Conservatory cultures

Introduction

The project aims to investigate how conservatoire music education shapes belongings in terms of nation and gender, during times of growing nationalism and anti-gender movements, in Estonia, Finland and Hungary. Classical music has been understood as an artform displaying and constructing ideas about both nation and gender and is a cultural practice of symbolic importance. Further, access to classical music education is regulated by unequal gender structures, while patriotism and nationalism are evident in classical music education.

Main questions of the project are:

• How does policy construct the institution, teacher and student as gendered and situated in a national context?
• What are the main modes of teaching promoted in the institutions, and how does pedagogy interplay with nation and gender?
• How does the embodiment of a musical repertoire display nation and gender in performances?

One local researcher at each institution works with the Södertörn-based researchers in two rounds of field work. Interviews with students, teachers and leaders will be made and analyzed; additionally, policy documents and exam concerts will be analyzed using theory-driven content analysis. The aim is to grasp relations between institutions, discourses, and students’ embodiment of musical education.

Published peer reviewed articles

• Ferm Almqvist, Cecilia & Ann Werner (2023). Maintaining and challenging conservative teaching and learning culture in conservatories: The need for holistic pedagogy in educational fields of tension. Research Studies in Music Education. Online first September 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X231187766  
• Werner, Ann & Tuire Kuusi (2023). Gender equality discourse in classical music higher education: Women, individualisation, and change, International Journal of Music Education. Online first September 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/02557614231199473  
• Holmgren, Carl & Cecilia Ferm Almqvist (2024). Att öppna för ett annat musikaliskt varande: Kultivering av klassiska musikerstudenters professionella omdöme. Högre utbilding, 14(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.23865/hu.v14.5281  
• Werner, Ann & Cecilia Ferm Almqvist (2024). Nation, gender, and classical music on higher music education institution websites. Swedish Journal of Music Research, 106(1):147-166. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58698/stm-sjm.v106.17587
• Ferm Almqvist, Cecilia & Kristi Kiilu (2024). Music conservatory assessment approaches. Distribution and negotiation of values. Baltic Worlds, 17:3, 60-72.
• Borgström Källén, C., & Ferm Almqvist, C. (2024). Gender equality in higher music education: Consecrated and peripheral positions. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14740222241276164
• Ferm Almqvist, C., & Hentschel, L. (2024). Cultivating ambiguities within higher music education – preparation for singers’ professional societal participation in opera conservatory and music theatre programs. Nordic Research in Music Education, 5, 23–42. https://doi.org/10.23865/nrme.v5.5806

Published book chapters

• Werner, Ann & Cecilia Ferm Almqvist (2024). ”Det finns stycken som ryska pojkar spelar” Konstruktioner av nation och kön i klassisk musikundervisning. Pontara, Tobias & Bergman, Åsa (eds.). Klassisk musik i det moderna mediesamhället. Konstruktioner, föreställningar, förhandlingar. Göteborg: Makadam förlag, pp. 73-115.
• Ferm Almqvist, Cecilia & Ann Werner (2024). Gender in higher music education, Brüstle, Christa et al (eds). Music, Power Relations, and Beyond: Critical Positions in Higher Music Education, Donostia-San Sebastián: Musikene-School of Music of the Basque Country, pp. 75-83.
• Werner, Ann & Cecilia Ferm Almqvist (2024). Marketing conservatoire education. The employable white musicians of European classical music, Prokop, Rainer & Rosa Reitsamer (eds.). Higher Music Education and Employability in a Neoliberal World. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 26-37

Published thematic section

• Werner, Ann (ed.) (2024). Nationhood, gender and classical music education. Baltic Worlds. 17:3, 45-104. https://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Baltic_Worlds_2024_vol.17_no.3_Theme_Section_Werner_et.al_pages-45_104.pdf

Other publications

• Werner, Ann (2024). Introduction. The national and gendered meanings of higher classical music education. Baltic Worlds, 17:3, 45-48.
• Werner, Ann (2024). Olli-Pekka Martikainen. Music education for new needs. Baltic Worlds, 17:3, 73.
• Fazekas, Gergely (2024). Nation, gender, and music history. Baltic Worlds, 17:3, 74-78.

