Marja-Leena Juntunen

Embodiment in musical knowing: how body movement facilitates learning within Dalcroze Eurhythmics

This paper examines how body movement within the frames of Dalcroze Eurhythmics can facilitate musical knowing. Merleau-Pontys philosophical ideas seem to correspond with the specific empirical findings of Jaques-Dalcroze. Hence, our viewpoint is based on Merleau-Pontys notions of ‘knowing the world through the body’ as well as of gesture, habit and reversibility. We argue, along with Merleau-Ponty, that the body is our primary mode of knowing. Furthermore, we suggest that body movement represents pre-reflective knowing and can be understood as physical metaphor in the process of musical understanding from the concrete doing/musicing to the abstract and (or) conceptual.

Teacher educators' visions of pedagogical training within instrumental higher music education. A case in Finland

The purpose of this study was to examine the visions of teacher educators of instrumental pedagogy (n = 12) in higher music education regarding ‘good’ teaching and instrumental student teacher preparation. The theoretical basis for the study was research on teachers’ visions (Hammerness, 2006): teachers’ own conceptions of ideal teaching practices. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed by qualitative content analysis. The interviewed teachers’ visions of good teaching of instrumental pedagogy were closely related to their visions of good teaching of instrumental or vocal music, which they attempted to communicate to their student teachers. The process of teacher development was primarily understood as acquiring a package of skills and knowledge that are partly instrument specific, partly generic, and strongly influenced by the labour market. Teaching practice was considered essential, and was perceived as building connections between theory and practical application. The findings support prior research within Nordic teacher education (Hammerness, 2012), in that faculty members’ visions related to teaching are individual and only partly negotiated with their colleagues.

The legacy of music education methods in teacher education: The metanarrative of Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a case

The article examines the role and relevance of certain so-called music education methods used in current educational practice. As different pedagogical approaches and teaching methods aim at good and educative experiences, they suggest an ideal story of success and a direction of growth for the self of the music learner. In this article, these ideal stories are seen as embodying the normative metanarratives of music education. As an example, the article constructs a metanarrative of Dalcroze pedagogy. Jaques-Dalcroze’s texts are analysed as articulating a certain conception of the human being, alongside ideals as to how the competencies of human beings are developed through music and within music education. The article then discusses how methodological metanarratives as normative frames for representing success stories may be used in today’s teacher education in developing teachers’ cultural metacognition and in leading the profession towards a critical narratology, to enrich the reflective practice of future teachers.

Music teacher educators’ visions of music teacher preparation in Finland, Norway and Sweden

In this study we investigated the visions of 12 music teacher educators who teach pedagogical courses called instrumental pedagogy and classroom music pedagogy in three music academies in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The data were collected through individual, semi-structured qualitative interviews. Drawing on Hammerness’ concept of teachers’ vision we concentrated on the educators’ visions of good music pedagogy teaching, an ideal graduate, and visions of their subject as a whole, as well as how those visions can be extended to denote some characteristics of the teaching traditions at play. The results indicated that visions were personal and not necessarily consistent between educators or across institutions. Rather, they were strongly related to, steered, and limited by established teaching traditions. We suggest that vision might constitute a functional concept in music teacher educators’ reflections on their work and that clear programme visions should be formulated in music teacher education institutions through collective collegial efforts.

National assessment meets teacher autonomy: national assessment of learning outcomes in music in Finnish basic education

ABSTRACT In Finland, teachers’ have extensive autonomy, that is freedom from control by others over their professional actions in the classroom, and it is considered a strength of Finnish education. At the same time, national assessment of learning outcomes has been constructed to examine the learners progress and achievements in relation to the criteria of the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education in effect at the time. The national assessment of learning outcomes in music was conducted for the first time in 2011. In this article, the implementation and the main results of this National Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Music, in the ninth-grade of Finnish Basic Education are explored, and the whole process is examined critically from the perspective of teacher autonomy. The article discusses how, in the assessment, the ideals of teacher autonomy challenged assignment construction and the findings and conclusions of the national assessment. The article concludes that both teacher autonomy and national assessment are essential to compulsory education but must be balanced in a meaningful way.

Embodiment and Ethnographic Sensitivity in Narrative Inquiry

In this article, we reflect on how aspects of the researcher’s embodiment may infuse narrative inquiry. For reflecting on the role of the researcher’s embodiment, we use an opportunity provided by a case study in which the development of one adolescent student’s agency during a teaching intervention was observed, analyzed, and presented in a narrative form. The case is a part of the first author’s ongoing ethnographic practitioner research, which examines the possibilities of Dalcroze-based music teaching in fostering students’ agency in the context of special music educa- tion in Finnish lower secondary school. The doctoral study focuses on students’ capacity for narra- tive self-expression through nonverbal communication, by telling stories out of and through the body as indicators of agency. In this article, we explore how different aspects of embodied interaction between a teacher- researcher and a participating student may infuse narrative analysis. We identify 4 ways in which the teacher-researcher and the student shaped the interpretation of the narrative that the student told through his body and bodily expression: clarity of experience, empathy, valence (of experience), and balance (of power relations and roles). While also contributing to the research in special and music education by dealing with inclusive aspects of music education, this article invites other narrative researchers to enter further dialogue on embodiment in narrative analysis by asking: What is the meaning of the relationship between the researcher and the participant in terms of embodied experiences, senses, feelings, perceptions, and emotions?