Artikeln utgör ett bidrag till studier i högre utbildning som verksamhet i relation till utbildning, forskning och samverkan och kulturskoleperspektiv. Studien utgår ifrån den statliga satsningen Kulturskoleklivet som implementerades 2018 och intresserar sig för det utvecklingsarbete som bedrevs av sex lärosäten åren 2018–2021 i syfte att stärka kompetensförsörjningen i landets kulturskolor. Genom analys av minnesanteckningar, presentationer, rapporter och korrespondens som genererats under de första tre åren av satsningen exemplifieras och problematiseras ett utvecklingsarbete i samverkan mellan högskola och aktörer i kulturskolans sammanhang. Författarna har både deltagit i de samarbeten som studerats och genomfört studien, vilket krävt en extra kritisk blick för att tillgodose reflexivitet, transparens och etik. Rollerna är också en förutsättning för studiens tillkomst och genomförande. Analys och diskussion utgår ifrån teorier om neoliberalistiska och demokratiska lärandeorganisationer samt begreppet ”förpappringssamhället”. Artikeln belyser mötet mellan kulturskolans fria, konstnärliga bildningssammanhang och en akademisk utbildningsstruktur, där samarbeten visar sig som pragmatiska initiativ för att lösa problem utifrån den ekonomiska realitet som uppstått. I analysen framträder subversiva motstånd mot neoliberala värden, där en gräsrotsrörelse av enskilda individer hittar vägar runt de utstakade för att skapa en utbildning som säkrar kvaliteten i kulturskolornas undervisning. 

Kulturskoleklivet is a state initiative aimed at enhancing the competence of educators in municipal art schools and supporting future artists who wish to teach in this context. Through collaboration among several universities, the program has offered national education since the autumn semester of 2018. This article analyzes the collaborations that have emerged during the first three years of the initiative, focusing on both practical and ideological aspects. It highlights how these collaborations can be seen as responses to economic challenges and as a form of resistance against neoliberal values.

Texten tar utgångspunkt i och diskuterar estetisk kommunikationsom ett didaktiskt förhållningssätt till estetiska erfarenheter inomutbildning generellt, och lärarutbildning specifikt. Genom atterbjuda estetisk kommunikation som ett didaktiskt tankeverktygför att förstå och planera för, genomföra och värdera utbildningavser vi att öppna för en diskussion om vilken plats estetiskaerfarenheter har och kan ha i lärarutbildningar. Estetisk kommunikation kan således förstås som ett erbjudande till lärare inomlärarutbildningar om ett förhållningssätt till estetik och lärandesom kan fungera som ett tankeverktyg för att analysera och utfor-ma utbildningar där estetiska erfarenheter står i centrum. Textenpresenterar och definierar begreppet med grund i filosofiska tanke-traditioner, relaterar det till specifika lärandesituationer, didak-tiska handlingar och kompetenser, pedagogiska relationer, samttill utbildningsstrukturer och politiska värderingar.

This article is based on results from research that addressed the ways young Black Metal musicians construct their musical learning and socialization. In this article we will focus on one of the strands in that study; a trace of a classic ideal from Bildung theory. Using Bildung theory, we explore similarities between the ideals and concepts in the expressed informal music education from Black Metal musicians and contemporary institutionalized music education. In this article the German and Nordic 18th century concept of Bildung will be interpreted as the component that binds and contextualizes knowledge by a dialectic process with already inherited or internalized knowledge. Exploring, identifying, and comparing links between the educative process found within Black Metal and Bildung might at first sight seem to be both a pointless task and potentially reifying of problematic elements found within Black Metal. However, as we will discuss, common features of Bildung and Black Metal, such as enlightenment through criticism of the taken-for-granted, a sublime Gesamtkunstwerk and a nihilist striving to become an image of God, help to reveal those ways Black Metal learning processes can be understood in the light of Bildung theories. We do so in order to present tools for furthering the critical discussion of hegemonic music educational discourses.

