The Centre for Excellence in Music Performance Education (CEMPE) started out with the overarching aim of increasing the quality and relevance of music performance education. Our vision has been to promote excellence in higher music education through student involvement, collaboration, diversity and curious exploration.

In 2013, the Norwegian Academy of Music applied to become a Centre for Excellence in Education. What were the challenges described back then? Norwegian higher music education is rooted in a century long European conservatoire tradition, where the key learning context is the main instrument tuition based on the master apprenticeship model. While this model has proven its effectiveness throughout the years, it also holds potential for development. As outlined in the initial centre application, many instrumental teachers had little collaboration and interaction with colleagues, resulting in a somewhat privatised teaching practice and experiences of loneliness for both students and teachers. The project application also described a lack in knowledge regarding what constitute effective instrumental and vocal practice. Another challenge for higher music education was described as a more competitive and globalized work market, with more music graduates competing for a decreasing number of jobs. Thus, higher music education needed to prepare music students for establishing portfolio careers and create projects and work for themselves to a much larger extent than previously.

Out of three work packages in CEMPE’s first period, one was centred on developing group learning opportunities combined with individual lessons in main instrument tuition. A second work package focused on instrumental practice, an activity which music students spend several hours a day on, in solitude or in ensembles. The third work package focused on musicians in society, where several entrepreneurial projects aimed towards preparing students for «proactive action in a diverse and rapidly changing globalised music community» (from the centre application plan) were realised.

The challenges to higher music education described in the 2013 centre application, has only increased its relevance during the last ten years, while new ones have been added. The apprenticeship-model was further challenged by the #Metoo movement that started in 2016, where debates and discussions around power asymmetry and even abuse in the teacher-student relationship was problematized. Moreover, higher music education institutions now need to legitimize the role of music and musicians in society in other ways than what was previously needed, due to changes in the economical and geo-political situation. Additionally, we have seen alarming numbers for young people’s health and well-being, and how music students and musicians are more at risk than the general population. These changes have led to development in CEMPE’s focus areas, such as making musician’s health a separate focus area in the second centre period.

CEMPE's aims and ways of working

Through instigating projects ourselves, funding projects led by staff or students, bringing people together by arranging seminars, conferences and talks and disseminating knowledge on various platforms, we have strived to make the learning culture of higher music performance education more collaborative, more open, less competitive, more sustainable, more caring and more explorative. And last, but not least, making the education more student-centred, by creating more spaces for students’ agency and by providing teachers with experiences on the benefits of it. Towards the end of the centre period, it has also been increasingly important to integrate and coordinate CEMPE’s initiatives and projects with NMH’s overall activities to ensure sustainability after CEMPE’s period ends, and to build available and sustainable knowledge-sharing arenas. Having status as a Centre for Excellence in Education has provided us with the opportunity to act as a catalyst for change in higher music education, and we hope this has increased the educational quality and relevance of higher music education on a local, national and European level.

In the last years, CEMPE has prioritised documentation and dissemination to ensure that knowledge and experiences from the ten years will be accessible to inspire further developments in higher music education. We want to highlight five achievements, which together with this final report is central to CEMPE's dissemination.

1. PRAXIS. A resource website for students and teachers in higher music education. On this website we have gathered important output from CEMPE’s projects, conferences and publications, in an accessible format.
   
2. Konservatoriumspodden. A podcast including ten episodes, hosted by Veronica Ski-Berg and Tanja Orning, where they address nominal topics in higher music education through guest interviews and informed discussions.
3. SKUBA – an online video resource bank on artistic research and artistic research-based education for students and teachers.
4. Webinar series – Three webinars on the topics of Artistic Research-Based Education, Tomorrow’s Musicians, and Performance Learning and Teaching where we present various projects within each area followed by a panel discussion.
5. CEMPE Magazine 2023 – A magazine with interviews, project results, articles and essays that portray CEMPE’s work and activities.