding educational variant for folk musicians with a different focus than Swedish folk music, especially in view of all immigrant folk musicians and folk music traditions. The idea was the same as when the courses with Swedish folk music started – creating opportunities for this category of musicians to work professionally as musicians and pedagogues within Swedish musical life. There were many immigrant musicians with high artistic skills, but lacking the keys to the music scene to be able to work on the same terms as other musicians or get jobs as instrumental pedagogues in e.g. community music schools. (Ahlbäck, 2009)

In 2000 we decided that there was a need for such a performance program at bachelor level and that, in response to changes in Swedish musical life and demographics, we had to take matters into our own hands.

The head of department at that time, Professor Sven Ahlbäck, decided to propose to the education board at KMH to re-assign a number of study places to welcome applicants with a music cultural background other than Swedish. It was a deliberate choice to not make this a ‘World Music’ education; instead we wanted to form an educational program for musicians with other music cultural backgrounds residing in the country and give them the same opportunity to develop their skills in their field in higher music education in Sweden. The name of the program, ‘Folk- and Art Music from Other Cultures’ was not optimal, defining the identity in terms of ‘other’, but it described what we wanted to do at the time: an education not only for folk musicians from non-Nordic traditions, but also art musicians from other cultures than the western who could not otherwise access western classical music education at KMH. Thus, in academic year 2001/2002, we set aside a slice of our budget for this applicant category

The main structure of the program

Within the Swedish folk music program, we have developed an artistic, theoretical, and methodological foundation that underpins our approach to all subjects, developed from the older Nordic folk music traditions. This includes promoting oral methods for teaching and learning in all subjects; the development of a specific folk music theory describing the modal musical character of the older Nordic traditions; and the development of specific tools for the teaching of traditional/folk instrumental and singing styles (Rosenberg, 2009).

Furthermore, one of the incentives for the program was our observation that these students of non-Nordic origin in many ways were similar to our Swedish folk music students: learning by ear, focusing on artistic interpretation, need for integrating different subjects, etc. Therefore, the program that we had already developed for Swedish folk music could act as a useful basis for the construction of this new program devoted to ‘other’ music cultures, as we could build the new program on these same parameters – the theorising of folk music and the orality of learning and teaching – and adapt them to the applicants’ own tradition.

We also recognized the need for these students to be able to situate their own music in a Western musical context, something that we already have given a lot of attention to when it comes to the relationship between Swedish folk music and Western Classical and Popular music: giving us tools to communicate and describe our music to others. One subject is the ‘style analysis project’, which provides the opportunity to describe and verbalize important parameters within a specific playing/singing style. And in addition to the main instrument lessons, theory, arranging and ensemble, there are also subjects such as Folk Singing, Folk Dancing, KMH FOLK (a big band), concert practice, freelance knowledge, digital tools and some joint artistic projects together with all the students within the Department of Folk Music.

These elements all provided a useful template for the foundation and delivery of a program in ‘Folk- and Art-music from Other Cultures’. However, our aim was not simply to ‘open up’ our Swedish folk music program to non-Nordic musicians – it was important to create a program specifically for these musicians, and thus to design an individualised program with many special solutions.

The main instrument teacher – a key competence

Early on, we identified that a Main Instrument teacher who can guide the student through the education was essential, and decided that only if we could find the right competence for the applicants, could we provide quality education.

This is important, since the applicant is admitted according to their specialty and receives education on the basis of this specialty, which means we have to find a skilled Oud player to teach an Oud student, and that a guitarist who play a little lute would not be sufficient.

It has sometimes been difficult to find a main teacher on sufficient high level nearby, but this has become noticeably easier in recent years because of the refugee streams into Europe. There is now usually a high-level expertise to be found within a perfectly reasonable geographical radius.

Entrance examination

How could we ensure that we admit adequate students? In this case we have developed an overall assessment tool. The tool is helping the jury to evaluate from four different perspective:

artistic skills

technical level

developmental potential

skills within their own genre

Since all these parameters require specialized competence to evaluate, it has been necessary to have a jury with skills in different musical genres, resulting in a very big and broad jury reviewing different genres and instruments in a reliable way. This has shown worth the effort and cost, finding the students that are fitting for this highly tailored individual performance program.

Our experience so far

Over 50 musicians and singers have finished the program since the start, and this means that we have allocated around 20-30% of our study places for this program. The students have come from diverse musical traditions such as Senegalese, Turkish, Iranian, Estonian, French, Iraqi, Kurdish, Bolivian, Indian, Baluchistan, Afro Cuban and Sabar traditions, both folk- and art music traditions. Around 80% has been male and 20% female (a gender ratio we are working to address by studying how to reach more female applicants from other music cultural backgrounds). Two instruments have dominated so far – voice and percussion, with around 30% of the students in each category.

Conclusion: integration and access

As the years have gone by, we realized that with a fairly minimal budget, we have created a direction shift in music life not only at KMH. Through collaborations that have arisen, including both students and teachers, new music and new musical ensembles have emerged, which has had an effect also on Swedish musical life at large outside of KMH.

Students on the ‘Folk and Art Music from Other Cultures’ program are often strong, unique individuals with high status in their subculture which has had great positive effect on so many levels for KMH. Through their studies, the students have been offered a new context within higher education: not only obtaining an education, but also receiving access to Swedish music cultural life; thus the program can be said to have become an integration project.

There is a generalized view that musicians from other cultures primarily need a Western Classical education in order to be integrated, and that this is a matter of training efforts earlier in e.g. primary school. But here we identify musicians who need higher education within their own genre, and who can be shown to contribute positively back to Swedish musical society. In the end, it is a matter of making good use of state funding to create an adequate education aimed at a professional life as a freelance musician, in order to give these musicians an opportunity to have a career in Swedish musical life today.

But to get this kind of higher education to work, you need fingertip sensitivity and high competence as education providers, something that we at the Department of Folk Music, KMH are constantly struggling with and developing pro-actively and reflectively.

- Curriculum Reform: transforming the student experience through trans-disciplinary collaboration (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) by Joshua Dickson (link to What do we study? What do we teach? / How do we study? How do we teach?)

#Curriculum #Collaboration #Bridge #Trans-disciplinary

Since 2012, staff and students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland have observed a transformation in the nature of the institution through the introduction of trans-disciplinary collaboration into the curriculum, making us distinct in the UK conservatoire sector, given our breadth of disciplines. The roots of the project were founded in an institution-wide recognition that the career paths of professional performing artists in the UK, and further afield, depend increasingly on an ability to work productively in collaborative and trans-disciplinary environments, and to demonstrate experience of working in such environments. The project also served to unify institutional understandings of artistic quality by establishing a Conservatoire-wide matrix of descriptive benchmarks upon which every programme – from modern ballet to jazz, stage production to education, classical music to folk – would base their assessment criteria. This nurturing of trans-disciplinary collaboration and more equitable recognition of artistic quality in service to all the Conservatoire’s art forms has led to a more integrated and enriched student experience.

Trans-disciplinary student recital. Image courtesy RCS

This process was called ‘Curriculum Reform’ and was undertaken between 2008 and 2012, with the resulting trans-disciplinary, collaborative curriculum being rolled out across the Conservatoire’s diverse degree programmes in the latter year. As an example of the possibilities that students are afforded to develop in this context, in 2017 a western art pianist curated a trans-disciplinary final recital, collaborating with actors, ballet dancers and production students, with her own discipline as the central focus of the assessment process, as illustrated above.

Collaboration is an essential part of my artistic practice and some of my most rewarding learning experiences have come from collaborating with fellow students across the various areas of study. - Year 4 student

Below are some specific examples of the Conservatoire’s collaborative environment in action as a result of Curriculum Reform, whether in terms of formal curricular features or natural creative serendipity that the Curriculum Reform project has enabled.

Introduction To Collaborative Practice

‘Introduction to Collaborative Practice’ was a core module which all students across the Royal Conservatoire, regardless of specific degree programme, were required to take in their first year of study, from 2012 to 2018. Through this module, the curriculum facilitated creative collaborations that integrate modes of thinking and working from different disciplines, thereby encouraging inclusiveness, a sense of artistic community, nurturing mutual curiosity and laying the foundations for further collaborative skills in subsequent work.

Students were divided into groups of 10-15, and arranged so that each group comprised as wide a range of Conservatoire degree programme disciplines as possible. For example, a typical group consisted of a Western art violinist, a ballet dancer, an actor, a Gaelic traditional singer, a stage prop maker, a classroom music teacher trainee, a production designer, a Scottish Highland bagpiper, an opera singer, a filmmaker, and so on. The module’s creative encounters always culminated in a performance in front of an audience of peers.

The module was effective in the sense that it created an environment in which students of vastly different artistic backgrounds, disciplines and aspirations were required to work together toward a common performance goal that they must themselves devise, using the articles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights as a broad creative catalyst.

However, certain issues relevant to the integration of diverse viewpoints and practices emerged fairly quickly. Students encountered this module at a point in their artistic and professional development when by and large they had not worked in a multi-disciplinary team before. Finding and articulating their own voice in the creative process, therefore, was very challenging for many.

Most challenging in this respect seemed to be the relative ‘blank slate’ given to students once the philosophical and operational principles had been communicated to students at the module’s outset. The groups were by and large tasked to work autonomously, albeit within rehearsal spaces and times that were arranged on their behalf by administrators; this was in order to allow them maximum creative control and space to learn in-and-through the process. In practice, it was not uncommon for students of a more introverted nature to react negatively to such working conditions, in which they were compelled to devise, get along with, and contribute artistically to, a large multi-disciplinary team of strangers. This challenge was compounded when it involved students whose first language was not English or who represented a non-Western cultural background.

Such conditions were, however, ultimately controlled and subject to monitoring by module teaching staff, who always ensured that the process of creating and performing a work concluded with each group undertaking a reflective debrief session, facilitated by staff, in order to jointly and individually take stock of lessons learned and the experience’s impact on their future artistic choices. Despite the above issues, this experience brought an enhanced appreciation of other cultures and artistic perspectives, as well as a new perspective on one’s own practice. Experience of this kind of trans-disciplinary work benefited students in an increasingly complex professional world and helped them develop the quality of creativity, flexibility and teamwork they need to succeed. This module has since been refined through experience and feedback, resulting in its current successor, ‘Learning to Collaborate’.

Bridge Week

Bridge Week provides a further extra- or non-curricular opportunity for students to collaborate across disciplines (and cultures) and create new work together. Since its inception with Curriculum Reform in 2012, students have been responsible for creating over 140 self-generated projects. These have included a world premiere 360-degree projection mapped venue, a new musical, numerous short film projects and several productions that have gone on to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In addition to rehearsal and performance space, students are given technical support, resources and a small budget, and most importantly the freedom to get on and create. Through this experience, students have the opportunity to further develop the skills needed for enterprise, employability and collaboration. The students who get involved in Bridge Week see it as a highly valued opportunity, and was commended during a consultation with the Student Union Council.

Bridge Week performance. Image courtesy RCS

Like similar accounts of student-centred, intensive and non-curricular junctures in the academic calendar given in this blog series (see, for instance, NextDoors Interdisciplinary Project Week), the Royal Conservatoire’s Bridge Week takes place annually and allows students to bid, advertise and negotiate resources and spaces in service to creative projects of a collaborative and often socially-engaged nature. The projects see little staff involvement beyond the bidding and allocating process.

Braw Brass

Braw Brass (‘braw’ is Scots for great) is an ongoing collaborative project from the Brass and Traditional Music departments of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Led by Jenn Butterworth (Lecturer in Practical Studies) and John Logan (Head of Brass), Braw Brass features a high-energy band of traditional musicians and a ten-piece brass ensemble. The musicians are all students within the Brass and Traditional Music Depts on a rotating basis and to date have performed in Scotland, Brazil and Canada. A sample of Braw Brass’s work can be heard at https://soundcloud.com/jennbutterworth/braw-brass-taster.

Braw Brass arose in the wake of Curriculum Reform, whose set of Graduate Attributes included collaboration as a key element; we were being allowed to bring into the institutional setting that which happens professionally in the wider scene, the same collaborative experience as the student would expect professionally.

