This book has been written for musicians who want to engage with audiences beyond the concert hall and other traditional venues. The study is equally worthwhile for conservatoires and music academies aiming to change the increasingly unrealistic goal of training young musicians solely for the stage. When taking the changing music profession and its market opportunities seriously, higher music education institutions can become aware of creative opportunities for establishing professional music practices in areas in society that are remote from concert halls and big festivals, from public media and stardom, and instead look for settings which reach out to various kinds of audiences. This does not mean, of course, that the results presented here wish to diminish the wonderful gift of being an accomplished soloist or chamber musician, but they would like to show that the role of music can be exhaustive, where artistic connection can bring about strong communication between people. Music can make a difference and be deeply influential, especially in social fields of illness and suffering, weakness and depression. ‘Music and dementia’ is the challenging topic of this book. It is not about educational suggestions to care staff to sing well-known children's songs in care homes for residents with dementia, just to lift the mood. Through engaging in music as a participatory process, its goal is to make the person behind the dementia visible again. The project presented in this study not only shows that this idea can be realised for people with dementia and their caregivers, but it has also opened up learning processes for the musicians involved which nobody would have expected before, nurturing their professional lives and development. The project has changed their understanding of the place of music in people’s lives; it has touched their personality and stimulated deep reflections about their identity. This positive effect should benefit young musicians in their music education. However, musicians are not the only target group. The discoveries of the study are also helpful and inspiring for caregivers of people with dementia and for families of a loved one living with dementia. The book explores the interaction between music and dementia through the stories of people who have been working closely together: three musicians, eight women living with dementia, five caregivers, a staff development practitioner, a project coordinator and three scientific observers. The result is a book in which all of them have participated in their own way. It consists of field observations, reflective journals, conversations, interviews and careful scientific analyses. If it can be read by many people at a profit, the project has worked. There will be, in the words of Clifford Geertz, a 'thick description' of a new friendship between music and dementia, a story about a fascinating practice that will stimulate and bolster committed people.
DOCUMENT
The concept of lifelong learning refers to the several skills able to provide forneeds of music graduates. Such as it occurs with other areas, the domain ofmusic is in constant modification, either for the incorporation of new technologies, either had the cultural demands or for the multiplicity of activities that music has accumulated. Observing the deficits in the formation of the students, the lifelong learning appears as an alternative to enable the acquisition of tools which improve continuously the professional. The lifelong learning includes a new notion of knowledge that brings together the formal, non-formal and informal teaching, making possible experiences of knowledge objective and practical, as a way to consider the several challenges that appear to the profession. To hold the lifelong learning in the Music Colleges as an objective many changes are requested, and all the structures of the Music Colleges must be engaged.
MULTIFILE
Depression is a highly prevalent and seriously impairing disorder. Evidence suggests that music therapy can decrease depression, though the music therapy that is offered is often not clearly described in studies. The purpose of this study was to develop an improvisational music therapy intervention based on insights from theory, evidence and clinical practice for young adults with depressive symptoms. The Intervention Mapping method was used and resulted in (1) a model to explain how emotion dysregulation may affect depressive symptoms using the Component Process Model (CPM) as a theoretical framework; (2) a model to clarify as to how improvisational music therapy may change depressive symptoms using synchronisation and emotional resonance; (3) a prototype Emotion-regulating Improvisational Music Therapy for Preventing Depressive symptoms (EIMT-PD); (4) a ten-session improvisational music therapy manual aimed at improving emotion regulation and reducing depressive symptoms; (5) a program implementation plan; and (6) a summary of a multiple baseline study protocol to evaluate the effectiveness and principles of EIMT-PD. EIMT-PD, using synchronisation and emotional resonance may be a promising music therapy to improve emotion regulation and, in line with our expectations, reduce depressive symptoms. More research is needed to assess its effectiveness and principles.
DOCUMENT
The European thematic network “Polifonia” was developed between 2004 and 2007 and was initiated and coordinated by the European Association of Conservatories (AEC). Within this project four working groups were engaged with the Tuning process (issues of transparency within the Bologna process), pre-college education, the third cycle (doctorate programmes) and “Trends and changes in the European music profession”. The reflections below were given during the annual conference of the AEC, which took place in Strasbourg, France, in November 2007. During this conference the outcomes of the Polifonia project were presented by the chairs of the working group. Rineke Smilde, co-chair of the working group on the Profession, gave on this occasion a qualitative portrait of the trends and changes in the current music profession, as one of the outcomes of the working group.
MULTIFILE
Within a study on ‘musicians as lifelong learners’, explorative biographical research was used. When analysing the learning biographies informed by grounded theory, the emergence of profession-related health issues was striking. More than half of the portrayed musicians suffered from both physical and psychological problems, the latter mostly consisting of performance anxiety (stage fright), which was often connected to low self-esteem.However creative coping strategies were also frequently found by the musicians, showing their extensive use of metacognitive skills. This paper addresses the coping strategies found and relates it to musicians’ transformative learning.