Presentations

• Ferm Almqvist, Cecilia & Linn Hentschel (2023). Singing and making in society – ambiguities and musician competence? Paper presented at the NNRME conference in Örebro, March 2023. https://www.oru.se/institutioner/musikhogskolan/nnrme-2023/#
• Ferm Almqvist, Cecilia & Carl Holmgren (2023). 88 shades of grey? The disciplined female pianist in the male-dominated world of Western classical music. Paper presented at the NNRME conference in Örebro, March 2023. https://www.oru.se/institutioner/musikhogskolan/nnrme-2023/#
• Werner, Ann & Cecilia Ferm Almqvist (2023). ‘Ethical and equal. Policy for social justice in higher music education’ given at the conference Music, research and activism, University of Helsinki, 10-11 May 2023
• Ferm Almqvist, Cecila (2023). Re-thinking Conservatory Education as an open system: Learning to play through playing – letter from a piano student to an educational philosopher, International Society for Philosophy in Music Education, June 2023, Norges Musikkhøgskole, Oslo. https://ispme.net/index.php/2021-the-xiii-symposium-norwegian-academy-of-music-oslo-norway/
• Cecilia Ferm Almqvist, Carl Holmgren (2023). Cultivating Western classical musicians’
• professional judgment – A responsibility for higher music education? Paper presented at CEMPE 10 years anniversary conference: Connection, Collaboration & Co-creation – Ways forward for higher music education, 2-3 Nov, NMH, Oslo, Norway.
• Ferm Almqvist, Cecilia & Ann Werner (2024). Female orientations through Western classical music conservatories towards musicianship in North, Eastern and Central Europe. Presented at International Symposium “Gender and musicianship in North(-)/East-ern Europe”, 12-13 February, Sibelius Academy. https://www.uniarts.fi/en/events/international-symposium-gender-and-musicianship-in-north-eastern-europe/
• Kuusi, Tuire & Ann Werner (2024). Diversity in gender discourse. Examples from three Higher Music Education Institutions. Presented at International Symposium “Gender and musicianship in North(-)/Eastern Europe”, 12-13 February, Sibelius Academy. https://www.uniarts.fi/en/events/international-symposium-gender-and-musicianship-in-north-eastern-europe/

Symposium: Higher music education in Nordic, Baltic and Central Europe today – themes and trends

23^rd November 2022, Södertörn University

A symposium arranged within the research project ‘Conservatory cultures: Nation and gender in conservatoire music education in Estonia, Finland, and Hungary’, funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European studies.  The symposium begun with a presentation of the research project , followed by short papers by all project participants. The themes tying the individual papers together were formed by an interest in research on higher music education in Europe today, focusing on pressing issues in Estonia, Finland and Hungary.

• Ann Werner, Associate professor at Södertörn University/Uppsala University: ‘Nation and gender in Europe today and its impact on cultural institutions’ (Commentator: Professor Teresa Kulawik, Gender Studies, Södertörn University)
• Kristi Kiilu, professor in music education EAMT: ‘Values in Estonian basic school music education’ (Commentator: Senior Lecturer Mikael Persson, Education, Stockholm University)
• Cecilia Ferm Almqvist, Professor in Education, Södertörn University: ‘Being and becoming musicians in a complex Europe – experiences among conservatory students’ (Commentator: Senior Lecturer Annika Falthin, Music Education, Royal Collage of Music)
• Gergely Fazekas, Associate professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy: ’Nation and Gender in the Music History Curriculum – Issues and Problems from the Perspective of a Music History Professor (Commentator: Professor Lars Berglund, Musicology, Uppsala University)
• Tuire Kuusi, Professor at UniArts Helsinki, the Sibelius Academy: ’Gender differences in well-being experiences of musicians can be affected by the data collection method’ (Commentator: Professor Erkki Huovinen, Music Education, Royal College of Music)