Jenn Butterworth and John Logan, 2018

The Highlands & Islands Suite, 2017

Folk musician, composer, and producer Phil Cunningham’s Highlands and Islands Suite received its world premiere as the Opening Concert for Celtic Connections in 1997. To mark its 20th Anniversary, this work, which combines folk and orchestral music, was staged again in the Main Auditorium, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Sunday 22 January 2017. There were 195 musicians and singers performing together on stage, combining Scottish folk and traditional artists (inc. bagpipes, clarsachs, accordions, fiddles, Gaelic and Scots singers, etc) and Western or conventionally orchestral and choral artists.

Highlands and Islands Suite performance, 2017. Image courtesy RCS

Curriculum Reform has transformed the student experience at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland since its inception in 2012, leading to a greater degree of cross-disciplinary collaboration among programmes, departments, students and staff. This in turn has opened up more opportunities for autonomous inter-disciplinary learning among peers through events like Bridge Week, supported by core fixtures in the institution-wide curriculum like Learning to Collaborate.

These steps have helped to democratise institutional understandings of artistic quality by establishing a Conservatoire-wide matrix of descriptive benchmarks upon which every programme would base their assessment criteria. This has led to a greater nurturing of trans-disciplinary collaboration and a more equitable recognition of the plurality of artistic quality in service to all the Conservatoire’s art forms.

- CoLab (Trinity Laban Conservatoire London) by Joe Townsend (link to What do we study? What do we teach? / How do we study? How do we teach?)

…I realised that the creation of work doesn't have to be clean straightforward but instead it can be totally messy and difficult; you can allow yourself to go on a journey that has no foreseeable conclusion. This was a moment I really grasped something I'd been trying to understand.

Third Year BA Dance student

Delivered annually over an intensive two-week period, CoLab at Trinity Laban involves over a thousand students across the institution working together to create, develop and rehearse projects without the distraction of any other regular teaching activity. CoLab aims to place value on the process of creative work as opposed to the final outcome, however the majority of, projects culminate in performances that are experimental, immersive and occasionally riotous. With titles such as Folk Lab, Different the Same and Dirty Electronics, CoLab allows everyone to work and play in ways that are different from traditional conservatoire practice.

Since its inception in 2011, CoLab has evolved from a cautious experiment into an immersive creative festival of learning that has become a valued part of the institution's identity and culture. CoLab is an incubator for ideas and creativity, allowing students step outside the established curriculum with projects ranging from among many, Protest Choir to the Pretty Vacant Orchestra and Afrobeats to Steampunk. Many projects have a social dimension such as making music in prisons and hospitals and enterprising projects like taking jazz to New Orleans and travelling around the world in fourteen days. Students explore artistic and interdisciplinary relationships that as well as music and dance, also include working with visual artists, architects, schools, hospitals, writers and thinkers.

The key driver for the success of CoLab is through placing the student at the heart of the process, working together in partnership. Over half the projects are proposed and led by students who have ownership over proposal processes, planning meetings and performance production. In a socially constructivist environment, students are expected to look for creative applications of their craft and to help each other find solutions to problems as they try out new approaches to making work. Risk and failure alongside planning and reflection are openly encouraged and central to group learning.

Staff take on teaching roles as mentors, where leadership and decision-making lie with the student as the making of work is discussed, questioned and negotiated rather than directed. This process empowers students, giving them agency and the experience of working in real life scenarios, preparing them as they emerge into the mobile twenty-first Century cultural landscape.

With its high level of student ownership and engagement, it is easy to be swept up in romantic rhetoric of CoLab as a Temporary Autonomous Zone, a kind of facilitated and permissive Pirate Utopia, an anarchic self-governing state as described by the poet Hakim Bey. This might be partly the case, however, CoLab is continually presented with a number of challenges.

Firstly, as recognised by Rosie Perkins et al., the culture of conservatoire study is hierarchical and highly structured in which everything is organised so as a student, all one has to do is to practice one’s art. For this reason therefore, some students struggle to see the relevance of CoLab and express no interest in experimentation – the resulting lack of engagement presents a challenge for the ethos of placing student choice first.

Initiatives such as the Chamber Twist strand aim to address this through a number of chamber music projects that are required to have a further creative dimension. Examples of this are Schubert Octet which was rehearsed and performed simultaneously with visual art. Another example is in which pianists explored the work of Clara Schumann learning improvisation as well as playing established repertoire. These projects introduce creativity and innovation gradually as opposed to a sudden immersion in challenging work and have received positive feedback.

Some members of staff have expressed concerns that their regular teaching is interrupted, if only for two weeks. These colleagues are encouraged to propose and lead their own projects, and as a result many are greatly inspired by working with students in a capacity that differs from the standard model of one to one teaching. Nonetheless, whilst the students speak positively of their experience, the faculty staff are supportive.

To summarise, rather than being a Pirate Utopia, CoLab functions more as a Heterotopia, a term coined by Foucault to describe an array of cultural and institutional spaces that are somehow 'other': intense, transforming and contradictory. With its particular logic, CoLab mirrors and distorts how the individual thinks about their world; a place of transformation that once experienced, the participant is changed, viewing everyday learning from a different perspective. Despite being a collaborative exercise, learning is experienced in the first person, and every student has their personal relativistic view of "what CoLab is all about”.

As CoLab and its sister projects across the sector continue to develop, there is a need to build research clusters, to discuss and share practice and to nurture this quiet, or rather noisy revolution in conservatoire education.

- NextDoors - interdisciplinary project week (Royal Conservatoire Antwerp) by Ine Vanoeveren (link to How do we study? How do we teach? / Where do we study? Where do we teach?)

Many case studies shared in this chapter are trans-genre or trans-disciplinary in nature; they illustrate how curricula are being opened up to encourage collaborations between different musics and genres within institutions, as well as how institutions have approached the accommodating of students with various (cultural) backgrounds. Through these case studies we begin to see the emergence of ‘diversity junctures’, ‘diversity festivals’ or non-curricular ‘heterotopias’ in an increasing number of HMEIs as a model for encouraging and facilitating trans-disciplinary collaboration among students. The following from the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp is a prime example.

Inspired by its unique position within the International Arts Campus de Singel, the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp hosts NextDoors: a course-free project week involving all its artistic programmes, including dance, music, teaching artists, research and drama. During this week, musicians, actors, dancers and researchers brainstorm, collaborate and create together to experiment and develop tight collaborative relations, which will shape their further development, and often their first steps into the professional scene as well.

Beginnings

NextDoors – in its current format – took place for the first time in February 2019, after considered evaluation and examination of its long-standing predecessor, Common Grounds. During this previous interdisciplinary week, there was not enough attention for the specific and unique needs of every programme at the conservatoire. Therefore, a more individual path of the interdisciplinary week has been developed.

NextDoors provides several project categories, in order for students, teachers and researchers to further develop their personal trajectories, and to explore. Students can develop their own interdisciplinary projects, receive specialised coaching and production support (light/sound/stage …), participate in different workshops held by our teaching staff and international (doctoral) researchers, or develop a more individual path by focusing on their individual challenges at that time.

This kick-off edition of NextDoors resulted in a mix of interdisciplinary, intercultural and innovative projects (over 500 students participated in 55 projects, spread out over 45 class rooms and three concert halls), where Afro-Cuban rhythms melted together with Tchaikovsky’s melodies; where conductors became dancers and dancers explored conducting; or where musicians, actors and dancers learned to create music without music.

Promenade Concert

The project Promenade Concert gathered orchestral musicians, conductors, dancers and painters around ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by M. Mussorgsky. The conductors were especially interested in the choreographic aspects of their profession. During the NextDoors week they collaborated with dance students, whose input on movement and audience perception shaped the whole performance. They also received coaching from Thomas Moore, a doctoral researcher at the conservatoire who researches the role and importance of movement and embodiment in conducting contemporary music. The photo below shows a mix of dancers and conductors moving together in a choreographed way, in order to emphasize the emotional narrative of the music.

Still from Promenade Concert: conductors and dancers moving together in a choreographed way. Photo courtesy of Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, Belgium

Feedback Semantics

Other students use the NextDoors week to experiment with like-minded souls from the different programmes. In Feedback Semantics, students from all performative disciplines improvised with spoken word and sound connected to audio- and video-feedback. Their intention was to create a loop where everything is triggering everything, ‘as a loop of reactions, as a feedback cloud of mixed media’. They requested LCD screens and old CRT monitors, microphones, cameras and projectors. With this material they experimented for five days, before showing their interactive multimedia installation as a result on the last day of the project week.

Still from the interactive multimedia installation Feedback Semantics. Photo courtesy of Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, Belgium

Other projects

The conservatoire hosts a large community of international students and researchers, which can be a challenge for the daily activities of the different programmes. This rich diversity however not only results in cross-border projects during NextDoors, but also guides us towards an inclusive way of communicating during the project week, where every single student receives the exact same documentation and information in order for all of them to feel part of the core of this conservatoire.

The conservatoire has strong ties with the (socio-) cultural sector in Antwerp, which also results in a positive exposure for some of NextDoors’ projects. During Noorderlicht, a socio-cultural project by the Schools of Arts Antwerp and AP Hogeschool, we bring art to the underprivileged residents of Antwerpen Noord, people who have not necessarily been exposed to art before. The project Cuban Painting, consisting of a Cuban jazz percussionist, two classical musicians and one painter, will perform the result of their NextDoors-research (mixing Tchaikovsky’s melodies with Afro-Cuban rhythms) in one of the unique locations during this year’s edition of Noorderlicht in November 2019 (e.g. barber shop, living room, rehabilitation center, pharmacy, tea house, etc). And the workshop ‘The Beat and The Body’ by doctoral researcher Winnie Huang, where students learned to perform musical gestural pieces, will be adapted towards an accessible workshop in open air, where all people from the neighbourhood can participate.

Also throughout a vast network of venues, where our students perform their creative projects, the intercultural and inclusive character of NextDoors builds a bridge between our students and the different communities within the city. Project Melancholia, for instance, focused on the violin sonata by Turkish composer Fazil Say. This sonata is an expression of one’s melancholia and memories and embraces both the Turkish folk tradition and the Western classical tradition. A few months after NextDoors, the students performed this project in meeting center ‘coSTA’ in Antwerp, involving the Turkish community.

Continuing collaborations, influencing curriculum

The principles of NextDoors also create stepping stones towards continuing collaborations throughout the year. On top of this, NextDoors has already been proven to be a breeding ground for the further development of the conservatoire’s curriculum. Students got a taste of what interdisciplinary collaboration is and have asked for the possibility to keep developing their creative ideas through optional courses with specialised teaching and coaching (e.g. the collaboration between the conductors and the dancers).

Open doors, respect for each other, and a healthy interest in the other disciplines, are just a few of the keywords for this inclusive project week.

- Creating bridges between world music and popular music (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by David-Emil Wickström (link to What do we study? What do we teach?)

#PopularMusic #TraditionalMusic #Curriculum #Bridges #Transdisciplinary

With the inception of the bachelor degree program “World Music” (WM) in 2015 the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg ventured into a new musical area. Our previous two artistic degree program “Pop Music Design” (PMD – Bachelor) and “Popular Music” (Master) were (and still are) clearly aimed towards European-US-American popular music in a broad sense. The target group for the programs are primarily aspiring musicians from Germany and the neighbouring countries operating within a popular music idiom. While some also have migrant backgrounds most of them come from a Central European background.

With the WM program the goal is to give the (primarily) 2nd and 3rd generation Germans with Turkish or Arabic background (but also other interested applicants) the possibility to study “their” musics. The main philosophy behind the program is to educate young musicians bridging their (Turkish/Arabic) musical background with (European-American) popular music. In order to enable this the WM curriculum focuses both on Turkish-Arabic music and music theory as well as Western popular music and music theory (for more information on how the program was started see Wickström 2018)

As with the other Bachelor degree programs one central tenant is to bring the students from the various degree program together. Hence the WM students have two general survey courses together with the Music Business and PMD students. In addition, the WM and PMD students not only have Western music theory together, but they are also from day one encouraged to play together in bands and ensembles.