DOCUMENT
In this article I will address the changes and innovations in the music profession in Europe which are faced by our students and graduates, as well as new developments in their music careers. We will look into the question of what musicians’ changing needs are and will then show how conservatoires in Europe respond to them. Consequently the various roles that musicians have within their changing career patterns and the profession will be addressed and an example will be given through the description of an emerging career type, that of the (performing and educating) musician who is engaged with new audiences in various social contexts, in other venues than the traditional concert venues. This will be followed by an exploration of the joint master programme New Audiences and Innovative Practice, which has been developed with a number of music academies in Europe and the USA and in which this particular type of musician and practice are central. The article will then finish by exploring the interconnection between the performing and educational roles of today’s musicians, the question of how these two inform each other and how this can lead to the strengthening of musicians’ learning processes. Lastly I will reflect on what these developments mean for curricula in the music academy.
DOCUMENT
Professional musicians and music educators are faced with a lot of change in the profession, which in the end reflects change in society. This creates a huge challenge for institutions training future music performers and educators. In the Netherlands the research group Lifelong Learning in Music (from here: LLM) of the Prince Claus Conservatoire (Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen) has been active since 2004 in trying to address the question what exactly are the changes in the music profession and, following from that question, how institutions can contribute to the development of young music students into responsible, pro-active and innovative practitioners. And from there questions have risen like what engaging with new audiences means for the different roles of musicians.
DOCUMENT
As a consequence of restructuring instrumental music education in the Netherlands, Art Centres increasingly cease to facilitate instrumental music lessons. As a consequence, instrumental teachers are no longer employed in these Centres and have started working as independent entrepreneurs now. The question is how (future) teachers can share their knowledge, renew their profession and shape their professional development without being organised within institutions.In research conducted by the research group Lifelong Learning in Music into instrumental lessons for elderly learners we worked with a ‘Community of Practice’ (CoP; Lave & Wenger 1991). A group of recently graduated teachers provided instrumental lessons for elderly people. This group of teachers formed a CoP together with teachers with experience in teaching elderly students and the researchers in this study. Members worked within the CoP in varying formations in peer learning sessions and seminars. Meetings of the CoP centred on the exchange and development of knowledge. In this study I look into the transfer and development of knowledge within this CoP. The data used in writing this paper are the reflective dairies and logbooks written by the participants following the lessons with elderly students and the meetings of the CoP. The central question of this study is:“What learning took place in the Community of Practice?ResultsThe CoP is a rich learning environment. Learning takes place in a multitude of ways. Learning is stimulated by the multiformity of the group make-up and by using a variety of work forms. Equality is achieved when all the participants have the same opportunity to contribute to the CoP.Learning in the CoP is influenced by the way in which participants observe, formulate their observations and put these into words. When setting up a CoP as a learning environment attention should be paid to the ways in which reflection as a result of the observations and exchange can be stimulated further.The collaborative learning which takes place in the CoP is useful for the transfer and development of knowledge. Working with a CoP at the intersection of the professional practice and the professional training is of great value to all those involved.
DOCUMENT
As a consequence of restructuring instrumental music education in the Netherlands, Art Centres increasingly cease to facilitate instrumental music lessons. As a consequence, instrumental teachers are no longer employed in these Centres and have started working as independent entrepreneurs now. The question is how (future) teachers can share their knowledge, renew their profession and shape their professional development without being organised within institutions. In research conducted by the research group Lifelong Learning in Music into instrumental lessons for elderly learners we worked with a ‘Community of Practice’ (CoP; Lave & Wenger 1991). A group of recently graduated teachers provided instrumental lessons for elderly people. This group of teachers formed a CoP together with teachers with experience in teaching elderly students and the researchers in this study. Members worked within the CoP in varying formations in peer learning sessions and seminars. Meetings of the CoP centred on the exchange and development of knowledge. In this study I look into the transfer and development of knowledge within this CoP. The data used in writing this paper are the reflective dairies and logbooks written by the participants following the lessons with elderly students and the meetings of the CoP. The central question of this study is: “What learning took place in the Community of Practice? Results The CoP is a rich learning environment. Learning takes place in a multitude of ways. Learning is stimulated by the multiformity of the group make-up and by using a variety of work forms. Equality is achieved when all the participants have the same opportunity to contribute to the CoP. Learning in the CoP is influenced by the way in which participants observe, formulate their observations and put these into words. When setting up a CoP as a learning environment attention should be paid to the ways in which reflection as a result of the observations and exchange can be stimulated further. The collaborative learning which takes place in the CoP is useful for the transfer and development of knowledge. Working with a CoP at the intersection of the professional practice and the professional training is of great value to all those involved.
DOCUMENT
The musical landscape in Europe shows a complex picture. Societal change leads to change in the careers of artists. We see an increasing number of unstable jobs in the music profession. It no longer offers many opportunities for full-time, long-term contract work, but is often more project-based, calling on musicians to contribute on a sporadic basis or for specific activities. Many graduates employ themselves as freelance artists.Rarely employed in one job for life, the musician is increasingly an entrepreneur having a portfolio career, comprising simultaneous or successive, brief or part-time periods of employment in different areas of the music profession. Having a portfolio career does not mean that a musician is not employable; rather this reality reflects societal change and also creates, sometimes exciting, challenges. Exact figures of musicians holding a portfolio career are not known. We may assume that the increase of portfolio careers is substantial through contacts held with alumni and alumni research carried out by a number of European conservatories.Holding a portfolio career with overlapping activities in the broad professionalpractice requires the musician to have many roles at the same time
DOCUMENT
