Tanja Orning: The main focus is still the same - what kind of gap exists between studies and "life in the real world"? My approach to the subject has changed somewhat as I’ve gained experience, from among other things teaching here at NAM, the European project Renew, and reading existing research. My initial idea was to interview musicians who’ve succeeded, to look at the qualities and skills they have that aren’t taught. In the process, it’s become apparent that we mustn’t forget that we are an artistic education. We have to think about the kind of role we have as artists in society today. How we can develop a greater consciousness, a common language and tools to discover our own identity? These questions have interested me more and more.
Ingfrid Breie Nyhus: You mention Renew, "Reflective Entrepreneurial Music Education Worldclass", which was an international project from 2016 to 2018 under the auspices of AEC (Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen, the organisation for European music education institutions), to discuss the teaching of entrepreneurship in musician education. You were there as one of NAM’s delegates. How did you experience the discussion of entrepreneurship with delegates from other countries? We of course have different focus areas around Europe, by virtue of the kind of music education traditions we have, but also by the fact that the professional lives of musicians work differently.
TO: Cultural policies and budgets look very different in the various European countries. In Norway, we’ve been spared the drastic cuts in funding that other countries have experienced, and are better off when it comes to governmental funding programmes for the arts. In the UK, for example, entrepreneurial attitudes have consequently forced their way forward, in the sense that economic models are coupled with artistic models.
IBN: Is that how you understand the word entrepreneurial, that it's about economic models? How can we understand the word entrepreneurship? Many react to it when used in conjunction with musicianship, and feel that the word doesn’t fit.
TO: Entrepreneurship is a word that has quickly become established internationally in higher education. The action plan issued by the Norwegian Parliament entitled "Entrepreneurship in Education and Training" phrases it as "the ability to see the opportunities and make them work". We can therefore view it as a broad concept, but it has associations to a neoliberal mindset that deals with products, goods, and services, and that doesn’t translate well to the field of art. In my opinion, we’ve accepted this term uncritically. I think there are alternative concepts that are more appropriate to our discourse. I propose artistry. Being an artist has always been about creating a livelihood through developing and practicing one’s art. Part of the entrepreneurial mindset is thus already inherent in the roles and practices of the artist.
IBN: We can understand it as "seeing opportunities" out in the music industry and community, and understanding how to exploit them. But in line with what you’re saying here, couldn’t we also say that it’s about seeing opportunities in ourselves, as human beings? On the one hand, there are student musicians who plan to work in a commercial context, and on the other hand, there are those who want to be artists with a critical view of society. There is, of course, a wide range of possibilities between these two polarities. How can higher music education offer instruction in “seeing and exploiting possibilities”, for such a wide range of attitudes?
TO: "One size fits all" doesn’t work, that’s clear. All educational paths are individual. Perhaps the goal should be to tailor the course of study even more, but this is also an institutional challenge. At NAM we have FRIKA (Bachelor of Music with Individual Specialisation), where the entire content is tailored to the individual student. Otherwise, it’s not possible to include, say, composition in a performance degree at this academy - there’s no room in the performance study programme for it. But anyway, teaching about life after school should be flexible and expose students to many different working-musician models. Individual customisation should be created by providing students with assignments that are based on their own musical focus. When their tasks are associated with what they themselves are passionate about, it will be relevant.
IBN: "Industry, Profession and Identity" is a new compulsory subject that has developed at NAM, and for which you’ve been responsible for a couple of years now. How is the course designed?
TO: This course goes over one semester, only five credits, for fourth-year students. Toward the end of the semester, they do a project that has a distinct artistic idea. The project should preferably be out in the real world, that is, outside the school. We emphasise project development and presentation, where students are challenged to think a little outside the box, to dare to think artistically and experimentally. It's a kind of laboratory, where we can try things out. While working on the project, students meet visiting artists who talk about perspectives from the music scene. Among others, there are musicians who finished studying a few years ago, with whom the students can identify. They talk about which qualities they themselves have experienced as being important in order to get by – then the students are really on the edges of their chairs! We also invite speakers who discuss identity, cultural life, application agencies, etc. Everyone studying here has a passion; the important thing is to be able to develop artistic ideas from that passion, then manage to relate those ideas to something even bigger. A term that I thought about the other day was "Creative Performer" – we need to get more creation into performance. It’s fine to be performers of works, interpreting works, but we still need to have a creative attitude toward what we do. Classical music is in crisis with sinking attention from the media, the closure of orchestras, etc., and we’ll have to make it relevant in one way or another – hopefully in several ways. How can we challenge our thoughts about performance practice during the course of an education? What do you think?
IBN: After being a freelancer for a number of years, I felt that some of the gaps from my education were a lack of aesthetics, philosophy, history of ideas, literature; thinking that can be linked to what we’re doing as performers and that can help us to see what we do in a larger context. So, I have faith in building up students’ philosophical and critical foundations. But I think it’s essential that this teaching be closely linked to one’s own practice, and that it’s about creating connecting lines.
TO: Yes, I think it's important that we have terminology and concepts that make it possible for us to say something about what we do. Critical thinking is a basis for all professions. Maybe students should have had a mini ex phil at NAM...? It’s inevitable that in the future, we’ll have to relate to society to an even greater extent, and be able to express ourselves. We see that the conservative political view is moving toward a more neo-liberal view of music - how music can be used. In terms of an expanded view of work experience, what I call artistry, portfolio models can be suitable tools for a more holistic education. This means that everything the student does within and outside the institution is aggregated and documented in a folder that is subject to evaluation and reflection. In England, you often have a tutor who is not your teacher, but who follows you throughout your course of study. The tutor sees the individual and the whole, follows up the portfolio, and asks important questions.
IBN: In CEMPE’s Core Portfolio Project, we are testing out something similar. Students have meetings with a supervisor who is someone else than the main instrument teacher, for portfolio work and to build awareness of artistic identity.
TO: This kind of supervisor role can involve summarising, seeing the entire context the student works in, and asking good questions. Maybe it’s necessary to develop a training programme and a methodology for the supervisor role. It’s a big responsibility, but I think it can be good to have such a person, someone who’s not the main instrument teacher. There’s often a strong loyalty to the main instrument teacher, which, among other things, Ingrid Maria Hanken shows in her research. She shows that this enormous loyalty can hinder critical thinking.
IBN: You also use the postdoctoral period to investigate more about the musician as curator?
TO: I think curator is an interesting term. Curare means to take care of or watch out for. In music, we used to call this “programming”, while now we speak about curating. This is carried out on many different levels, from individual musicians who curate their own concerts, to chamber ensembles, concert series, festivals, orchestras, etc. I’ll look at someone who really do manage to think of music and context in new ways, including some of the major classical festivals such as The Proms and the Holland Festival. I’ll also look at some musician curators. The contemporary music field is also natural to include here, since it’s more closely related to the art field in the way that it examines and explores things through music. From there, I’ll try to say something about the musician as curator. It goes hand in hand with what we've been talking about, how to develop an artistic project. How do you develop what you are passionate about, in a way that it can mean something more in contemporary society?