The first year was mainly spent on setting up the curriculum for the WM bachelor program. The students and faculty, however, quite early on felt that while the WM students were in their curriculum rooted in both musical worlds the students in the popular music programs were not. Hence we started looking for ways to create bridges for the popular music students to understand the music of the WM students. Here we pursued two overarching goals:

● Create an understanding for Turkish-Arabic music

● Enhance the networking between the students

As mentioned, our overarching aim was (and still is) to promote musical collaborations between the degree programs.

Create an understanding for Turkish-Arabic music

One main goal was to give the students from the popular music programs the ability to understand the underlying musical foundation of Turkish-Arabic music. The aim was to enable the students to meet each other halfway between popular music and Turkish-Arabic music and not to have a rock band including a token darbuka player to give it an exotic tinge.

The first step was to provide the popular music students with knowledge of Turkish-Arabic music theory and rhythms. One of the first bridges we created here was to open the WM instruments (oud, baglama, percussion) as a facultative second secondary instrument for all students in the artistic programs disregarding their main instrument and degree program. Through the secondary instrument the students are provided with a practical understanding of Turkish/Arabic music theory and rhythms. This was not only aimed towards the popular music students, but also the WM students. Especially the WM percussionists gave us feedback that they had problems with learning how the maqam scales work. The possibility to play a melodic instrument (oud, baglama) helped them in Turkish-Arabic music theory to understand maqam scales and to train their ear in hearing the micro-intervals.

On a theoretical level we included an introduction to Turkish-Arabic as well as Indian music theory (in 2017 the world music program was broadened to include student wanting to study Indian music) for all the first year popular music students. In addition, we opened the first year Turkish-Arabic music theory course to PMD students by adding it to the facultative course catalogue they can choose from in their second and third year.

Western Music theory also includes one year of body percussion which primarily focuses on Afro-Cuban rhythms. In 2018 we decided to extend the mandatory body percussion by an additional term. This 3rd term body percussion which is mandatory for both the WM and PMD students focuses primarily on Turkish and Arabic rhythms.

Enhance the networking between the students

While creating a better musical understanding was the main goal we also wanted our students to mix more. Here the first year is crucial since the students mostly do not know each other when they start studying. Once they enter the second year they tend to have fixed groups of people they interact with.

While the PMD students have a mandatory popular music history survey course together with the music business students which runs over two terms the WM students have two one-term courses. The first course is “Musics of the World”, an introductory course to different musical cultures from around the globe. The second one is a one-term popular music history survey course. Starting in 2017 the PMD students can choose if they want to take the two-term popular music history survey course or the two one-term courses “Musics of the World” and “History of Popular Music”. In the initial year three, in the second year five students choose to do this (which also enriched the course by bringing in different (musical) backgrounds to the discussion).

Another way to facilitate music making across the degree programs is through the main instrument exam. Each WM student has to have one piece in which s/he is accompanied by a student from the popular music bachelor or master program. In addition to having to find a student willing to accompany the WM student this also helps the student adjust his/her repertoire so that it can be accompanied by a diatonically tuned instrument.

Finally, we also decided to open the instrumental workshops for instruments from related families. E.g. a guitar workshop is also open for baglama and oud students (and vice versa), a drum workshop is also open for percussionists etc. Besides networking the other aim is for the students to get a better understanding of the other instrument and thus also pick up ideas they have not thought about which can be applied to one’s own instrument.

While in hindsight these changes may seem obvious this was a process based on the students’ background and (continuous) feedback. Not all the ideas we had worked as intended: We initially wanted to mix the PMD students and WM students in Western music theory. While the WM students had no major problems hearing scales drawing on quarter or eight tones they had difficulties in hearing diatonic scales. The students having grown up primarily with a formal Turkish or Arabic music theory education have had their ears trained to hearing specific intervals which differ from those trained in Western diatonic music. This is also something Christiane Gerischer points out when discussing the challenges of transcultural music education (Gerischer 2012). We thus decided to create a separate world music group for Western music theory. This group specifically caters to their ears – but with the downside that they are not together with the PMD students.

This remains a work in progress. We do, however, see that the bands are mixing and the popular music and world music students working together in projects which maintain elements from different musical worlds, thus showing us that the general orientation of the path taken is in the right direction.

- Decolonial Strategies for the Incorporation of Ecuadorian Indigenous Music in Higher Music Education - The case of the LAM-UCE programme (Universidad Central del Ecuador) by Abner Pérez Marín (link to What do we study? What do we teach? / Who is the student? Who is the teacher?)³

#Decolonialization #TraditionalMusic #Curriculum #Bridges #Transdisciplinary #SouthAmerica #Ecuador

Political and educational context

Ecuador is the second smallest of the Spanish-speaking countries in South America. It is three quarters the size of Germany, and it has one quarter of its population. In 2008, the president in charge, Rafael Correa, established a new constitution heavily focused on a decolonial education in the name of his Revolución Ciudadana (Citizen Revolution). Although his revolution turned out to be another bittersweet chapter in the country’s history, the empowerment of Ecuadorian indigenous groups, from their linguistic and artistic expressions, has undeniably left a mark. In this context, Universidad Central del Ecuador developed a programme of Music based on a decolonial discourse and officially, for the very first time in the country, academised two traditions of local popular music: the Andean- and Afro-Ecuadorian.

Universidad Central del Ecuador is the oldest and largest public university of Ecuador. It is located in the capital, Quito. As a public institution, it is free of charge, making the admission process the hardest. The profile of its applicants mostly circumscribes to rural areas and low income families. The Licenciatura of Artes Musicales (LAM-UCE) programme is a BA degree which has the indigenous Ecuadorian music as its main component and started running in September 2018. The programme consists of nine semesters and it has four itineraries: performance, composition, production, and musicology in Ecuadorian and Latin American music.

Strategies for decoloniality

The two main strategies of decoloniality within the LAM-UCE programme are a) the construction of local instruments and b) the research of local material and expressions.

For the former, the programme has hired musicians and luthiers from the indigenous Afro and Andean communities as part of the faculty. Jackson Ayoví is one of them. Observing Ayoví teaching is fascinating. His methods challenge the ‘scientificity’ of conventional formal instruction. The class observed consisted of the construction of a bombo (drum) afro-esmeraldeño. Esmeraldas is the province in the northwest of Ecuador that holds the largest afro-community of the country. Ayoví had cut wood and leather himself, for the construction of the bombo. He started building the bombo while explaining through anecdotes, the beliefs of the community for the construction and use of these instruments.

The latter strategy consists of the field research for material of local expressions, either older or current. For this, Pablo Guerrero, renowned music historicist, and owner of possibly the largest archive of Ecuadorian traditional music documents (scores, interviews, testimonies and audio files, to name a few), joined the faculty and is in charge of the itinerary of musicology. His students are digitizing thousands of documents from his archive, and also doing field research. Again, Guerrero’s teaching is full of stories of his own experiences with regards to different conversations with musicians and composers, while gathering documents and information throughout the years. In the lesson observed, Guerrero handed the students original scores from the early 1900s by national composers that have never been published.

Indigenous forms of teaching and learning

Certainly, more conventional teaching happens in subjects such as Composition and Ensembles. The teaching encompasses a mixture of formal pedagogies and teacher-centred learning, similar to what happens in a conservatoire; however, the repertoire is constituted by popular music in the shape of traditional songs (except in one-to-one classes of piano as a complementary instrument). The fact that the repertoire is more traditional forces the use of traditional instruments too. When teaching resources for a specific instrument do not exist in the format of books or music scores, the methodology is orality. These teachers themselves have learned to play listening to and watching older performers in their own communities. They replicate this practice in the classroom, sometimes even bringing other members of the community to play with them and the students.

The lessons observed confirmed a high input of narrative and descriptive content. They did not provide traditional theory or scientific explanations considered ‘acceptable’ in the traditional academic models of education. For example, in Ayoví’s preparation of the wood for the bombo, he explained that it had to be cut on certain nights depending on the moon, the reason being, the quality of the sound that it produces. Common scientific methodology would demand a proven explanation of the qualities of the wood. On the other hand, the proof for this ‘ancestral’ knowledge is the sound, and for the Afro-Ecuadorian community, that is enough. Having alternative ways of learning is extremely important, especially for those who are teaching them. As Ayoví responds when asked about the risk of having Afro-Ecuadorian music in the classroom:

Our sounds are sounds of the mountain, which is not the common ‘do re mi fa sol la ti’ of the 4:40 tempered system. It is a system that lives, that has survived, despite adversity, it has survived in the mountains, and it is mysterious that this system has reached us intact, and we maintain it. I don’t believe at all that this wisdom will worsen, rather, if this knowledge is empowered, our people would be empowered even more, and our country too.

Jackson Ayoví

Preservation and progress

The LAM-UCE programme reflects the urgent need of preservation and progress of Ecuadorian indigenous music. However, in a postcolonial society, the imperative of progress seems to create unusual tensions when trying to find ways of preserving ancestral knowledge, which is also an imperative if considering indigenous communities as equal as the rest of society. But preservation is not to rescue, and progress is not to ignore. To see them like that is to translate them into political discourses that overshadow the organic hybridisation of indigenous cultures. The danger is to confuse decoloniality with preservation as a process of rejecting any external influences, and looking for a ‘state of purity’ very likely by repetition in isolation.

Conclusion

Higher Music Education can present itself as a bridge between progress and preservation by having an intrinsic force of universality. Political leaders and academics should work together towards the creation of legal frameworks and educational environments that can guarantee the recognition, contributions and experimentation of indigenous and minority expressions, giving them a voice, and listening to what they have to say in their own words, with their own tools and methodologies. Their empowerment is ultimately our empowerment too.

D. Diversity in Early Music

The three extra case studies comprise examples of early music as a catalyst for cross-genre collaboration and the promotion of diverse repertoires and practices.

- Concerto Caledonia: Cross-Institutional Collaborations in Early Scottish Dance Music (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and University of Glasgow) by Joshua Dickson (link to What do we study? What do we teach?)

#WesternArtMusic #Traditional Music #Early Music

Historically Informed Performance Practice (HIPP) is a recognised field that explores what is conventionally termed ‘Early Music’ in a practice-based setting. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has for some years partnered with the University of Glasgow to offer a Masters programme in HIPP; originally Glasgow University awarded the degree and the Royal Conservatoire provided specialist tuition as appropriate; currently the relationship is reversed, so that the Conservatoire is the main institution within which the degree is delivered, with Glasgow University contributing tuition where appropriate.

This arrangement provides opportunities for students wishing to specialise in, for example, baroque cello or early keyboard in soloist or ensemble contexts, but considering the Royal Conservatoire’s resources in Scottish traditional music, which by its very nature involves historical or ‘early’ music forms, structures, styles and repertoires (albeit often creating new music based on these idiomatic forms and structures), the HIPP degree can also provide opportunities for folk/traditional musicians to explore historical practices in soloist contexts or to collaborate creatively with Western art musicians involving repertoire that predate ‘classical’ or ‘folk’ labels.

Such collaborations can at times encounter clashes of transmissional practices not unlike the challenges of transcultural music education noted in David-Emil Wickström’s case study ‘Creating Bridges Between World and Popular Music’. Folk/traditional musicians in Scotland predominantly perform from memory, whereas today’s Western art musicians often perform with explicit reference to the written score as the locus of their creativity; they are popularly seen as artists with more or less opposing cosmologies (though this is by no means always the case). But from such collaborations we find that the folk/traditional musician emerges with a bolstered respect for the technical discipline necessary for virtuoso musicianship, while the ‘classical’ musician hitherto unfamiliar with Western art’s improvisatory Early Music practices or Scottish folk music culture encounters a newfound freedom and creativity.

The spirit of collaboration between RCS and Glasgow University staff with an interest in diverse Early Music repertoires have resulted in unique learning opportunities for students. For example, several members of staff between the Royal Conservatoire and the University of Glasgow perform together in a successful ensemble called Concerto Caledonia (http://www.concal.org), which explores 18th century Scottish dance repertoire and style. Staff members involved include, among others, Glasgow University’s David McGuinness on harpsichord and fortepiano and the Conservatoire’s Lauren McColl and Marie Fielding on fiddle, Alison McGillivray on cello, and Mairi Campbell on viola. Their most recent album, Nathaniel Gow’s Dance Band, is critically acclaimed (http://www.concal.org/albums/9-albums/1290-dance-band).