Kulturskoleklivet är en statlig satsning på kompetensförsörjning till kulturskolor. Målgruppen är dels konstnärer som vill ha en pedagogisk påbyggnadsutbildning och som erbjuds utbildningspaket över tre terminer, dels pedagoger i kulturskola som erbjuds kortare fortbildningskurser. Satsningen är koncentrerad till fyra storstadsregioner i Sverige; Malmö, Göteborg, Stockholm och Umeå och utförs av sex utbildningsanordnare; Lunds universitet (LU), Göteborgs universitet (GU), Stockholmsuniversitet (GU), Stockholms konstnärliga högskola (SKH), Stockholms musikpedagogiska institut (SMI) och Umeå universitet (UU). Kulturskoleklivet sjösattes höstterminen 2018, men merparten av utbildningarna kom igång under 2019.

När de berörda vid de sex aktuella lärosäten fick beskedet om att de hade fått beviljat att bedriva utbildning inom Kulturskoleklivet uppstod ett behov av att synkronisera utbildningarna och dela med sig av tankar och idéer. Initiativ till möten där alla berörda lärosäten var inbjudna mottogs med entusiasm och har genomförts med kontinuitet. I Stockholm tog SU, SKH och SMI kontakt med varandra redan under ansökansförfarandet och anförde där ett samarbete om ett bra utbud i regionen som argument för att just dessa institutioner skulle få utbildningarna. I synnerhet har SKH och SU utvecklat ett tätt samarbete där studerande inom kurspaketet studerar vid båda lärosäten. SMI anordnar också en kurs som riktar sig mot alla som studerar inom Kulturskoleklivet: Konstarter i samverkan. Umeå universitet har i sin tur flera samarbeten med Stockholmsregionen inom ramarna för Kulturskoleklivet, dels genomutbyte av lärare med SMI och SU, dels genom ansökan om utvecklingsmedel tillsammans med SU och publicering av en rapport (Tilde, 2020). Lärosätena har även gjort ett antal gemensamma presentationer av satsningen och kursutbudet, t.ex. vid informationsträffar, konferenser och kompetensdialoger.

En oförutsedd bieffekt av Kulturskoleklivet är med andra ord en mängd samarbeten på nationell och regional nivå; på såväl praktiska som på mer ideologiska och principiella plan. Det vi kommer att presentera i detta paper är en analys av hur dessa samarbeten kan förstås utifrån de minnesanteckningar, presentationer, rapporter och korrespondens som genererats genom dessa tre år. Trots den geografiska spridningen på materialet är det endast ett tiotal aktiva deltagare som utgör kärnan i samarbetet. Analysen görs utifrån Gert Biestas teorier om neoliberalistiska och demokratiska lärandeorganisationer (2010, 2017) samt Jonna Bornemarks teorier om förpappringssamhället (2018). Vi vill se hur samarbeten kan förstås dels som pragmatiska initiativ för att lösa problem utifrån den ekonomiska realitet som uppstått, dels som ett subversivt motstånd mot neoliberala värden genom en gräsrotsrörelse av enskilda individer som hittar vägar runt de utstakade för att skapa en utbildning som håller måttet

This article aims to present how music teachers in Sweden used the facebook group Musiklärarna in the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March and April, 2020) to cope with challenges related to teaching music. The study is based on Biesta’s perspective on the teacher profession. With the consent of the participants, we have analysed the 303 posts (and their comments) that directly addressed the COVID-19 situation during that period. We found that the group works as an important collegial forum and that the teachers pragmatically use the group to solve educational problems; further, the posts concerning work-conditions get the most engagement. The most frequent types of posts concerned how to design teaching situations under the new conditions. Specifically, asking questions, sharing material, asking for material and letting off steam were the most common types. Music teachers seem to be loyal, collegial and intent on solving any challenge to facilitate students’ learning as regulated in the syllabus. We hope this article can motivate other researchers to perform similar studies or build on our results. We conclude by speculating about what the new normal will be for music teachers when the pandemic is over.

The study takes place in a giant staffroom filled with music teachers - a Swedish Facebook-group for music teachers. The group has 7016 members by the 9’th of November 2020. An estimate is that this Facebook group reaches around 1/3 of the music teachers in Sweden. 

The purpose of the study is to present how teachers use this Facebook group in the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic, to cope with challenges related to teaching music. The activity in the Facebook group increased significantly during March and April before sinking again towards the summer. We have, with the consent of the participants, analysed the 303 posts plus their comments, that directly addressed the corona situation. The first corona-relevant post was made on March 5th and the study analysed all data from March 5th and two months ahead to May 5th. The analysis is both qualitative and quantitative, although the quantitative parts are the most developed.

