The aim of this paper is to consider a master-apprentice relation in music teaching, especially piano teaching and also suggest what new it brings to our conceptions of master-apprentice model in teaching and our conceptions of music (piano) teaching in general. This paper is based on my PhD-research (Hyry 2007) that focuses on the life story of a well known Finnish music pedagogue and artist Matti Raekallio and his knowledge in the teaching practice, so to say on his practical knowledge. Most of the data was collected by observing his piano lessons and by interviewing both him and his students. It has been analyzed by using both content analysis and narrative analysis. The notable part of research results consists of so called “curriculum stories”: Raekallio’s practical knowledge comes visible in narratives that unite the subject content (music) to its musical, historical, social, and cultural contexts in interaction between the teacher and his students during piano lessons. As Gudmundsdottir (1990) states, curriculum stories are produced when the teacher organizes content for pedagogical purposes by storytelling – and in piano lessons they are produced especially in action, in playing. Theoretically this can be understood as teacher’s narrative mode of thinking, referring to Bruner’s (1986) two modes of thinking and knowledge. The results confirmed a typical master teacher model, where the focus is on musical score (e.g. Schön 1987). In contrast to some views of the master teacher model, the teacher in this research seems to be ”in the same boat” with his students rather than having the master’s authoritative role. The teacher adjusts his teaching to suit the needs of different students and their different stages of competence. In the teacher-student relationship during the lessons he makes his practical knowledge visible and audible by playing and verbalizing and by reflecting aloud. The students are taught knowledge and skills but also guided into the culture and practice of the field. Music teaching is one way to interpret the world. Emphasizing hermeneutical nature of learning I will suggest that music students learn also in a narrative way; their understanding grows like a hermeneutic spiral in which new knowledge is founded on re-interpretations of their previous experiences (Bruner 1986; McEwan 1992).

Narrative inquiry is used as a methodological approach. For analysing data has been used both content analysis and narrative analysis.

The results confirmed a typical master teacher model, where the focus is on musical score (e.g. Schön 1987). In contrast to some views of the master teacher model, the teacher in this research seems to be ”in the same boat” with his students rather than having the master’s authoritative role. The teacher adjusts his teaching to suit the needs of different students and their different stages of competence. In the teacher-student relationship during the lessons he makes his practical knowledge visible and audible by playing and verbalizing and by reflecting aloud. The students are taught knowledge and skills but also guided into the culture and practice of the field. Music teaching is one way to interpret the world.