Photo copyright Concerto Caledonia (www.concal.org) 2013.

The curricular and collaborative environment in the Royal Conservatoire’s School of Music fosters learning and performance opportunities that cross genres and disciplines. The Department of Traditional Music and the Western art music-based Department of Strings, whose Head, Prof David Watkin, is a world-renowned baroque cellist, jointly hosted a masterclass for ‘trad’ and ‘classical’ students by Concerto Caledonia in 2017. By specifically focusing on a time and milieu in which such labels as ‘trad/folk’ and ‘classical’ had not yet emerged - Scotland’s 18th century high-society dance repertoire - we were able to build upon the common interests of a diverse range of student practitioners and allow them to explore their connections in professionally relevant ways.

- Piobaireachd, or early music in a Gaelic context (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the National Piping Centre and Cambridge University) by Joshua Dickson (link to What do we study? What do we teach?)

#Traditional Music #Early Music #Piobaireachd

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has long collaborated with Glasgow’s National Piping Centre to deliver a specialist degree pathway for performers of the Scottish Highland bagpipe, whose cultural roots lie in the Gaelic continuum between Ireland and Highland Scotland and whose early exponents were patronised by clan chiefs in their courtly retinues in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

As a contribution to the field of Early Music in higher education (and a case study in diversity therein), a prime example stemming from this institutional collaboration is the compulsory study of the specific ceremonial 16th-18th century repertoire of the Highland bagpipe, known as piobaireachd (Gaelic for ‘piping’) or alternatively known as ceòl mór (Gaelic for ‘big music’). Over three levels of study, undergraduate students explore in detail repertoire, technique and interpretive skills in relation to piobaireachd through a wide range of sources, periods, techniques and approaches to style and interpretation; thus providing insights into the musical milieu of the mid-18th century Scottish Highland bagpiper - exemplified by the above illustration from Joseph MacDonald’s Compleat [sic] Theory of the Scots Highland Bagpipe (1760) - and its relevance to today’s piping scene.

This work is complemented by doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge by piper, scholar and early music specialist Barnaby Brown, whose field is late 18th - early 19th century piobaireachd repertoire and performance interpretation, based on the Colin Campbell Instrumental Book (compiled c. 1797-1814) as his study’s primary historical source. A counterpart to Brown’s work is the digital library of source materials which he co-founded:, www.altpibroch.com. This online library in turn has become an invaluable resource for the Royal Conservatoire’s practice-led piobaireachd studies.

To what extent does this study of piobaireachd at Scotland’s Royal Conservatoire and National Piping Centre exemplify the inclusion of diverse cultures in higher music education? At the time of writing, this study of piobaireachd does not often lead to creative collaboration between pipers and Western art musicians in the manner of the Concerto Caledonia masterclass and other joint departmental activity mentioned above. The extent to which early bagpipe music is ‘integrated’ into the wider musical community of the Conservatoire, therefore, is open to question. However, it does demonstrate that traditional or folk genres, whose repertoire are conceptualised largely as an inheritance from a national or cultural past, have a valid role and are relevant to Early Music studies in Europe. It shows also how a higher education institution and a community or further-education organisation can work jointly to deliver university-level learning outcomes in the field of Early Music for non-Western art music students.

- Diversity as an institutional identity (Pôle Aliénor, Poitiers, France) by Baptiste Grandgirard (link to What do we study? What do we teach? / How do we study? How do we teach?)

#earlymusic #bridges #policies #traditionalmusic #StudentPerspective

How a medium-sized French institution has made the notion of diversity the heart of its identity, allowing everyone to find more than they came to look for.

The Pôle Aliénor in Poitiers is one of the oldest “Pôle supérieur” (HMEI) in France. From 1992 onwards the institution already offered an instrumental and vocal (and dance) teachers training programmes. In 2008, with the implementation of the Bologna process in France a Bachelor in musical performance in several disciplines was implemented. One of the main characteristics of the setting up of these Bachelors in France is that they have been built on the strong educational elements of the conservatoires of the local regional conservatoires. Consequently, each HMEI in France has a different musical identity due partly to the strong points of its preexistent musical environment. In Poitiers, highly motivated and competent saxophone and Early Music teachers were involved from the beginning in the process of implementation of the BA program. There domains are therefore historically at the heart of the musical identity of this institution. Obviously, this state of fact does not prevent others musical fields to develop themselves over time, and the Pôle string department is a good example of it. The strings and saxophone departments were implemented first, then came early music and piano, followed by traditional music. In 2015 Pôle Aliénor expanded to the city of Tours and added percussion and brass. Furthermore, the pedagogical training is open for many more instruments/aesthetics (Popular Music & Jazz, woodwinds, etc.).

Because this center continually seeks to create bridges between its domains its teachers and its students through open and widespread consultation, the pôle Aliénor presents numerous examples of good use of diversity for all its members:

Diversity in repertoires and aesthetic approaches

A violinist who begins for example a Bachelor in 'modern' violin, after the first year and a preparatory period, has the possibility to integrate one of the two others degrees offered by the Pôle for the same instrument; either traditional music or early music. At the beginning of the ‘modern’ violin bachelor program, a session in traditional music is offered to all the newcomers in order for them to discover a totally different way of playing and another musical world far away from the orchestra. It is up to them then to go deeper or not in this discovery, and the corresponding programmes are open to them if they succeed at the entrance examination. Similarly, they all have to take an early violin workshop. This offer is quite new, and at the moment two students are now engaged into a double program combining ‘modern’ and ‘early’ violin, leading them to a bachelor in both of them. A similar policy exists regarding keyboard: a ‘modern’ pianist has basso continuo lessons as well as sessions on pianoforte taught by specialized musicians.

For students studying pedagogy at bachelor level, all the students are divided into small groups. In these pedagogical workshops they teach each other the basis of their instrument in front of the other members, who then give feedback on the lessons. It allows everyone to discover others instruments : a pianist has the opportunity to learn what it feels like to blow into a saxophone, and a saxophonist can experience the sensation of pushing and pulling a violin bow. In a professional world in which more and more “multi-task teachers” are needed in order to cope with the growing demand of group teaching situations, knowing these organological basics is in many occasions essential. Moreover, everyone can experiment and see other teaching methods coming from a wide perspective. When you are used to methods of teaching coming from the beginning of the 19th century, it is really rewarding to discover active pedagogy demonstrated by a folk musician.

Diversity in study paths

An effective and personalized face-to-face follow-up at each step of the studies in the pôle Aliénor, with the possibility to receive advice in a real open-mindset can open up many unexpected doors. Each studypath is personalized and this diversity brings rewards too each one of us. The following two cases provide examples of such pathways:

Thomas T. entered the pôle Aliénor when he was 23 years-old in 2009 originally to prepare a diploma in recorder teaching. In 2016, seven years after his arrival, he has graduated indeed, but his degree tripled by a performance bachelor in recorder and another in ... viola. Now, he is mainly teaching violin, some viola as well as recorder in four different music schools as well as working in the Thouars Démos Orchestra as a string teacher. As a musician, he is a member of eight different groups of early, classical and electro music and is regularly asked to play at other opportunities. When asked how he feels today in his life, he answers: “I am particularly happy and fulfilled in my condition, despite many doubts during my training! The loss of one of my many jobs would not question my financial balance and my multi-task profile allows me to quickly find another one somewhere else.” Diversity during studies for a higher employability and a better fulfillment.

Another case is that of Iris P. She entered the pôle Aliénor because she heard about its stylistic openness. At this time, as an alto player, she wanted to discover other musical fields that those of classical/romantic music and came in because she knew the contemporary carrier of her future professor as well as the possibility to enter into the Early Music world. After a few years, she has a viola bachelor of performer and a teaching degree with the same instrument. She began the Master universitaire « Musique : Recherche et pratique d’ensemble », but she put it in parenthesis, as her taste for discovery was too high to prevent her from traveling to Ramallah, where she is now teaching her instrument and trying to understand the country where she is now living in, Palestine. In the same time, she has to travel back to Paris regularly, because her participation in a huge contemporary performance in which she will have to play the viola, many percussion instruments as well as the role of a young girl on stage. Diversity for a strange and dazzling course.

If the Pole Aliénor is only one institution among the fifteen higher music institutions in France, its average size and open-mindedness have always allowed it to adapt to the specific identity of each of its members. By interacting extensively with everyone, this place allows all the students to reveal themselves during their studies, including the most diverse paths.

6. Resistance

6.1 Beyond the classical mindset: The challenge of incorporating diverse musical cultures in Higher Music Education by Stefan Gies, AEC Chief Executive

Introduction

Europe is rightly proud of its well-developed, as a rule state-supported music education system. No other continent can come close to keeping up with such a publicly funded, comprehensive music educational infrastructure. The flagships of this infrastructure are the Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEIs) in charge of ensuring that the musical life is continuously supplied with sufficient numbers and quality of young music professionals. There seems little doubt that the European HMEIs meet this task. On closer inspection, however, it becomes apparent that it is for by far the most HMEIs, although they are obviously meeting many of the requirements placed on them, still a challenge to catch up in terms of openness to diversity, and this not only with regard to issues of social inclusion, gender equality or the integration of people with different physical requirements, but also with regard to taking in account the huge and still growing diversity of musical styles and genres characterising our everyday musical life is not adequately reflected in the HMEIs' study programs and curricula.

It would be too easy to simply ascribe the responsibility for this lack to the HMEIs, especially since more and more senior management members of these institutions are either open to expand the existing offering or even pro-actively interested in overcoming the one-dimensionality of a traditional HMEI setting. This raises the question that will be addressed in the following: What obstacles stand in the way of such an opening?

The starting point of this exercise are some notes on the history of the HMEIs, deriving from it a few thoughts about what a conservatoire mindset or a classical mindset might be, how it emerged and why it is still there. This article does not claim to be scholarly research in the narrower sense, but rather an essay. It nevertheless refers among others to research findings in order to underpin the arguments raised and to emphasize its message.

Some remarks on history

Vocational music schools and, later on, Higher Music Education Institutions as their immediate successor institutions, have been a main pillar of the system and infrastructure to keep alive and pass on the so-called western-classical music in Central Europe for more than 150 years. The maintenance of a professional musical life at a high level of artistic performance and the transfer of cultural knowledge are hardly conceivable today without the existence of these institutions.

Even they are not without precedents, the form, structure and educational concept of HMEIs as we know them today, substantially took shape in the 19th century. It was part of a gradual process, running from the French Revolution to the First World War, in which the nobility was replaced by a self-confident urban bourgeoisie as the bearer of high culture. Unlike the academies for fine arts, some of which can look back to a thriving pre-revolution history, the emergence of the HMEIs is a direct consequence of the dissolution of the courtly institutions of musical life in Central Europe and their appropriation and reinvention by the bourgeoisie. (Gies 2019, pp. 40-41) In other words: The Conservatoire owes its origins to a particular spirit of the time and a specific social and political concept.

By far not the first one, but maybe the most renowned and influential 19th century's conservatoire of this type was the Conservatorium der Musik in Leipzig, founded in 1843. Its typical features and characteristics as shaped by the master-mind standing behind the inauguration of this institution, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy still look familiar to us today (see also Gies 2019, p. 42):

It was based on the musical ideal of western-classical art music, bearing the hallmarks of Mendelssohn, who saw himself as the legitimate successor of composers such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

It assumed that music and musical knowledge exist primarily in written form; that's why scriptualisation of music was seen as an indispensable prerequisite for the transfer of musical knowledge.

The instruction at the instrument was organised as one-to-one tuition, and thus took up a key element of the so-called master-apprentice scheme (see Lave&Wenger, 1991; Jørgensen, 2000; Calvert, 2014).

It was aiming at the training of qualified professional musicians and was thus following a curricular concept, which is based on the division of teaching subjects, such as main instrument, side instrument, ensemble playing, solfège and music history.