The Swedish approach on handling the Corona has been quite different compared to the surrounding Nordic countries, and also from most European countries. In spring 2020 the Swedish preschools and compulsory schools kept open while upper secondary and universities transitioned to digital, distance teaching (Pierre, 2020). When Sweden decided to close down parts of society, they decided to only shut down schools for older students from upper secondary [gymnasium] (16-19 year olds) and universities, while compulsory school and preschools stayed open. Parents were strongly advised to keep their children at home with the slightest symptoms though, and the same applied to teachers. Some schools that were affected by the virus decided to close down even for the younger children. This means that in the period we are studying some music teachers teach from a distance, some are still in their classrooms as usual, some are in their classrooms but with only a part of their class in place, the rest being home, some have a class at school they need to teach but cannot because they need to stay home because of symptoms. 

The results show that Corona forced the teachers to reconsider and go back to basics - to make teaching and learning work in new circumstances. Thus the teachers where, spite the extreme situation, still focused on maintaining to follow the syllabus in Lgr11 (Skolverket 2019), Zandén and Ferm Thorgersen (2015) stated that music teachers implemented Lgr11 within a year, which would be 2012, and now in 2020 the teachers face the complex task of not only staying true to the syllabus and for example managing teaching students creativity such as composing music (Mars 2015) but also coping with the many challenges that Covid-19 poses. The results also clearly show the need for a collegiate with whom to brainstorm, think together with and search for support from. Since music teachers in Sweden usually are the only music teacher in a school or even in a municipality the facebook group Musiklärarna could be necessary for collegial support. 

There is a strong collegiality in the group. When we go behind that fact and attempt to see more nuances of the collegiality, we can see through our categories that the collegiality are of different sorts: One kind of collegiality that  is represented by several categories is to search for support for a view or opinion, another is to search for help in solving an educational problem, a third, and related, is to share and spread good educational plans and ideas within the profession, a fourth is to search for support regarding working conditions. A fifth, a meta feature of collegiality, is to be a part of co-constructing a professional discourse - to become a part of the group music teachers in Sweden. 

What will the new normal be when the pandemic is over; what kind of normal will music teachers create in the coda?

EJPAE is proud to be able to present another issue with important thoughts in the intersection between the arts, education and philosophy. In this issue we have only been able to get two articles ready for publication. This is not because of lack of important and high quality articles submitted to EJPAE, but because of problems in the review and editorial processes. So while I am happy to present these two articles, I am also sad that I have not been able to get other articles ready for publication yet. To be an editor is a really interesting task where the meetings with interesting scholars and texts from different areas is the reward for the work you put in. In these trying times other work has had to be prioritised over the editorial work, and even if I have tried to get reviews to happen, several reviewers have obviously also had pressing times and I have experienced several reviewers withdrawing or even stop answering mail. This does not give me an excuse for all the articles waiting for a review, but at least it is one explanation – and for you I apologise and hope you will still be with us in the times to come.

That being said I present to you two interesting articles – both from Norway this time. The north part of Norway is perhaps more knows for snow and ice than for philosophy and art, but that is about to change with this issue of EJPAE. The first article is by Ola Buan Øien who has explored how concepts developed by Daniel Lanois can be useful in performances through arts based research. The concept investigated are sonic ambience, master station, operating by limitation, locations, preparing and black dubs. In this exploration he has turned inwards and analysed his own compositional process. Theoretically the study draws on the constructionist epistemological roots of Crotty combined with Gadamer’s more hermeneutic theories. The article gives sonic and visual examples of the process and takes the reader on a journey to show how these concepts operate in an actual creative process, while we simultaneously take part in Øien’s reflections on the process. The usefulness for educational practices in applying such approaches as demonstrated in the article, is discussed towards the end of the article, while at the same time discussing the academisation of artistic practices. The article is a thought provoking and useful read for teachers, teacher educators and artistic researchers from different disciplines even if the terminology is most recognisable for those involved with music.

