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As a contribution to the field of community dance, this article explores the teacher role in a setting where elderly people are offered to take part in a dance workshop. The aim of the study is to describe the role of the teacher when offering participation in dance as an artistic form among elderly people. The theoretical starting-point for the study is aesthetic experience and communication, based on a phenomenological philosophy, and the approach is arts-based research. The workshop series was observed and filmed. Written reflections were gathered and six of the participants were interviewed. The research material was analyzed in a phenomenological manner. The result shows that the choreographer influences possibilities for participation regarding: how workshops are "designed" and the "inputs" that are given, he "atmosphere" that is created, how the participants are to use their "bodies," and how "dance as an artistic form of expression" is offered.

This article describes and analyzes assessment approaches in three conservatories and thus contributes to the study of how values are distributed and negotiated within higher education specialized in classical music in the Baltic Sea region and Central Europe. The relation between assessment and learning could be viewed from different perspectives. Assessment of learning can be seen as a checkpoint regarding whether specific knowledge has been internalized, assessment for learning implies that the chosen assessment method encourages the learning process, while assessment as learning can be seen as intertwined with and dominating the learning process. In this article we clarify possibilities for transformative assessment, as well as the risk for assessment as learning. What counts as important knowledge varies between and within the perspectives. To generate material to enable analysis of assessment approaches in the Baltic Sea region and Central Europe, 23 students and 22 professors/leaders within three conservatories were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed through content analysis by the two researchers individually and collaboratively. The results show three different approaches, namely the competition approach, the portfolio approach, and the response-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier research has stated that there is a risk that traditional gender roles are conserved in non-formal popular music education, which might challenge teachers when it comes to offering equal learning opportunities. This article presents results from an interview study regarding the situation of female electric guitarists in popular music ensemble education, in upper secondary specialist programmes in Sweden. To approach the teacher role, phenomenological "didaktik" was used as a theoretical starting point. The specific aim of the article is to describe the implications of experiences among electric guitar playing girls regarding "how the teacher may encourage equal opportunities for musical learning in popular ensemble education." Five female students were interviewed, ranging in age from 16 to 25 years old. The interviews were transcribed and analysed in a hermeneutical phenomenological manner. The analysis resulted in three themes that -- in terms of teachers' "didaktik" choices -- related to equal opportunities for musical learning. These three themes are awareness when it comes to "what to relate to, what to take responsibility for," and "what to do". The discussion concerns how phenomenological "didaktik" could help to assure that teachers encourage guitarists equally, regardless of sex, in situations of popular music ensemble education.

When the need of transforming and remixing music education is illuminated, fields of tensions in relation to the traditional master–apprentice model of teaching often appear. Binaries have been constructed and critiqued in research to describe tensions at various music educational levels. Some studies have also asked for a holistic, "both/and" holding. In higher music education (HME), the need for new approaches in research to understand how teaching and learning is developing are asked for. As a contribution, the overall aim of the article is to illuminate to what extent traditional culture norms and structures are maintained and challenged at three European conservatories. The specific aim is to map possible fields of tension surrounding approaches to teaching and related learning. The analysis in this article partly builds on understandings of culture and institutions, and partly on theories of relational pedagogy. To get access to how leaders, teachers, and students experience participating in the teaching and learning of conservatory cultures, an interview study was planned. The transcriptions were treated by a thematic analysis model. The analysis explored three themes that represent fields of tension: teaching in relation to established cultural structures, to create or not create new learning trajectories, and collaboration or competition—the educational culture. The fields of tension found through the analysis concern relations between the traditional conserved conservatory teaching and new open and diverse thoughts about and actions within in HME teaching. It becomes obvious that creating new learning trajectories should be a common issue, involving students and teachers, as well as leaders of conservatories, and that competition should be supported by collaboration. A consequence of such a pedagogical approach would be that differences between programs for diverse instruments could be balanced, and that all involved could learn from each other, which demands flexibility between individual and collaborative learning activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Högre Utbildning is the property of Cappelen Damm Akademisk and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article communicates a study on dance for people over 65 in Sweden. Earlier studies on dance for elderly people have primarily focused on treatment and wellbeing. The current study centers on the right to make oneself heard in and through contemporary dance as an artistic form of expression, regardless of age, gender, or geographical context. The specific aim of the study is to describe and analyze the experiences of women aged over 65 in a rural area, who participated in contemporary dance workshops as a form of arts learning. The workshops, which were observed and documented, constituted part of an EU-financed project, Age on stage. Participants also shared experiences through informal chats and e-mails. The material was analyzed in a narrative manner. The results show that the workshops created a safe space for dance as a dwelling place, where dance was discovered, and at the same time developed, collaboratively. The results also highlighted the importance of this type of artistic participation for elderly women in terms of developing an understanding of themselves and coping with life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nordic Journal of Art & Research is the property of InFormation - Nordic Journal of Art & Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Gender inequality is a problem in western music education, but efforts to solve this problem in practice have thus far been insufficient. By adopting a post-human theoretical framework, this pilot study explores how music practitioners' visions of a gender-equal classroom can be used to question, reverse, and reconstruct gendered traditions within music as an educational field. The aim is to increase knowledge about how gender-equal options for musical becomings could be realized in the future music classroom. As there is a lack of post-human studies in music education inspired by an explorative design, the current project offers a new methodological approach. The findings reveal entanglements of gender-equal identities through diverse socio-material and material representations. This gives recognition to the students in representing identity and gender, genre and style, enabling liquid selfimages and identities to be shaped and re-shaped seamlessly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]