Mendelssohn did not intend to academise the educational program in the modern sense, but to link it to theoretical knowledge - among other things through the mandatory attendance of harmony lessons. (see Wasserloos, 2004)

To establish conservatoires was not only the result of a political or civil society commitment, but also the consequence of a dramatic social change. In the first decades of the 19th century, many musicians that were put out of work from the dissolution of many court orchestras entered the labor market as free-lancers and were thus able to contribute to satisfying the growing demand for private instrumental and vocal lessons in bourgeois circles. (Weber 2008, pp. 89-92). Unlike the job market for performing musicians, conservatoires were at the time also accessible to women. As a result, over the years, more and more well-trained female musicians graduated from the conservatories, but this did not change the exclusively male composition of the orchestras.

This is how the situation looked like in the second half of the 19th century. But what about today? Although the context in which education and higher education take place has undergone huge changes in the past 150 years, the conservatoire scheme and the conservatoire mindset have scarcely changed in key points to this day. As late as in the 1970s, the HMEIs in Europe were largely structured as Mendelssohn had intended in his master plan of 1840. The range of subjects within a curriculum had since slightly expanded, but remained unchanged in its core areas. One-to-one tuition and the master apprentice relationship were (and are still) the most powerful components of the educational program. Not to forget that the vast majority of these institutions still had the status of a vocational school and were not recognised to be academic in the proper sense. This only changed when the Bologna Declaration⁴ was signed in 1999.

Last but not least, the HMEIs focused on a rather narrow segment of the actual musical traditions and phenomena: highbrow classical western music. As late as around 1980, it was still common that musicians striving for a professional career as e.g. a jazz musician or as a member of a professional Bohemian brass band, took their studies at a conservatoire which was, of course, in the field of classical music as there was no alternative. These students tried to gather as much know-how as possible within the field of classical music, but then as a professional musician, turned to musical paths to which their studies did not really prepare them for. At that time, however, it was and to a certain extent still is common practice within both fields of jazz and traditional music to lead a successful professional career as a musician without having completed a formal musical education.

Apart from some very few exceptions, it was only from 1980 onwards that more and more HMEIs opened up to new musical genres, mostly by establishing jazz study programs. But this did not necessarily mean that the conservatoire scheme and mindset would have been ruled out. On the contrary, whenever representatives of a non-classical musical genre knocked on the door of a HMEI, the message they received from the guardians of the tradition was very clear: If you want to become part of our community, you have to accept our rules.

The Music Higher Education institutions’ self-image between stereotype and concept

Referring to two chosen projects that have recently been addressing issues that are closely linked to the above-mentioned issue, this chapter intends to give a clearer picture on the HMEIs' willingness and ability to change and to overcome the hegemony of a classical mindset, as it is reflected in the self-image and the self-perception of their key actors.

The first of these projects was launched by the AEC SMS Working Group for Diversity, Inclusion & Identity which developed, on the basis of case studies, a (self-assessment) questionnaire meant to support HMEIs in opening up towards more diversity and decentering their curricula⁵. The second project referred to, is the cross-border research project DAPHME, investigating the academic self-concept of teaching and senior management staff on the example of selected HMEIs in Sweden, Germany and Norway. (see Angelo et alt. 2019, Georgii-Hemming et alt. 2016).

The purpose of the questionnaire developed by the AEC SMS WG for Diversity, Inclusion & Identity was to provide those HMEIs which are striving for innovation and change with a kind of self-evaluation guideline. This guideline includes, among others, a kind of check-list questioning the prevailing thinking about curricula as top-down normative requirements. At this point, only a few selected questions out of this list will be presented that seem to be particularly relevant in the given context:

How does your curriculum or academic framework provide a study path tailored to the aspirations and artistic ideas of the individual student?

How are students trained to question prevailing artistic standards?

To what extent does your curriculum contain compulsory activities or electives for learning collaboratively (other than teacher-led group lessons)?

Are you aware of any efforts to increase diversity in the recruitment of your students and faculty?

Moreover, it is asked not literally, but in essence:

How are students trained in questioning the canon and exploring artists beyond those taught in the institution or seen as part of the institutional / national canon?

What provisions are in place to overcome the focus on one-to-one tuition as the core element in preparing students to lead a successful career as professional musicians?

It can be assumed that many HMEIs might reply to those questions by stating that this is not (yet?) an issue at their institution, and the findings of the DAPHME project which will be presented in greater detail in the following, back this assumption.

The starting point of the DAPHME project was the insight that the self-conception of many performing musicians, in particular among those who also teach at a HMEI, was obviously challenged if not unsettled by the requirements of the Bologna process. DAPHME - standing for Discourses of Academisation and the Music Profession in Higher Music Education - was therefore launched with the purpose to investigate how the process of academisation affects not only the self-concept of the key actors at a HMEI, but also the self-portrayal of these institutions and their music performance curricula. The data collected in 36 interviews as well as the publicly accessible self-portrayals of the institutions, were analysed using mainly methods from discourse analysis. The DAPHME team had deliberately decided beforehand to conduct interviews only with teachers from the area of classical music because that's were at least the origin and core of the conservatoire mindset was suspected to be rooted.

In the present context, only one selected aspect from the DAPHME findings will be presented that seems to be particular revealing with regard to the issue. It is on the question whether and to what extend the interviewees were ready, willing and / or able to open up both their individual minds and their institutions to non-classical musical traditions and cultures.

All interviewees stated that students should in their view be trained to perform in different styles and genres and that their minds should be opened up for new forms of communicating with the audience: 'Today's students are expected to be much more flexible than they were in the past. We are facing audiences that want different kinds of concert formats. We have to deal with that.' (Viola teacher, female). At first glance, this statement might sound as if it would reflect the interviewee's personal conviction. But reading between the lines, a deep-seated uncertainty and fear of change becomes visible. Because in the next sentence this teacher said: 'Even the big ones, the most outstanding orchestras like the Berliner and the Wiener Philharmoniker are doing these kind of socially-oriented projects.'

When classical musicians talk about jazz, their judgment often oscillates between appreciation, respect and envy, but also between feelings of inferiority and fear of loss. 'To combine performing classical music, jazz and funk is a challenge. Most of my students are volunteering in big bands, and they should do so. But they play differently there, with a more intense embouchure. And those who don't practice this change as such in a very, very well-disciplined way, can quickly get off track.' (Trombone teacher, male). 'The jazz musicians are miles ahead of us in terms of entrepreneurship skills. They are able to steer their career path and to determine their future.' (Leader, male) Most interviewees were convinced that jazz musicians have competencies which they would like their own students to have as well, but which they are not able to teach them.

The two projects mentioned above reveal that the HMEIs obviously find themselves under pressure to change. But this is not limited to the topics addressed by the two projects. An additional challenge raises from the fact that the traditional conservatoire scheme presumes that the curriculum covers all learning content and would be suitable to equip students with all the knowledge and all the skills they need to pursue their future profession. This might have been true as long as the majority of the graduates found an employment in a job market that was characterised by clearly defined and on long term stable job profiles. However, today only a small number of those graduating from a HMEI pursue this kind of careers, e.g. by finding a permanent position in an orchestra. In addition, the orchestral landscape is much more heterogeneous than in the past in terms of repertoire and focusing on certain styles or performing practices. It must be recognised that the vast majority of HMEIs are making considerable efforts to accommodate these changes. But the crucial question remains whether these efforts are sufficient.

The idea of the HMEI as a monopolistic all-in-one provider of skills and know-how that are needed to pursue a successful career as professional musician, was actually an illusion already 50 years ago. Today, as passing on and acquiring knowledge is characterised by digital learning, video tutorials, peer and collaborative learning and an increasing impact of informal learning options that are accessible at any time and place, the concept of a comprehensive curriculum is definitely outdated. The fact remains, however, that many HMEIs continue to adhere to this concept and are often even formally obliged to do so due to applicable legal provisions.

Beyond the classical mindset

In order to integrate and merge the so far exposed thoughts and theoretical approaches, reference will be made to aspects most of which were already explained above. Firstly, this is the Leipzig Conservatoire and its function as a role model for many others in the second half of the 19th century. Its above-mentioned curriculum for students who wanted to become a professional instrumentalist was at the time close to the needs of the occupational field offering high employability standards, in fact higher than today's HMEIs curricula do, because there was a job market for both orchestral and military musicians. This music labor market was characterised by a division of labor which did not exist before, nor did it exist outside the world of classical music. It is interesting, however, that there were still things missing in this curriculum, which only 50 years earlier, by the end of the 18th century, were a natural part of a - at least informal - learning program for prospective professional musicians, e.g. teaching improvisation or composition. Moreover, the professional musicians of the eighteenth century were quite often multi-instrumentalists, and it was only under the influence of virtuosi such as Nicolo Paganini and Franz Liszt that this ideal was replaced by the specialist, whereby the musicians' labor market underwent a development similar to the increasing industrialisation of the manufactories. The Leipzig Conservatoire mirrored the industrialisation going on in the early 19th century's labor world, but without later adapting to its further development.

The Dutch ethnomusicologist Huib Schippers reports in his publication Facing the Music, which can be described as a tour d'horizon through the global landscape of music performance education, on lessons he attended in Asia and Africa in quite diverse cultural contexts and educational settings. Above all, he points to the difference to what he knew from classical European one-to-one tuition. (Schippers, 2010) Schippers emphasizes the fact that "the way music is taught and learned is inextricably linked to the specific music tradition that is being transmitted, its contexts, and the underlying value system." (Schippers 2010, p. 61). The way in which western classical music is learned and taught appears to him in global terms as a special case whose exceptional features are characterised by the dominance of scriptualisation on the one hand and the fragmentation of the teaching content on the other hand. Schippers describes the latter as contrast between "holistic and atomistic approaches to music learning". (Schippers 2010, p. 87). And he further states: "The concept that a learner constructs knowledge rather than merely receiving it (which corresponds to a modernist, positivist, cognitivist view) potentially elevates holistic learning and teaching from the status of 'underdeveloped' to appropriate to education in a postmodern environment." (Schippers 2010, p. 87)

Schippers moreover suspects that another peculiarity of the classical European culture of teaching music is a very special understanding of terms such as tradition and authenticity. (Schippers, 2010, pp. 41-49) Whereas these two categories are central pillars of the European conservatoire mindset, they play, according to Schippers, a little role outside of Europe or are at least interpreted differently. For musicians from Sub-Saharian Africa, for example, tradition has no value in a European understanding of the term. For musicians rooted in these contexts, it goes without saying that music evolves, that they e.g. use electric guitars and up to date technology to perform the traditional tribal music in the present.

Conclusion and outlook

To conclude, it might be worth taking up and investigating more in depth what Huib Schippers' hint at the weaknesses of an atomistic learning a teaching setting as it is still prevalent at European MHEIs means not only for opening up these institutions for people with more diverse cultural needs and for musical traditions that are not rooted in a Western classical context. To do so is more than just challenging things that are supposed to be taken for granted, because we have become so used to them over the past 150 years that we hardly ever question them anymore. Schippers' comment can also be understood as a call to decolonise the MHEIs.

In this context, however, it is also worthwhile to have a look back to the 1980s, when many HMEIs opened up towards jazz study programs. As already pointed to earlier, jazz and jazz musicians had to adapt to the given conservatoire mindset in order to be allowed to join the HMEI, and they voluntarily have done so. Writing down music and playing from scores, which until then was rather the exception with jazz musicians, has now become the norm, a particular jazz music theory was invented and so on. With this regard, the integration of jazz into the HMEIs was anything but a success story, but actually more a story of surrender and submission to prevailing norms within HMEI.

Today, more and more genres are on the doorstep of the HMEIs: popular music, hip-hop, heavy metal and electronic dance music; traditional folk music and the music of immigrants and ethnic minorities. All these musics are part of an everyday musical life in Europe and beyond, and that's why there is a legitimate societal interest in opening the doors to these genres and to the cultural attitudes they are embedded in. This also means that the HMEIs must provide the space that is needed to maintain and further develop these musical cultures according to their own rules and to respect them as an equal part of a European musical heritage. This can only be successful if the inclusion and integration of these genres and cultures into HMEIs is operated on eye level. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary for the HMEI to break up with the seemingly self-evident, e.g. the idea of a generally valid understanding across all genre boundaries of what artistic quality and success are, about shared sound ideals and ideals of communication, about authenticity, originality and about how artistic achievements are to be assessed etc.