The second article discusses the relationship between art and science and is written by Thomas Dillern. By using Leonardo da Vinci as an example, he shows that art and science as human endeavours share some common traits. Da Vinci is what we today call a renaissance-man – someone who were active and accomplished in what we today consider separate disciplines such as art, architecture, science, medicine etc. In the essay Dillern questions the ideals of objectivity and claims that human creativity is needed as much in scientific processes as in the arts. The scientific process is then compared to artistic processes in order to show the similarities between them and how both activities generate human understanding. In this Dillern builds on several philosophers such as Heidegger, Gadamer, Dewey, Polanyi and Beavington, but also the old cult author Robert Pirzig and his seminal novel The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Extrospection and instrosepction are parts of the same precess and needed in making sense of the world, Dillern argues, and therefore artistic approaches to science and scientific approaches to artistic creation are needed in education.

I hope this issue will bring hours of interesting thinking and if you feel inspired to follow up on something written here, or if you are provoked to write a reply, EJPAE will be happy to be a platform for such professional discussions.

As I finish this text, spring is about to break free of the cold arms of winter and I wish all of you a warmer and closer time ahead than the last year of social distancing.

An important feature of music is its ability to affect people in unpredictable and deep ways. Music has therefore been used to oppress and (mis)lead people by dictatorships, religious leaders and supermarkets amongst others, and to help lure people into acting in ways that are beneficial for the manipulators. Such forms of ethically dubious musical manipulation happen because of the sublime potential of music to do something to people, and in such a way that they have few ways to defend themselves against it. Thus, the power of music is also the reason people seek out the unforeseen affects and effects in their encounters with the arts. Building on a theory of aesthetic communication, and seeking support from Deleuze and Guattari (1994), Dewey (2005) and Spinoza (Spinoza & Lagerberg, 2001), the aim of this article is to propose the term manipulation as a tool in music education or as a vehicle for teachers and researchers to help frame activities in music education as meaningful for aesthetic communication. I argue that manipulation is a necessary component of all art and aesthetic communication, that, despite its usual negative connotations, manipulation is an act that can be used for good or bad purposes, and that music education has a duty to educate pupils in artistic manipulation. Manipulation is considered action, and as such, it is argued that it can take on any value from good to bad depending on the intentions and effects it causes. This article invites a discussion of possible ways of designing music education that revolve around tinkering with aesthetic communication, and wherein desirable manipulation plays a vital role, and outcomes-based curricula are replaced with an alternative more compatible with the arts.

Can the use of social media help music education empower students? This chapter takes a critical view of common myths regarding social media and discusses their implications for music education. The chapter argues that great caution should be taken in formal music education to avoid paying for access to this technology with students’ privacy. In an age where everyone with a smartphone who does not take precautions is monitored 24/7 by app makers and makers of operating systems, it is important that music education takes an ethical stand regarding how such tools should be used. The chapter ends on a hopeful tone, recommending that we employ the Swedish concept of lagom to make wise choices in the matter and let students learn and share while, at the same time, be empowered by technology.

Whoa.nu started in 2000 as a community where members discussed all aspects of hip-hop in Sweden. The community became the most important place not only for discussions among members but also for releasing free albums and songs to the public and for arranging events. Moreover, the site was an educational hub for members to learn about hip-hop. The core of Whoa.nu was the community, wherein the communicating environment of members developed as artists, audience, and critics. Whoa.nu was not only a place for individuals’ learning processes and development but a place where Swedish hip-hop evolved and changed its regional frames, forming its own identity. The aim of this article was to present an analysis of the development of Whoa.nu as a learning platform for hip-hop in Sweden based on interviews with the two administrators of the site. Further, we wanted to use this as a steppingstone to discuss how listeners learned about popular music online during different eras. Two questions were at the forefront of this research: (1) How do the interviewees describe the internal views of the relation between how Whoa.nu and Swedish hip-hop changed over 13 years? and (2) how can Whoa.nu be understood as a learning environment? I henceforth present insights into how musical learning can happen outside of institutions and how Swedish hip-hop has grown from subculture to mainstream, which is how Whoa.nu outgrew itself. Hip-hop education is currently institutionalized in the same way that jazz and rock once were institutionalized. It went from being rebellious and subversive to being embraced by the larger society and integrated into academia. The results herein present a story of one example where musical learning in a subculture occurred. The insights presented, then, can help educators prepare for similar transformations of learning arenas in future musical subcultures. These insights could aid teachers and educators to assist students involved in music subcultures not discussed in schools. Hopefully, this article inspires additional ways of learning music.