This study examines university teachers’ notions of knowledge and knowers in higher classical music education during a curriculum renewal process in a Finnish higher education context.

Knowledge in music has been distinguished between theory and technique already from Greek philosophers such as Aristotle (McPhail, 2022). This divide is still visible in music education. It is also claimed that higher music education has been based on the conceptions of craftsmanship and artistic skill (Moberg & Georgii-Hemming, 2019).More recently, the process of academization has raised the question of knowledge and knowledge practices in higher music education especially in the European context (Johansson & Georgii-Hemming, 2021). It is argued the traditional knowledge of music is not enough in the future society (Gaunt & Westerlund, 2021; López-Íñiguez & Bennett, 2020), the future of classical musicians is unclear and employment conditions are changing (Moberg & Georgii-Hemming, 2019). Higher music education institutions are asked to redefine their work and consider “how they engage with students in changing societies” (Gaunt & Westerlund, 2021).

Knowledge of craft in classical music is traditionally taught and learnt in master-apprentice relationship that is a hierarchical relationship between a master and student (Angelo et al., 2019; Gaunt, 2011). In this process, a student acquires some of the master’s knowledge and skills and becomes part of the musical community (Angelo et al., 2019). It is argued the tradition is based on imitation and reproduction as ideals (Georgii-Hemming et al., 2020). Consequently, the individuals involved in the learning process, both the ‘master’ and the student, hold a distinct significance in the acquisition of knowledge practices within the realm of arts. In arts education students are deeply engaged with the context where the knowledge is processed (Shay & Stayn, 2015). It is described that knowledge in the arts exists in individuals, communities, networks, bodies, objects (Orr & Shreeve, 2018) and in tools and materials (Addison, 2014; Sennett, 2008).

In this study, we approach curriculum renewal as a process where knowledge practices are negotiated in the academic community (see e.g., Annala, 2022; Bovill & Woolmer, 2019). This context enables us to explore the underlying conceptions of knowledge and knowers in the contemporary higher music education. The research questions are: What is viewed as legitimate educational knowledge in higher music education? How the relationships between knowledge and knowers are depicted?

The theoretical and methodological framework in the study is based on Karl Maton’s (2014) Legitimate Code Theory (LCT). Maton continued Bernstein’s (1996) theory of knowledge structures. It describes a way of developing and producing knowledge. In the humanities and arts, the knowledge structure is said to be horizontal. Knowledge is described as a series of parallel but strongly delimited approaches. Knowledge develops by adding a new approach alongside existing ones. However, according to McPhail (2022),knowledge in music theory is hierarchical which means the concepts must be obtained in successive order, but, on the other hand, approaches to composition and performance in music are more horizontal. Maton (2014) claims that focusing only on knowledge and the knowledge structure may simplify and overlook the strengths of some fields.  Attention should also be paid to knowers and knowerstructure. Although knowledge structure is horizontal in the arts, knower structure is claimed to be hierarchical. Hierarchically structured knowers are organized in relation to the ideal knower. Therefore, in this study we build on the so-called Specialization code in the LCT theory (Maton 2014), which includes both knowledge and knower structures as analytical perspectives.

The context of the research is a Finnish higher arts education institution where the fields of music, performance arts and fine arts meet in three academies. There are nearly 2000 students and 81 programs (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral) of which 52 are in the music academy. Curriculum renewal was conducted at the university in 2020-2023 and the new curricula will be implemented in August 2024. It was the first joint curriculum process of the academies. It meant they renewed their curricula simultaneously, and they followed the same guidance approved by the university management. The first author collected data from all academies during the renewal process as part of her doctoral thesis. This presentation focuses only on music education. Data consists of ten semi-structured interviews (n = 2 professors, n = 5 lecturers, and n = 3 program leaders) and documents (curriculum guidelines, written curricula). All interviewees were active participants in the curriculum renewal process, and they represented five programs in the music academy. The interview data was collected between June 2022 and May 2023. The interviews lasted 57–95 minutes and they included three themes: core content analysis in the program level, curriculum renewal process and students and studies on the program. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the data were encoded using the Atlas.ti software. Maton’s (2014) specialization code was applied as an analytical tool. In the analysis, we aimed to distinguish between epistemic relations (ER) to knowledge structures and social relations (SR) to knower structures. These relations may be more strongly or weakly bounded and controlled. Two continua, epistemic relations (ER±) and social relations (SR±), generate specialization codes. They reveal if the legitimacy in the field is based on specialized knowledge or knower attributes.

The results and conclusions are preliminary since the analysis is still in process. However, the results and conclusions are expected to be ready by the summer 2024. Seemingly the academization of higher music education and the generic working life demands challenge the traditional knowledge structures that appear hierarchical.

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