The history of the integration of jazz into the HMEIs can serve as an instructive example, both for what has been successful and for what, in retrospect, appears to be less successful. An essential aspect will be to make sure that the process of opening up and integration will be guided by the idea that the conservatoire mindset adapts to the music, and not the other way around.

Stefan Gies, AEC Chief Executive

6.2 Different perspectives

The following pages include three testimonials from three different perspectives by peer-colleagues from the SMS community, who contributed addressing the idea of resistance and how difficult it is to deal with the resistance against institutional change towards a more diverse environment in HME institutions.

Senior management perspective

I have reflected on these questions in particular from my perspective as a rector at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM), reflecting on how I address resistance to efforts to make our curricula and institutional culture more diverse and inclusive.

In my view, the lack of diversity and inclusiveness in higher music education is a systemic problem that needs a systemic solution. Overcoming resistance to changing practices and mindsets will take time, lots of communication, and perseverance.

At RIAM, our process began in late 2018 with informal coffee meetings between staff in small groups. I wanted to understand their own experiences first, to reflect on their own conservatoire education and careers, and to understand in what contexts resistance or anxiety would be most likely to surface. In those early series of meetings, I underlined my own commitment to making changes to ensure we had a safe and healthy learning environment for our current community of learning, and my hopes to reach a more diverse stakeholder body in the future.

At this time, news was coming to the fore through publicised court cases involving sexual abuse in music education and the profession in Europe and the USA. This 'bad press' combined with the impact of the #metoo movement was uncovering the taboo subject of power relations in various forms in our sector. As the RIAM is a small institution, the responsibility for responding to such international trends in music and communicating them to staff and students rests in the first instance with me as rector. This is a power relations challenge in itself - that of imposing an idea from the top down. I found in my small meetings, however, that staff acknowledged that destructive inequity and abuses had occurred in their own student days so they could see that the sector had some work to do here. Our students were very alive to injustices and power imbalances at RIAM and were keen to get to grips with resolving them. In fact, the student response was so strong that there was no turning back from addressing the problem.

Workshops with students and staff followed and finally a joint working group of staff, students, and outside experts was formed to develop some ideas on diversity and inclusion at RIAM.

As we were writing up our RIAM Strategy for 2021-2025, two epochal events occurred: the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a US police officer. Both events threw yet more light on inequities in our world and at the same time demonstrated opportunities to widen access in the Age of Technology and through our social responsibility as connected artists. In that moment, addressing diversity and inclusivity at RIAM became a 'burning platform', something urgent and important.

Prominence of the issue was formalised in our RIAM Strategy document, with 'Access and Inclusion for a Modern RIAM' the first of our four overarching goals. For this goal there are concrete objectives - a Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion audit and journey plan to set concrete milestones and measure progress; an Access and Inclusion Council comprising staff, students, and experts to guide our way; and revisions to curricula and institutional practices to encourage a greater diversity of applicant to our programmes.

This is a journey at RIAM, and each day we learn more and progress. Resistance from staff (usually in the form of silence, not outright disagreement) has been rare. Once the general theme of power relations was discussed in this way at a high level across the community, it was for working groups and invited experts to take the idea from there and find a journey plan, thereby moving from a top down to a shared leadership approach. However, a major challenge we still face is in changing our culture to allow new ways to settle in. Training for staff and students exposes our community to learning about important topics such as unconscious bias or managing conflict constructively, and over time I have no doubt that this work will nurture understanding and positive personal growth. Realistically though, an individual's life experience and norms, if they conflict with these new ideas, will not be abandoned quickly, despite even enthusiasm for change in principle. Any successful reform will need to be celebrated, to promote confidence and avoid that worst of all things, a sense of apathy that nothing meaningful will ever change.

As this SMS publication suggests through its questions, change will include everything from how we teach and learn, communicate, choose repertoire, assess, recruit and much more. Resistance to these changes will be grounded in relevant concerns about maintaining high artistic standards, fears that our professional identities and art will be undermined or de-valued, and the dauntingly long time that such reforms will take.

Deborah Kelleher

AEC Vice-President

Director, Royal Irish Academy of Music

Teacher perspective - Diversity in Classical Music

For my first solo-CD we worked with a wonderful art team. I told the graphic designer and the photographer about the concept and content of CD ‘Waterworks’ and DVD ‘Zinc garden’, and they started imagining. The cover photo would be me and my viola in the rain. The make-up artist had a lot to worry about, from waterproof mascara to blow-drying my long hair in between shots. And when we made the selection it was clear that the strongest image was one with wet hair: dark, cold, rain and tears everywhere, the viola held forward like a shield of light. My innovative formula CD was welcomed and reviewed more than enthusiastically, but it was quite surprising how people, also my forward-thinking colleagues in the contemporary music scene, expressed their resentment against a cover which looked so different from what they were used to. Basically, they told me that others would think that I, looking like that, was not a top-level player.

There are so many musicians who are children of their time, like all great composers from the past were: creators, innovators. Look at young violinist Diamanda Dramm and her authentic and exciting journey, whom the women of the Learning & Teaching working group of the SMS project describe, in an article called “The embodied score – the art of performance”. But even Diamanda is operating in a world which thinks: “playing such a lot of new music, she’s probably not the best Bach performer”, and “why does she look so fashionable?”, and also Diamanda had to develop resilience and stamina to be able to find that not just her methods and products but also her success could be original.

In classical music, archaic images of what a successful musician looks like are determinative and hard to ignore. This perception also leads to putting people into boxes, which is standing in the way of joy and purpose in classical music education and careers. What can be done to create space for other narratives, new ideals and dreams?

Generosity is one of the most important factors in a teacher’s attitude: wanting their students to not just become better but also different than them. This requires an environment which is open to variety and personal choice. The one-to-one teaching itself is not automatically the limiting factor in this, although it can lead to copying. Here are some practices to create space in this domain:

- Let students describe what they are trying to achieve. Don’t incorporate this in subsidiary subjects like entrepreneurship but connect it to the main subject. It doesn’t have to be ‘the big thing’ immediately; involve students in the feedback and feed-forward of their main subject exams – work on accepting failure and welcome trial and error.

- Give students the chance to customize their programme. Include electives and broad choice options, also in other domains. Give them freedom to programme their main subject exams pieces. Give students agency over their studies and their (future) success. Include student-led projects as part of the regular curriculum, include authentic assessment.

- Guarantee a safe environment for personal exploration: teachers should collaborate, also in between subjects, and position themselves as team-workers, and for the main subject it is a normal question at the end of each year whether a student is still best off in the class of the teacher they studied with so far and whether it is time for (ex)change. Sharing is the best attitude: open the classroom door, play together (all different levels, all different studies, teachers and students).

Repertoire is another important element in making space for variety. Classical music practice generally focuses too much on reproduction and classical music training seems to limit itself to reaching the endpoint of some kind of excellent, neutral reproduction of standard repertoire.

- Include ‘the whole task’ of being a musician: let students design concert programs and concert formats, make them think about audience and stimulate a sense of community, finding out how to relate to the here and now, as an artist.

- Teach ‘the art of performance’ instead of ‘how to play Mozart’.

- Invite students to step forward with their secret pleasures and other talents!

Playing contemporary music has been the basic practice in classical music for ages, and collaborating with a living composer is the key to knowing how to relate to standard repertoire as well: co-creation it is, over and over again.

- Start music history courses with contemporary music. Make clear that the perspective is ‘Western composed music’, and that this is just a small piece of all the music in the world.

- Include a newly composed piece in exam repertoire requirements.

- Be open to students exploring and incorporating other practices like improvisation and other musical styles – learn how to teach ‘quality’ instead of standards.

In general, it is so helpful and joyful to see a conservatoire as a place of learning for all. Teachers and students, staff and guests, all are here to learn, to share their expertise, to develop the professional practice and to join in making music.

The Dutch Violin Concours has 4 categories, from ages 10-26. All 4 categories play a specially composed new piece in the first round of the competition, so every 2 years 4 new compositions for violin are studied and performed by many young players. In the Oskar Back competition, ages 18-26, the second round asks the competitors to present a 10’ performance of whatever music(al piece) they choose, in combination with other performing arts, image, lighting. There is a small creative team which coaches the candidates in this, and there is a special jury for specifically this part of the competition, which is compiled of academic and (other) arts students. None of this is my doing, I just have the great honour to be the jury chairman in the 2022 edition.       

The Concours thus supports and actively promotes a broader musicianship with a strong focus on ‘making’ (new compositions, own repertoire and creative product) and with an awareness of a varied audience (the non-subject-specific jury). These are the building blocks for opening up classical music practice from the inside, where the hierarchical images and traditional demands hide which are usually strongly maintained by competitions. Seemingly small steps, but probably the most definite, giving way to young musicians to reach out, to other repertoire, other music practices, new audiences.

It is essential to work from the heart of classical music, but is this enough? No, it is not. While working on liberating classical music practice from the structural hijack of tradition and opening up its manifestation to the contemporary world, trying to re-vitalise and to re-connect, it is important to also put pressure from the outside in:

- A large city in The Netherlands asked its advising committee for the allocation of arts and culture subsidies (2021-2024) to make an extra effort, judging the institutes on their level of diversity and inclusion. (Do read the Code Diversity & Inclusion: https://codedi.nl/) I was a member of this committee and we struggled with the obvious question, is this yet another ‘modernist’ demand to curtail the arts? After having finished the whole process, the answer was incredibly obvious: the orchestras, ensembles, opera houses, festivals, halls with the best artistic quality scored highest on diversity and inclusion – their artistic urgency roots in an ongoing conversation with the here and now, they know they are part of an everchanging society and they want to take their role as artists in their community.

MANIFESTO

The world of music, and specifically classical music, has a strong tendency for heroism and hierarchy. Leading images in classical music are not just looking very much alike, they also support narrow and limiting ideas about how success is achieved.

There is a need for all the other narratives to be told and displayed, there is a need for young musicians to be empowered when following their dreams.

We see the possibility of education which gives students the opportunity to find out what success means to them.

Welcoming different role-models of successful careers will make conservatoires open to a more diverse community as well as change methods and relations towards more inclusiveness.

2019, Camilla Overgaard & Susanne van Els

Susanne van Els

AEC-SMS Learning & Teaching Working Group member

Teacher, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Cardiff

Student perspective - Reflection on the notion of Resistance

Miranda Harmer

Being involved in the SWG and prior to this in my own local and national SRS has enabled and equipped me with crucial competencies, emotional intelligence and provided me with work experience that I would not have otherwise encountered until I had entered the working world post-graduating. My frustrations have always been around resistance. Resistance from other departments and organisations, who are so afraid of their ways of being, doing, and working being challenged and changed, that they become resistant, aggressive, and hostile. Hostility is the one key word I would use when reflecting on this topic.

I am fortunate that in the UK we have legislation to support our advancement and process, particularly with Equality and Diversity (and the 2010 Act) so on paper the change can “happen”, but it’s the culture that can be difficult to shift. For example encouraging more female jazz musicians, or women in positions of leadership. I myself experienced hostility when making suggestions or offering advice during official meetings at my institution. I had men take my ideas and pass them off as their own, and I had older women (who themselves had to ‘fight’ to be there) treat me badly (perhaps to make me resilient?). What is necessary in music education is role models, space for creative and personal exploration, and freedom to explore everything and anything without being concerned about cultural or social resistance (for example, to try and be a female engineer, even though it is considered “a masculine job”).

