The main focus of a Higher Music Education programme is to develop a student’s artistic and technical skills to a high, professional standard. A music programme therefore has a strong emphasis on individual artistic development. Due to three factors, Higher Music Education Institutions are in the process of revising and changing their curricula. 

 

Firstly, historically, music education in Europe centred around classical music, and conservatoires were educating instrumentalists and singers, church musicians, composers and conductors. Since then, HME has seen a substantial change as the musical landscape has expanded, and music programmes now can include various genres and specialisations, e.g. jazz, pop music, world music, electronic music, electro-acoustic music, composition for screen, sound production, etc. With multiple genres and specialisations in one place, students and teachers influence each other and as a result students often seek to combine disciplines and/or instruments which are traditionally separated, to create space for crossovers. In response to this need, HME will have to broaden their scope when it comes to studying one principal instrument or one traditional specialisation only. 

 

Secondly, the professional practice is continuously changing, and as mentioned above, the scope of music education today is broader and it also prepares for a professional career that to a larger extent is based on and dependent on a freelance market. The current professional practice has multiple faces, and artists often have a portfolio career that requires regular switching between different roles, skills and responsibilities. Such a portfolio career is often not limited to performing music only and can include organising and promoting concerts/festivals/competitions, arranging/composing/writing/publishing/recording music, writing articles for specialised journals, newspapers, websites, and developing videos and other materials for teaching and performance. Crossovers and interdisciplinary projects have become more prevalent. Changes in the professional practice have also reached professional orchestras. Orchestras nowadays perform a broader range of repertoire (including crossovers with other artists) to reach varied audiences, and often have their own educational programmes and activities, with outreach projects for the local communities. 

 

Thirdly, due to recent and continuous technological developments, musicians have different and new ways of recording and disseminating music and reaching and connecting to audiences and communities these days. As most musicians are freelancers, they can decide for themselves how to access the market, approach and stay in touch with audiences in various ways, for example via social media. Additionally, technology is more and more used in performance as well as in music education. This requires strategies and tools which have to be considered in a HME curriculum. 

 

These three factors appeal to musicians’ self-reliance and illustrate a shift in possible career paths. Because of this change in the traditional professional music practice, HMEIs have to constantly innovate and modernise their programmes. The modularisation of programmes which has been one of the core elements of the Bologna process, has significantly contributed to make curricula become more dynamic and thus to make subjects become more adaptable to individual needs. This change is accompanied by another development, as future ideas and policies for Higher Education include a stronger focus on student-centred learning and student-centeredness. In a student-centred learning environment, students are placed at the centre of the activities and the student voice is acknowledged as not only important but central to learning and teaching. For further information on student-centred learning in HME, see the following article by Monika Nerland: Beyond policy: Conceptualising student-centred learning environments in higher (music) education - Monika Nerland, University of Oslo, Department of Education. Published in S. Gies and J.H. Sætre, eds, Becoming musicians: Student involvement and teacher collaboration in higher music education. NMH-publikasjoner 2019:7. Oslo: Norges musikkhøgskole. Available online at https://nmh.brage.unit.no/nmh-xmlui/handle/11250/2642235 

 

Curricula today have a stronger focus on professional or career skills, like entrepreneurial skills and business skills, to create awareness of various career paths and encourage an entrepreneurial mindset. Additionally, this shift could be seen as a starting point to investigate and reflect on the role of musicians in contemporary society. Besides professional ensembles actively reaching out to local communities, another example of how the role of the musician in society might be changing is the use of music in public health settings, such as concerts and tailored music sessions in hospital wards and making music with and for people who have dementia. Because of these types of developments, a modern music education approach includes fostering social awareness, engagement and reflection, to equip students to play meaningful social roles. 

 

Besides a large emphasis on individual artistic development, and a renewed attention to professional, career and entrepreneurial skills, a typical HME curriculum offers subjects in the areas of music theory, musicianship skills, academic skills, music history and contexts, ensembles, improvisation, pedagogical skills. In terms of assessment, the following types of assessment are generally used: formative, summative, authentic, and sustainable assessment. Due to the many individual lessons, students receive high-quality feedback from their teachers, creating regular formative assessments as part of the teaching method. Summative assessments are used to check if the required learning objectives of subjects have been met. Authentic assessments are becoming more commonplace as they are suitable for the preparation for the professional practice. These assessments include internships with professional partners, like playing in a professional orchestra, or doing a teaching internship in an educational setting. Authentic assessments can also involve organising concerts and performing solo repertoire, chamber music or playing in a big band at external venues. Besides using authentic assessments that imitate the professional practice, it is also important for students to learn how to assess themselves through sustainable assessments, as once they have graduated, they can no longer rely on regular feedback from their teachers. Sustainable assessments are aimed at sustainable, lifelong learning and involve peer assessment and self-assessment to become competent learners and operate effectively after graduation. 

 

In order to reach the necessary professional standard of performing, one-to-one tuition in the main artistic subject is still the core element of most curricula in HME. While this type of learning-and-teaching setting allows for individualised support, it may create a dependency on the teacher, and the individual educational experience of students may rely heavily on this teacher. However, this teaching model has been challenged in recent years, as teachers are taking a mentoring or coaching approach and a gradual shift is emerging as institutions focus increasingly on team teaching, peer learning, small group teaching and student-centred learning. The three case studies below illustrate this shift.