CEMPE aimed to develop knowledge about how to better stimulate students’ artistic development as well as increase the quality and awareness of artistic research-based education to prepare students for playing an active role in the global music community and labour market of the future.

-> Watch EXCEMPEL Webinar on artistic research-based music education

-> Hear the episode on Artistic reseach from Konservatoriumspodden (in Norwegian)

Historically, music performance studies have centred around qualifying orchestra musicians for permanent orchestra jobs. However, most music graduates today will enter a more manifold work market, which calls for a need to develop reflective and critical skills through the studies and support students in developing a robust and individual artistic identity.

Although enabling students to develop their independent, artistic voice was key in the activity plans of CEMPE in the first period as well, we saw the potential to lift it out as a separate focus area for the second period, building on the general experiences and discussions from the first years. We also saw a need to develop the understanding and knowledge of what artistic research-based education can imply for an art performance institution like NMH.

From result to process

The master programme was re-structured in CEMPE’s first period, and many of the course modules went through changes. The Master Forum Course is one course that underwent large changes. From being traditional master classes focused on results, the fora changed towards focusing on process, on supporting and fostering students’ artistic projects and ideas, and encourage students to explore new performance concepts of relevance to society and the music industry. This new way of working is now well implemented into the course. Also elective courses in artistic research have been developed at NMH at the master and bachelor level, led by CEMPE.

Interestingly, as the NMH’s Master Forum form was developing, similar courses and initiatives were growing simultanously at the other HMEs in Norway, such as a mandatory artistic-research-based course for master students at NTNU in Trondheim. This development were often driven by teachers who had their background in artistic research, and used their experiences from artistic research to enhance and modernize music studies. Thus, there was a tendency to a growth of an artistic-research-based music education – but without yet any explicit discourse around this as a concept.

A think tank on artistic research-based education

CEMPE initiated the formation of a Scandinavian think tank for artistic-research-based music education. Thus, CEMPE was the first driving force to pinpoint this concept and create a collective forum to develop this further collaboratively. Members of the think tank learned from one another, exchanging curriculum ideas and experiences from their individual master program development processes. They also held numerous discussions on how to incorporate this approach on the bachelor level in a beneficial way.

The think tank made a digital video resource bank, SKUBA, with contributors from artistic research in all of Scandinavia, activating researchers to contribute to student contexts. They made short and accessible videos on important topics and methods in artistic research, and this is one of several ways CEMPE impacted on the connection between studies and artistic research.

-> Read more about artistic research-based music education

-> Explore SKUBA

Portfolio work as artistic research

CEMPE initiated a project called the Core Portfolio project in the second period, to explore opportunities for enhancing students' artistic learning processes. In this project, NMH students were encouraged to delve into and reflect on their artistic values, motivations, interests, and visions. They did this through the creation of a portfolio, all while receiving artistic mentorship. A significant number of students benefited from additional artistic supervision throughout the project, and they reported substantial learning outcomes. Particularly among classical students, engaging in close dialogue with a mentor who was not their main instrument teacher was deemed crucial.

The project incorporated a Mentorship course, accessible to all NMH staff members. This course provided a platform where teachers could practice and discuss various mentoring tools, such as active listening and creative tasks. These tasks were designed to aid students in exploring their artistic identities during mentor sessions. The aspiration was for staff participants to integrate these tools into their future teaching, thereby inspiring peers to investigate similar methodologies. Furthermore, the project leaders maintained a continuous dialogue with NMH adminstrative staff to ensure that the insights gained could be utilized in the planning of new structures and curriculum development.

Artistic research was addressed to the larger community for a two-day Scandinavian seminar on artistic research-based music education in 2020 – an important step in this development process. Today, artistic research-based education (KU-basert) has become a term that most staff in the HMEIs have become familiar with. One can also hear performance teachers use the term to describe a teaching approach that is more reflective and student-centered. CEMPE has played a crucial role in spotlighting the topic of artistic research-based education. As the discourse of artistic research-based education is expanding in a European context, CEMPE staff have shared our experiences and contributed further to the development within AEC networks and seminars with international sister institutions.

CEMPE has supported several projects on topics such as artistic identity or artistic diversity at other Norwegian and Scandinavian institution, as EKIP at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen is an example of. Through the efforts and initaitives described above, together with seminars and collaborations with external partners, CEMPE has had a broad impact on this topic by contributing to collective thinking and discussion, involving students, staff, researchers, and the professional environment, on an institutional, national, and international level. There is no one best solution, but rather a possibility for larger diversity between national and international HMEIs, that can suit the range of different individual potentialities and goals – needed for a diverse music and arts society.