Reflecting back upon situations where I have experienced resistance, certain lessons I have learnt:

I remind myself that I will always encounter resistance, but that is normally due to the insecurities of others. Perhaps they feel undermined? Perhaps they are worried about losing their job to someone else? This follows on to point 2:

I try to build trust with those I work with (or those I want to work with). This is part of changing the culture. It’s about having interpersonal skills and experiences to reshape how one approaches change: make it mutually beneficial for example? By understanding a person and their insecurities, I can decide the best approach when trying to tackle the hostility. Building trust takes time, but humans are creatures of habit and they take comfort in these habits, so unfortunately sometimes we have to play the long game. However, onto point 3:

Have allies. Whether it’s a member of staff or a group of like-minded students, having allies helps when making change and coming up against resistance. Strength in numbers! I recall one meeting I had with senior management, and one man in the hierarchy was trying to belittle me. However their manager (another man) was a great ally and so because of their fear over their manager, they quickly stopped their behaviour out of a fear of being reprimanded. After that, I was treated with more respect and after a while that trust was built.

Baptiste Grandgirard

During our musical studies, we sometimes have the sensation of a revelation, of a very strong awareness of a known truth, but until then relegated to a vague philosophical sentence. This sudden awareness has managed to overwhelm the last dikes of our unconscious, the last unconscious biases that prevented us from fully accepting it. And it seems essential to us to share it with everyone! And now!

For example, we would like to share with our colleague this revelation on how the practice of the basso continuo has upset our understanding of musical language. Or talk with our teacher about the incredible benefit that this weekend spent playing traditional music with strangers has had on our relationship with the stage. Or to talk for hours about concepts as unoriginal as "Diversity is good".

But everyone has to deal with their own awareness. Your friend may have just been lectured by his own teacher about the fact that he doesn't spend enough time working on his instrument alone, that he gets lost in "optional" lessons, and that this is not the way to achieve excellence. Your own teacher has not had in his training the same stylistic openness that seems to irrigate yours right now, and will have little to say about traditional music. Besides, that's not what we're here for... So yes, diversity is good, good for the general culture of the musician, good to know that other things exist, but one in the other, it is not the essential thing to find a job and become like one's teacher.

This kind of resistance, this kind of storytelling, is very common in the life of student musicians today, and it is a necessary step in the construction of one's own artistic identity. It is easy to be carried away by a teaching and an environment that, paradoxically, can be extremely normative. It is difficult to provoke voluntarily and directly the changes we would like to see in the society in which we evolve. We risk going to the clash, burning our wings and banging our heads against the same wall indefinitely.

As a student, but maybe not only, never forget to spend as much time as possible developing the practices that make you feel good. Diversity will come in our institutions from a community in which each individual will have the opportunity to develop his or her own interests, while being accompanied in the best possible way by caring and open-minded masters. Be curious and be wise enough to listen to your own desires.

Camilla Overgaard

One of the things that has become more and more clear to me both during my involvement in the SMS-project and during my studies are the differences in expectation towards and the perception of change on the individual level and on the institutional level. Making change happen on the institutional level can feel like a long and slow process on the individual level - sometimes it even seems invisible. This can easily lead to the misunderstanding that there is a resistance to change on the institutional level while it might not actually be the case. Here, I think that it could be beneficial for institutions to consider how change can continually be made visible on the individual level during the longer process of achieving institutional change.

Wanting change comes with a sense of urgency and therefore it can feel very frustrating when you encounter resistance. Personally, I always try to be curious about and understand where the resistance is coming from in order to see how it can be resolved. In my opinion, preparing students for change and uncertainty is necessary to build the resilience that a career in music demands. Therefore, I also find it important that institutions look inward and see how they themselves respond to change.

The lessons and considerations that I take with me from the situations where I have acted as an agent of change are:

Being an agent of change takes courage and peer-support is important.

Just the idea of change can create fear and uncertainty in people and lead to resistance as a result. Sometimes dialogue and understanding towards these feelings can go a long way in resolving resistance. It takes patience, but I believe it to be very important for having good results in the long-term and help create a good work culture.

I consciously make an effort to stay open to change, since I know that I am a creature of habit too. I do this by choosing to do something that challenges me and makes me feel uncertain on a regular basis and then explore that uncertainty to try to learn from it.

Choosing to have the difficult conversations is an important aspect of creating change, but it can be very challenging. Developing competencies to handle these conversations through different courses has made it easier for me, but I still find it challenging. Around topics like gender and diversity there are definitely difficult conversations to be had and therefore it is important to help develop the knowledge and competencies it takes to help those conversations along.

Roberto Boschelli

From an international student's point of view, I could see an enhancement in diversity and inclusivity in my institution compared to the former one. What I noticed was that people and teachers were very hard to change themselves when it came to confrontation, even in those occasions where they resulted to be in the wrong direction no matter what the others thought. It can be frustrating at times and you feel like you cannot do anything to change this rusty system.

It's probably because I have been involved in the SMS project for some years now that I decided to experience my life abroad. Gaining competences, looking for an international outlook and expressing myself as I am are becoming easy to achieve, albeit it can be challenging sometimes.

I remember that when I was a former student in Italy, I was only asked to fulfill my study requirements to become a good musician, without taking in consideration the Self. The individual was completely alienated and it was rather difficult to hold a conversation with teachers and directors. Resistance could come from the difficulty to break that kind of hierarchy and enter the system. Many times I think what I could have done to change things: probably I would have failed. Conservatoires are still much conservative and narrow-minded and, unfortunately, they make people run away.

Not a single female composer was included in the syllabus. Most of the time, female composers were just an excuse to talk about male composers' love affairs and that was very much appalling. And when it came to choosing a contemporary piece, teachers were quite often annoyed and, I guess, frightened to teach such repertoires.

Luckily, in the UK things are better than everyone could imagine. The process of Inclusivity and Diversity is much enrooted and I'm happy with it, even though I think we can do more. The need of a cultural shift is being urged for the same reason that society is changing and so are people.

Siri Storheim

I have experienced resistance in different ways in my academy. Most of all I see resistance for change, both in terms of music and teaching tradition and in terms of organisation. As a part of the classical department, I see much conservative attitudes that I do not think are sustainable. For example lack of openness to new repertoire or interest in developing teaching methods. How I see it, a lot of this comes not from a general resistance towards development, but more from teachers feeling devalued. If students want to learn something other than the teachers core competence, the teacher might feel threatened by this. So how I see it, the key to solving this is to change the mindset or culture. When the idea is that the main instrument teacher is the main source of knowledge and should be able to provide everything the student needs, we have a problem. If we as institutions can nourish the idea that we are a learning community, where every participant, student as well as teacher, bring something valuable to the table, I think it is much easier to move forward in a healthy way. I do not want to call this process change, but rather growth.

When it comes to diversity, equality and inclusion, I see a different kind of resistance. My institution fails to take diversity seriously over and over again, most measures being rather half hearted. This does not mean that the institution does not want equality, but we are perhaps not willing to put in the work. It requires acknowledging an unpleasant truth, and it means admitting that up until now we have not tried hard enough. This is a process.

Advocating for change is a challenge, and to be able to keep doing it, we need to learn to deal with resistance, and use it. Because resistance is also positive. When presenting new ideas, we need them to be questioned and challenged. For me, learning to listen to this, rather than becoming defensive has been a key point. Being part of the SMS project, I have realised how many different points of views there are, even within the smallest fields. I have experienced changing my mind completely about something after conversations with colleagues, and being comfortable with this. This is important, because to be a change agent, humbleness is central.

AEC-SMS Student Working Group members

7. Resources

7.1 Additional relevant resources

Power relations / Institutional policies
Bull, Anna, and Rachel Rye, 2018. Institutional responses to staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education. The 1752 Group/University of Portsmouth. Portsmouth, UK.

https://1752group.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/silencing-students_the-1752-group.pdf (accessed 26.09.2019)

Report by the UK National Union of Students into staff-student sexual misconduct:

N.N. 2018. Power in the academy: staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education. London: National Union of Students.
https://www.nusconnect.org.uk/resources/nus-staff-student-sexual-misconduct-report (accessed 26.09.2019)

Classroom diversity

Black, Ashton, and Stephanie Almagno. 2018. Contemporary Classroom Advice from a Transgender Student. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-classroom-management/contemporary-classroom-advice-from-a-transgender-student/ (accessed 03.12.2018).

Music education and diversity

Schippers, Huib. 2010. Facing the music: Shaping Music Education from a Global Perspective. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Queering historiography

Borchard, Beatrix; Noeske, Nina (ed.). 2003ff. Musikvermittlung und Genderforschung: Musikerinnen-Lexikon und multimediale Präsentationen. Hamburg: Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.

https://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/ (accessed 29.10.2019).      

Die Kanon.

https://diekanon.org

Conferences and Journals

Bali, Maha, Laura Czerniewicz, Catherine Cronin, and Tannis Morgan. 2018. Making international academic spaces international. ProfHacker. http://profhacker.com/2018/12/06/making-international-academic-spaces-international/ (accessed 13.12.2018)

7.2 Bibliography

How are diverse cultures integrated in the education of musicians across Europe?

Alberge, D. 2019. Postcode Lottery Denies Poor a-Level Students a Musical Career. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/26/poscode-lottery-denies-a-level-students-musical-career (accessed 25.06.2019).

Beer, AR. 2016. Sounds and sweet airs : the forgotten women of classical music. London, England: Oneworld Publications.

Brett, P, E Wood, and G C Thomas, eds. 1994. Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology. New York, London: Routledge.

Campbell, P S, and H Schippers. 2005. Cultural Diversity in Music Education: Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century. Australian Academic Press.

Gallagher, P. 2015. Exam board forced to include female composers on A-level music syllabus by teenager’s campaign. The Independent, 09.09., https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/exam.rs-on-a-level-music-syllabus-by-teenagers-campaign-10493285.html (accessed 24.05.2019).

Grotjahn, R, and S Vogt, eds. 2010. Musik Und Gender: Grundlagen – Methoden – Perspektiven. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag.

Hess, J. 2017. Equity and Music Education: Euphemisms, Terminal Naivety, and Whiteness. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 16 (3): 15-47, http://dx.doi.org/10.22176/act16.3.15.

Jeffreys, B. 2018. Creative Subjects Being Squeezed, Schools Tell Bbc. BBC News Family & Education, https://www.bbc.com/news/education-42862996 (accessed 25.06.2019).

Khomami, N. 2015. A-level music to include female composers after student’s campaign. The Guardian, 16.12., https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/dec/16/a-level-music-female-composers-students-campaign-jessy-mccabe-edexcel (accessed 24.05.2019).

Keightley, K. 2001. Reconsidering rock. In The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock, edited by Simon Frith, Will Straw, and John Street, 109-42. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

McClary, S. 2002 (1991). Feminine Endings: Music, Gender and Sexuality. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Savage, J, and D Barnard. 2019. The State of Play a Review of Music Education in England 2019. https://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Home/News/2019/Apr/New-MU-Research-Education (accessed 25.06.2019).

Whiteley, S, and J Rycenga, eds. 2006. Queering the Popular Pitch. New York, London: Routledge.

Whiteley, S, ed. 1997. Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender. London: Routledge.

Spotlight on: Identity

Cantle, T. (2016). The case for interculturalism, plural identities and cohesion. In Meer, N., Modood, T. & Zapata-Barrero, R. (eds.) Multiculturalism and interculturalism. Debating the dividing lines. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Folkestad, G. (2017). Post-National Identities in Music. Acting in a Global Intertextual Musical Arena. In MacDonald, R., Hargreaves, D.J. & Miell, D. (eds.) Handbook of musical identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 122-136.

Jenkins, R. (2008). Social identity. Abingdon: Routledge.

Westerlund, H., Partti, H. & Karlsen, S. (2017). Identity formation and agency in the diverse music classroom. In MacDonald, R., Hargreaves, D.J. & Miell, D. (eds.) Handbook of musical identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Spotlight on: Diversity

AEC (2018): The AEC reflection on a European Agenda for Music: a short report on the Annual Congress 2014

AEC Jazz&Pop Platform PJP (2018): Statement of Purpose, available on the AEC website

Benedikt, A. (2018) ‘Diversity & Diversity Management’, keynote at Kunstuniversitaet Graz/Austria, Translated from German by Stefan Heckel

Gardenswartz/Rowe Diversity Model: https://www.gardenswartzrowe.com/why-g-r

European Music Council (2018): European Agenda For Music, see www.europeanagendaformusic.eu

Spotlight on: Inclusiveness

A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education © UNESCO 2017

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002482/248254e.pdf

Bolger, M., 2018, ‘What’s the difference between Diversity, Inclusion and Equity?’(GA Blog) https://generalassemb.ly/blog/diversity-inclusion-equitydifferences-in-meaning/

European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2018. The European Higher Education Area in 2018: Bologna Process Implementation Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. © Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2018.

Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring Access to Education for All © UNESCO 2005

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/Guidelines_for_Inclusion_UNESCO_2006.pdf

Oxford Dictionary https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/inclusion

Universities’ Strategies and Approaches towards Diversity, Inclusion and Equity: Examples from across Europe © European University Association 2018

https://eua.eu/component/attachments/attachments.html?id=337

Spotlight on: Accessibility

Fernandez, D, S, and M. 2019. Using the USA2 Framework to Make Informed Instructional Technology Decisions. The Teaching Professor. https://www.teachingprofessor.com/topics/online-learning/using-the-usa2-framework-to-make-informed-instructional-technology-decisions/ (accessed 26.06.2019)

Case study: Engaging with Communities: Am Ende. Leben and MiMiC (Kunstuniversitaet Graz and University of Applied Sciences Groningen) by Stefan Heckel and Rineke Smilde, Professor for Lifelong Learning, Prins-Claus-Conservatory Groningen

European Commission: Study on Audience Development. How to place audiences at the centre of cultural organisations. Guide part II – Rules for Audience Development: Key recommendations. European Union 2017

Lifelong Learning in Music (www.lifelonglearninginmusic.org)

Case study: A musical and orchestral device with a social vocation putting diversity at the heart of its pedagogy: Démos by Baptiste Grandgirard

Laborde, D. (2016) “Démos : Make music together”, introduction to The orchestra to exist together ? Démos in the heart of the City, Demos investigation of the Institut de Recherche sur les Musiques du Monde.

Gilles Delebarre, in Le Monde, 30st June 2015

Case study: Dealing with (institutionalized) forms of power abuse by David-Emil Wickström

Bartsch, Matthias, Martin Knobbe, and Jan-Philipp Möller. 2019. #MeToo-Vorwürfe gegen Professoren in Hamburg und Düsseldorf – Seine Erwartungen – ‘reden, trinken, vögeln’. Spiegel Online, 26.04., https://www.spiegel.de/plus/metoo-vorwuerfe-gegen-professoren-in-hamburg-und-duesseldorf-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000163612070 (accessed 20.05.2019).

Gluckman, Nell. 2017. How One College Has Set Out to Fix ‘a Culture of Blatant Sexual Harassment’. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 29.11., https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-One-College-Has-Set-Out-to/241927/ (accessed 24.05.2019).

Josefson, Cecilia. 2016. Svart Pedagogik. Fokus, 27.05.–02.06.2016, 31-33.

Knobbe, Martin, and Jan-Philipp Möller. 2018. Sex Im Präsidentenbüro – Skandal an Der Musikhochschule München. Spiegel Online, 11.05., http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/sex-skandal-an-der-musikhochschule-muenchen-a-1207253.html (accessed 11.07.2018).

Lazar, Kay. 2017. Berklee let teachers quietly leave after alleged sex abuse, and pushed students for silence. The Boston Globe, 08.11., https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/11/08/berklee-college-lets-teachers-quietly-leave-after-alleged-sexual-abuse-students-least-one-found-another-teaching-job/yfCkCCmdJzxkiEgrQK4cWM/story.html (accessed 24.05.2019).

Payne, Christine, Deborah Annetts, and Naomi Pohl. 2018. Dignity in Study: A Survey of Higher Education Institutions. Incorporated Society of Musicians. https://www.ism.org/images/images/Equity-ISM-MU-Dignity-in-Study-report.pdf (accessed 25.07.2018).

Case study: ’Contextualized Admissions’: in pursuit of diversity and the widening of participation at Scotland’s national conservatoire (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) by Joshua Dickson

Duesenberry, P & J Miller (2007) ‘Where are they now? The first graduates of the BA Scottish Music’, paper delivered at HEA Palatine True North: Teaching the Music of the Highlands and Islands in Higher Education conference, 2007 (https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/where-are-they-now-first-graduates-ba-scottish-music-degree)

Transitions: Widening Participation in Higher Education at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (https://www.rcs.ac.uk/about_us/transitions-2040) Widening Access to the Creative Industries, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (https://www.rcs.ac.uk/about_us/widening-access-creative-industries)

B. Institutional policies. The inclusion of faculty and staff with disabilities

Howe, B., S. Jensen-Moulton, N. Lerner & J. Straus, eds. 2016. "Introduction: Disability Studies in Music, Music in Disability Studies". In The Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies. Oxford - New York: Oxford University Press, 1-11.

Case study: Musicians with disabilities teaching on the music pedagogy course at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki by Katja Thomson

Laes, T. & Westerlund, H. (2017). Performing disability in music teacher education: Moving beyond inclusion through expanded professionalism. International Journal of Music Education. Vol 36, Issue 1, pp. 34 – 46.

Case study: Reflections on a performance program for folk and art music from ‘other’ cultures at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) by Susanne Rosenberg

Ahlbäck, S. (2009). Folkmusikinstitutionen - hur blev det på detta viset? En personlig tillbakablick på 30 år av folkmusikutbildning. In S. Ahlbäck, P. Berndalen, J. Hjalmarsson, B. Marsden, O. Misgeld, S. Rosenberg, & P. Willman (Eds.), 1976-2006, 30 år med folkmusik på KMH. Stockholm: KMH förlag.

Ahlbäck, S., Berndalen, P., Hjalmarsson, J., Marsden, B., Misgeld, O., Rosenberg, S., & Willman, P. (2009). 1976-2006, 30 år med folkmusik på KMH. Stockholm: KMH förlag.

Frisell, E. (2009). En utbildning för folkmusik från andra kulturer. In S. Ahlbäck, P. Berndalen, J. Hjalmarsson, B. Marsden, O. Misgeld, S. Rosenberg, & P. Willman (Eds.), 1976-2006, 30 år med folkmusik på KMH. Stockholm: KMH förlag.

Rosenberg, S. (2009). With the voice, the tradition and the mp3-player, About educating folk singers at university level. In S. Ahlbäck, P. Berndalen, J. Hjalmarsson, B. Marsden, O. Misgeld, S. Rosenberg, & P. Willman (Eds.), 1976-2006, 30 år med folkmusik på KMH. Stockholm: KMH

Case study: CoLab (Trinity Laban Conservatoire London) by Joe Townsend

Bey, Hakim. T.A.Z: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism. 2nd rev. ed. New York: Autonomedia, 2003.

“CoLab | Trinity Laban.” Accessed September 12, 2017. https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/creative-innovation/colab.

Foucault, Michel. “Of Other Spaces, Heterotopias.” Architecture, Mouvement, Continuité 5 (1984): 46–49.

Perkins, Rosie. “Hierarchies and Learning in the Conservatoire: Exploring What Students Learn through the Lens of Bourdieu.” Research Studies in Music Education 35, no. 2 (December 1, 2013): 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X13508060.

Case study: Creating bridges between world music and popular music (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg) by David-Emil Wickström

Gerischer, C. 2012. Chancen transkultureller Musikvermittlung in sozialpädagogischen Kontexten. In Transkulturalität und Musikvermittlung – Möglichkeiten und Herausforderungen in Forschung, Kulturpolitik und musikpädagogischer Praxis, edited by Susanne Binas-Preisendörfer, and Melanie Unseld, 243-62. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang.

Wickström, D-E. 2018. Die Musiken der Welt in Mannheim? Cultural flow und die künstlerische Ausbildung in Weltmusik. In Transkulturelle Erkundungen – Wissenschaftlich-künstlerische Perspektiven, edited by Ursula Hemetek et al., 113-28. Wien, Köln, Weimar: Böhlau Verlag.

Beyond the classical mindset: The challenge of incorporating diverse musical cultures in Higher Music Education by Stefan Gies

Angelo, Elin, Øivind Varkøy, Eva Georgii-Hemming (2019) Notions of Mandate, Knowledge and Research in Norwegian Classical Music Performance Studies. In: Journal for Reserach in Arts and Sports Education 3(1), pp. 78–100.

Calvert, Isaac W. (2014). Investigating the One-on-One Master-Apprentice Relationship: A Case Study in Traditional Craft Apprenticeship. Brigham Young University – Provo. Retrived from http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd7197 12.08.2021.

Coy, Michael W. (1989). Apprenticeship: From theory to method and back again. Albany, NY: SunyPress.

Ehrenforth, Karl Heinrich (2005). Geschichte der musikalischen Bildung: eine Kultur-, Sozial- und Ideengeschichte in 40 Stationen; von den antiken Hochkulturen bis zur Gegenwart. Mainz: Schott.

Gaunt, Helena (2010). One-to-one tuition in a conservatoire: the perceptions of instrumental and vocal students. Psychology of Music, 38(2), pp. 178–208.

Georgii-Hemming, Eva / Angelo, Elin / Gies, Stefan / Johansson, Karin / Rolle, Christian Rolle / Varkøy, Øivind (2016). Artist or researcher? Tradition or innovation? Challenges for performing musician and arts education in Europe. In: Nordic Research in Music Education.Yearbook 17, pp. 279-292 https://nmh.brage.unit.no/nmh-xmlui/handle/11250/2474217 13.08.2021

Gies, Stefan (2019) How music performance education became academic: On the history of music higher education in Europe. In: Stefan Gies & Jon Helge Sætre (Eds.) Student involvement and teacher collaboration in higher music education Oslo: NMH Publications, pp. 31-51

Ignatow, Gabriel (2007). Theories of Embodied Knowledge: New Directions for Cultural and Cognitive Sociology? Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 37(2), pp. 115–135.

Jørgensen, Harald (2000). Student learning in higher instrumental education: Who is responsible? In: British Journal of Music Education, 17(1), 67-77.

Lave, Jean & Wenger, Etienne (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Myers, Helen (1992). Study of Ethnomusicology: An Introduction. London: Macmillan Press

Nerland, Monika (2007). One-to-one teaching as cultural practice: Two case studies from an academy of music. Music Education Research, 9(3), pp. 399–416.

Schippers, Huib (2010). Facing the Music. Shaping Music Education from a Global Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Sowa, Georg (1973). Anfänge institutioneller Musikerziehung in Deutschland (1800-1945). Regensburg: Gustav Bosse Verlag.

Wasserloos, Yvonne (2004). Das Leipziger Konservatorium der Musik im 19. Jahrhundert: Anziehungs- und Ausstrahlungskraft eines musikpädagogischen Modells auf das internationale Musikleben. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.

Weber, William et alt (2001) Conservatories in: Grove Music. Published online by Oxford University Press https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000041225?rskey=1c4Drl&result=8#omo-9781561592630-e-0000041225-div1-0000041225.3

Weber, William (2008). The great transformation of musical taste: concert programming from Haydn to Brahms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

8. Contact

Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC)

Avenue des Celtes / Keltenlaan 20

1040 Etterbeek, Brussels

Belgium

Tel: +32 27371670

Fax: +32 27371679

General contact: info@aec-music.eu

Alfonso Guerra, DWG Coordinator: alfonsoguerra@aec-music.eu

AEC website: https://aec-music.eu/

SMS publications website: https://sms.aec-music.eu/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/

Layout & Graphic Design © María Fornieles, 2021

This project is funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects only the views of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which might be made of the information contained herein.

Notas

[←1]

European Commission: Study on Audience Development. How to place audiences at the centre of cultural organisations. Guide part II – Rules for Audience Development: Key recommendations. European Union 2017

[←2]

Gilles Delebarre, in Le Monde, 30st June 2015

[←3]

The LAM-UCE programme is one of the four case studies for my PhD research on Higher Popular Music Education methodologies through the lens of decoloniality.

[←4]

http://www.magna-charta.org/resources/files/BOLOGNA_DECLARATION.pdf (accessed 13.08.2021)

[←5]

https://sms.aec-music.eu/diversity-identity-inclusiveness/decentering-curricula-questions-for-re-evaluating-diversity-and-inclusiveness-in-hmeis/ (accessed 13.08.2021)