Through the Eyes of an Entangled Teacher: When Classical Musical Instrument Performance Tuition in Higher Education is Subject to Quality Assurance

Evaluering av konsertformidling i høyere utdanning

“…I argue, however, there is more to it than that, and that it is not only valid as a rhetorical effect, but is indeed a relevant question to ask in today's educational climate. This chapter is an armchair analytical philosophical continuation of a paper published elsewhere (Rolfhamre, 2020) where I argue that educational quality in higher education is very much a rhetorical matter. In a context based on frictions between managerial quality assurance and classical musical instrument performance education, I pinpoint a consumer-product relationship that affects all parts of the study programme: from recruiting new students to nurturing their competence (professional and otherwise), to judging their development in the end where the teacher is somehow always at stake.…”

“…In an educational system currently promoting consumer-product relationships where the music performance teacher is very much accountable for the students' development into professional musicians and, recently, also sustainable world citizens, we must give more attention to what, whom and why we educate? This chapter is an armchair analytical philosophical continuation of a paper published elsewhere (Rolfhamre, 2020). Taking the lead from Julia Annas' (2011) virtueas-skill, I will, here, elaborate on what implications the Norwegian state higher education funding system may have on the higher education music performance teacher's perceived mandate from the perspectives of music pedagogy, rhetoric and virtue ethics.…”

“…The Norwegian state, for instance, is obligated to contribute to realising these goals and, naturally, impose on all state-funded operations and institutions to act and produce accordingly. The national education curriculum, at all levels, are no exception (Regjeringen, 2020a(Regjeringen, , 2020b(Regjeringen, , 2020cRolfhamre, 2020;United Nations, 2020;Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020). When the Norwegian state further defines itself as a "knowledge economy" (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2016), we begin to understand that there are pressing matters here to discuss concerning the future of music performance from the perspective of recruiting, educating and sustaining a traditional craft professionally and what function we, as teachers, will end up having down the road.…”

“…This phenomenon can be considered a direct effect from the accelerating (particularly from 2015, onwards) academisation and centralisation of music performance studies where earlier conservatories became subjected to the same university standards as physics, mathematics, health care, engineering, etc. Rolfhamre, 2020). "Can we buy virtue?"…”

“…Rhetoric, here then, is not the only key to quality assurance (Rolfhamre, 2020), but also the acceptance of truth and worldviews in general (at least in this simplified argument). Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1969) differ between conviction (the absolute, an end) and rhetoric (an action, a process).…”