Editorial

The current issue of Nordic Research in Music Education presents six research articles that in various ways call into question beliefs and established truths within music education, such as perceptions of teacher qualifications for music activities in preschool and primary school, and and who institutions select and educate to become music teachers. Furthermore, the articles address how notions of diversity, intercultural music education and genre categorizations influence the construction of content in music education, and what happens when these categories travel between music cultures and their reconstruction as content in the classroom.

Developing an understanding of intercultural music education in a Nordic setting

The purpose of this article is to achieve greater clarification of the meaning of the word ‘intercultural’ when used in Nordic music education research, by means of a literature review. The findings suggest that ‘intercultural’ is used in different ways, sometimes without definition. A central theme that emerges is developing student teachers’ intercultural competence through disturbance. There is little research into pupils’ intercultural competence, or intercultural music education at primary level. The findings are merged with international scholarship to envisage how different understandings of ‘intercultural’ might affect music in schools. We suggest placing intercultural music education along a continuum from intercultural approaches to music education to intercultural education through inclusive music pedagogy.

Visions for intercultural music teacher education in complex societies

This article presents a synthesis of findings from a large-scale research project, the Global Visions Through Mobilizing Networks—Co-developing Intercultural Music Teacher Education in Finland, Israel and Nepal ( https://sites.uniarts.fi/web/globalvisions/home ), and conveys its theoretical and practical explorations and insights. By envisioning 21st-century music teacher education from the perspective of interculturality and through transnational collaboration, Global Visions has engaged with international societal changes and struggles related to the rising tides of xenophobia, populism, and social disharmony, by focusing on what happens at the boundaries, in dialogue, and in conflict when difference is encountered, experienced, and reflected upon. While the dominant culturalist view presents music as neutral and diversity as tied mainly to ethnicity, Global Visions has recognized, analyzed, exemplified, and increased understanding of the complex politics of diversity. Resulting in envisioned music teacher education programs as innovative game changers, the project has enhanced professional reflexivity through considering the responsibility and moral aspects of music teacher education. Six main focus areas of the project are presented with recommendations for future research and practice in music teacher education: (a) research education and research as intervention; (b) reflexivity and professional learning in intercultural encounters; (c) the capacity to aspire in music teacher education; (d) the development of intersectional praxis; (e) intercultural music education as a political engagement; and (f) transcultural professional development and international professionalization.

HOAMROANG SAM PRASAN: The Overture of Three Southern Cultures Concept from The Viewpoint of an Intercultural Composer and Musician

This article examines the process of combining three distinct traditional music cultures in Pattani, Thailand, into one piece of music. The author was the music director of the “Hoamroang Sam Prasan” (Overture: Harmony of the Three). Since the three musical traditions – Nora, Rong Ngeng and Digir Hulu, and Chinese drums ensemble – are similar yet different, the work was both easy and difficult. As someone with long experience in intercultural music, I developed a distinct way to do collaborative work. I seek to ensure musicians contribute their best to the piece, establish bonds of trust to co-operate, so they are willing to share in different ideas and training. The project drew the best from traditional musicians so they could develop new work on their own terms with their own musical abilities in a mode I call “conservative contemporary music.” Both artists and audiences could better appreciate the vitality of different musical traditions and their lively interactions more fully.

The Politics of Reflexivity in Music Teachers’ Intercultural Dialogue

In this chapter, we explore the politics of music teacher reflexivity that emerged in a transnational collaboration between two institutions, the Nepal Music Center (NMC) and the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki when co-developing intercultural music teacher education. We examine in particular the reflexivity in this intercultural dialogue and how the collaboration became a complex field of issues of power related to social positions and epistemologies. Such reflexivity may act as an invitation to discomfort but at the same time as an invitation to deep professional learning. The empirical material was generated in the flow of activities within teachers’ pedagogical studies organized by the Sibelius Academy for the NMC teachers in Nepal. The authors’ experiences and the omnipresent colonial setting were taken as a backdrop of the overall interpretation and discussion. We argue that in an intercultural dialogue, negotiating one’s premises, stance, and the ethical relations with the Other requires reflection on one’s existential groundings. However, professional learning in intercultural dialogue is prone to persistent paradoxes that cannot be swiped away, or even solved. The politics of reflexivity thus keeps the questions open, with no final answers or ultimate solutions.

Intercultural Music in Media

Through a case study on “The Legend of Korra” and “Reflection,” the representative musical pieces within Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra (henceforth Korra) (2012-2014) and Disney’s Mulan (1998) respectively, I examine how different cultural traditions are combined to create a piece of intercultural media. In particular, I explore how Orientalism has persisted in Western media through its superficial inclusion of other cultural traditions. Contrasting these strains of Orientalist thought, Korra especially stands out as an example of interculturalism through its music. This is primarily because it draws on the nuanced level of cohesion established between Korra’s narrative elements such as world building and plot, as well as its cultural influences. Consequently, I argue that Korra stands as an ideal model for how to incorporate both Western and non-Western elements in meaningful ways, and can serve to inform future narratives on the pressing issues of cultural appropriation and representation. With the recent release of the live-action remake of Disney’s Mulan, it is imperative to address the cultural shortcomings of modern Western media, and by what standard we should be judging when assessing its incorporation of other cultures.

Global mobility in music higher education: Reflections on how intercultural music-making can enhance students’ musical practices and identities

Music higher education institutions are increasingly recognising the educational value of intercultural learning experiences. Delivering such learning experiences in a way that provides music students with a rich cultural and musical learning experience, rather than a superficial one, can be a challenging task, particularly in the case of short-term ‘mobility’ or ‘study-abroad’ programmes. This article explores ways to address this challenge by reflecting on student learnings from a suite of international study experiences, or ‘global mobility programmes’, at one Australian tertiary music institution, run in collaboration with community partners, universities and nongovernmental organisations in the Asia Pacific. Focusing on how intercultural music-making in the context can enhance students’ musical practices and identities, we first outline the sociocultural contexts of our music global mobility programmes in Cambodia, China and India, and explore the different modes of music-making these experiences afforded. We then draw on Coessens’ ‘web of artistic practice’ to explore site-specific examples of the ways in which global mobility programmes can enhance students’ musical practices and identities. These findings hold particular relevance for music educators and higher education institutions in justifying, designing and carrying out such intercultural experiences to maximise student learning and success.