What does research-led teaching mean for music performance programs? Students and educators perspectives from Swedish higher music education

Abstract

Higher music education (HME) institutions, globally, have increasingly been expected to incorporate research into teaching in music performance programs (MPPs). This feature of “musical academization” arguably conflicts with a longstanding focus on the development of practical playing skills as part of a music performance education. Whilst academic literature has outlined how to conduct research supervision in performance programs at universities, the question of how students and educators understand research-led teaching and implementation strategies is lacking. This article highlights challenges to implementing research-led teaching in HME, exploring how research and research-led teaching is understood and implemented in MPPs at a medium sized Swedish university. Drawing on 13 semi-structured interviews with students and educators across different MPPs, it asks: (1) how are research and research-led teaching conceptualized and understood amongst music performance students and educators? and (2) what do students and educators see as the potential of research-led teaching for MPPs specifically? The article divides research in music performance programs into three themes: research as a noun, research-competent educators, and student-centered artistic research. Through this, the article informs discussions relating to implementing research in HME and to demonstrate students and educators’ perspectives on the value of research-led teaching in music performance programs.