Pathways to artistic development - Scandinavian seminar on Artistic Research-based education

Chair of the Think tank for AR-based music education and deputy director of CEMPE, Ingfrid Breie Nyhus, opened the seminar by posing a few open questions for the participants to consider over the three days. How can higher music education facilitate investigative processes and critical reflection? What does exploration imply in the context of different musical traditions? How can individual teachers encourage experimentation, questioning and critical reflection, and are the institutions supporting AR-based study?

Amund Sjølie Sveen from the Tromsø Conservatoire continued by stressing the importance of continual critical reflection in higher music education.

– Why does Tromsø or Oslo need a music conservatoire? What should they teach and why? The answers to these questions must be identified and formulated, and they must be reformulated every single day by the institution, by the teachers and by the students. This is where artistic research comes in, said the musician and stage artist, who is also one of the directors of the New North Academy.

The New North Academy is part of a broader AR-based project at the Tromsø Conservatoire, Art VAPO – True North, funded by the Norwegian Programme for Artistic Research.

The two-day seminar comprised a packed programme which explored projects, practices and reflections from different Scandinavian music institutions. Anne Gry Haugland, associate professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen (DKDM), presented her take on artistic research using two different approaches: creating pathways and building bridges.

The process began in 2006 with the introduction of a reflective assignment at master level. The assignment was a first step towards implementing critical reflection as a component of artistic practice on the study programme, Haugland explained.

– It was important that the assignment was not merely an administrative exercise but that it would be meaningful to the students in an artistic context. The assignment does not have to be in writing; text can be combined with video and audio recordings. We ask the students to be inquisitive, we encourage interdisciplinarity, and we strongly emphasise the relevance of the chosen topic to the individual student.

The reflective assignment became a kind of pathfinding exercise where the students themselves had to carve out a pathway in the landscape. This was challenging at times, Haugland says.

– We were left with a number of isolated projects based on the students’ individual practices but where there were no mutual benefits to be had over the course of the project period.

The academy therefore began building bridges between the students while they were working on their assignments. Seminars and workshops were held across different instrument groups, and the reflective assignments were tied in with the teacher’s own research with a view to creating genuine partnerships.

– I’m very much in favour of a binary strategy where we both forge pathways and build bridges – where we let things merge through practice while also building structures to underpin the work and, not least, to let us begin to notice each other’s work. I see that last point as both the greatest potential and the greatest challenge, Haugland concluded.

Collaboration via Zoom, AR tailored for each individual student and artistic knowledge cultures in higher music education were among the topics presented over the course of the seminar. Speaking from their respective virtual windows, the participants also presented examples of experimental methods of interpretation. Helene Gjerris from the Royal Danish Academy of Music talked about musical text interpretation, Tanja Orning at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) spoke of her experiences when rehearsing Mauricio Kagel’s Ludwig van, while classical guitarist and senior lecturer Georg Gulyás from the Ingesund School of Music gave a presentation of how he uses literary texts as a tool for artistic interpretation.

Gulyás’s project from 2017–19, conducted in partnership with literary theorist and librarian at the Ingesund School of Music Karin Engström, explores musical interpretation focusing on the classical guitar repertoire. The aim of the project was to develop methodologies for using literary texts to immerse yourself in musical interpretation in higher music education.

Musical works – and subsequently their associated texts – were selected on the basis of four factors: fidelity to the source, attitude to the time when the work was created, relation to today’s audience, and fidelity to own artistic choices. To explore the fourth factor a poetry workshop was held to help the participants write their own texts.

– Some of the participants were already writing poems, but one had no experience whatsoever. I therefore used Kenneth Koch’s method for creative writing. It’s made for children, but that’s fine as we’re all children at heart, Gulyás said.

The project involved rehearsal periods, group workshops and finally a concert. The purpose was to “take a conscious approach to the interpretation process and verbalise a process that is often described as tacit knowledge,” according to Gulyás, who quoted one of the participating students:

– The four factors are a mindset that I can continue to return to. For every such long process, the next one becomes shorter, and when you are learning a piece you have the tools, techniques and tricks.

Discussions followed the themed presentations. Questions around resources, the inclusion of principal instrument teachers in AR-based tuition and the adoption of an AR mindset at an early stage were highlighted. The seminar concluded with a big panel debate on AR in higher music education.

Breie Nyhus chaired the debate with Principal Peter Tornquist from the NMH, Pro Vice-Chancellor Johannes Landgren from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Vice Principal Søren Kjærgaard from the Rhythmic Music Conservatoire in Copenhagen, Associate Professor Tone Åse from the NTNU Department of Music, Associate Professor Anne Gry Haugland from the DKDM in Copenhagen, and former NMH student Guoste Tamulynaite.

– What are the key components linking music education and AR? And what are the challenges? inquired Breie Nyhus.

– It’s a lot to do with building bridges between artistic research mentality and artistic excellence mentality, Tornquist contended.

– It's about encouraging inquisitive, explorative mindsets through AR, about understanding the student as an investigative artist, not merely a performing artist.

Landgren from the KMH in Stockholm stressed the importance of seeing the students.

– I think we have to be mindful of seeing things from the students’ perspective. Should they apply for auditions with a symphony orchestra, go freelance or join academia? I think we would do well to collaborate across organisations.

Åse from the NTNU said it was important for staff to engage in AR themselves and for them to apply their AR experience in their teaching.

– Perhaps we are not giving staff sufficient time to drive themselves forward; that could be a problem. Or that staff are unable to see how their artistic processes can be transferred to their teaching, Åse said.

Tamulynaite, who recently completed nine years of study at the NMH, spoke of her own experiences when she pointed to two key aspects of AR: cross-exposure and teachers who encourage their students to develop their aesthetic sense.

– There’s an unfortunate tendency whereby students expect to be told what to do. As a bachelor student, it sometimes feels like you’re not being held accountable. Only when I was doing my master’s was I asked why I do music. Students could be challenged earlier, Tamulynaite said.

– Reflection is a recurring word and one that we interpret differently. When students are asked to create a reference list to go with their work, what should it include? asked Breie Nyhus, adding that the reflective process also involves linguistic challenges as there are students who do not have Scandinavian or English as their first language.

– Reflection is not something you do at the end of the project; it happens all the time. The reflection begins almost before we start a new semester or project. As for language, we do some things in Danish and some in English. We try to tell the students that they can develop their own language to describe their work, said Kjærgaard.

His RMC colleague Jacob Anderskov added in conclusion:

– The key is to have an open and impulsive view of what it means to be reflective.