What is it about?
Music performance in the higher educational context is shaped by a reciprocal chain of interactions between students, part-time tutors and full-time teaching staff, each with specific expectations about the teaching and learning process. Such expectations can provide valuable insights not only for designing and implementing meaningful educational strategies but also for defining higher education (HE) institutions’ specific mission, inside and outside departmental boundaries. Drawing on an empirical investigation about the dynamics of the expectations of the above stakeholders regarding the integration of instrumental/vocal tuition into the HE learning environment, this article discusses the need for developing teaching excellence in instrumental and vocal tuition across the UK, arguing that HE environments have a crucial role to play in such process.
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Why is it important?
In a time in which students seek knowledge and professional recognition from universities, the importance of providing meaningful educational experiences, aligned with students best interests and their intended impact on society, should not be undermined. Universities cannot dismiss their responsibility in arming tomorrow’s instrumental/vocal music teachers with the skills to enhance and inform their teaching practices and such endeavour should be considered a higher educational and ethical imperative.
Perspectives
It is through an educational system that grants professional instrumental music teaching accreditation at a Higher education level that the community of Instrumental/vocal teacher can realise and further develop their potential and establish future agendas for continuous development and integration in society. It is time for embracing and developing an eclectic instrumental and vocal pedagogy caring for a variety of learning contexts, artistic genres, musical goals and pedagogical approaches. The HE certainly has a role to play in terms of the effectiveness of such approaches and in helping to develop a personally rewarding profession that is visible, acknowledged and respected equally as other forms of teaching.
Lilian Simones
Queen's University Belfast
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Beyond expectations in music performance modules in higher education: rethinking instrumental and vocal music pedagogy for the twenty-first century, Music Education Research, December 2015, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14613808.2015.1122750.
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