So far, it is evident that both teachers and students found the experiments to be positive in a number of areas. However, as we analyzed the interviews, there was one area that was challenging, and that was about power, positions and responsibilities. We asked both teachers and students about who was leading the sessions, which was without doubt the teachers. However, they wanted the students to be involved and participate, but this was clearly not easy to achieve. An Australian student put it this way:

«From my perspective as a student to say, 'Okay, I'll be on this equal footing' or for the teachers to step down is incredibly difficult.»
(Australian student) )

One of the Australian teachers expressed that he may have had an intimidating effect on students' willingness to explore and ask questions. He goes on to say:

«I think that they were very keen to keep me pleased or do what I asked. But beyond that, they really were reluctant to question and to come up with their own ideas or to be seen in any way to be putting themselves on the level of the teacher.»
(Australian teacher)

It seems that this teacher wanted students to participate, but that something about the setting made it difficult. This particular group consisted of four young female bachelor students, so it may be that both age and gender differences played a part as well. One of the Norwegian teachers reports a similar situation:

«The students were largely recipients - they were a bit shy, a bit reserved. It was natural for me to take the initiative, ask questions and stop addressing things. It was like that for the first two or three rehearsals, but towards the end of the process they started to open up.»
(Norwegian teacher)

We understand this to be an indication of traditional or widespread power relations in higher music education, where the teacher represents a professional authority that instills respect and humility in the students. Several studies have revealed that such power relations can be unfortunate (see, for example, Anna Bull's book Class, Control and Classical Music). What is particularly interesting in our study is that we see a hint of a passive student role even when teachers actively encourage participation in a collaborative form of teaching. This probably means that such unequal power relations exist and that we need to be more proactive if we want to change them.