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Craftsmanship in Academia: Skilled Improvisation in Research, Teaching, and Leadership

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Music Education as Craft

Part of the book series: Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education ((LAAE,volume 30))

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Abstract

Educators typically focus on one of three levels: micro, the individual; meso, the institutional; or macro, the global (Bresler, Res Stud Music Educ 11:2–18, 1998). It is unusual to find an educator who has impacted all three levels as significantly as Magne Espeland does. I begin this preface by exploring the notion of craft, the central idea behind his vision for this book, discussing its associations and possibilities, and what these mean in the context of research. I then reflect on how such aspects are manifested in his research, teaching, and leadership, including a close relationship to improvisation and responsiveness to different communities in which he practices his craft.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Rubin published a book with the same name in November 1984.

  2. 2.

    Some favorites that I have used in my teaching to exemplify these principles include Myerhoff, 1978 and Barone, 2001.

  3. 3.

    Magne’s influence is much broader: quite a few major scholars from Australia, Africa, South America, and Asia whose voices are not included here shared with me Magne’s impact.

  4. 4.

    Magne writes: “Music education research should continue to describe its main goal as an attempt to understand and improve the teaching and learning of music, and this attempt must be visionary and have a direction. The best way to fulfill such a goal is to strengthen the inclusive perspectives in the research process by:

    1. 1.

      including all aspects of the research process and treat them with equal importance;

    2. 2.

      paying special attention to the publication aspect and follow-ups;

    3. 3.

      including values and a discussion of the “good” practice;

    4. 4.

      giving elements close to practice (i.e., curricular materials, videos and methodological questions) high status and by making music textbooks and resource packs research-based;

    5. 5.

      including teachers’ and students’ perspectives in our descriptions and interpretations of research in the many fields of music education;

    6. 6.

      utilizing the collective competence of the teacher and the research worlds in the research process;

    7. 7.

      including decision-makers as a main target group for research findings and utilizing the means for political influence available in our modern democratic societies;

    8. 8.

      putting greater emphasis on formative and action research;

    9. 9.

      stimulating the development of a collective responsibility for music education, nationally and internationally;

    10. 10.

      persuading colleagues to be willing to abandon isolation and take part in the challenges of a collaborative endeavor with research groups consisting of university and college faculty and music teachers” (Espeland, 1994, p. 93).

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Acknowledgement

I am indebted to Eve Harwood and Betsy Hearne for their reading this paper and for their insightful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    Liora Bresler

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  1. Liora Bresler
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Correspondence to Liora Bresler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Arts Education, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Stord, Norway

    Kari Holdhus

  2. School of Arts Education and Movement, DCU Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Regina Murphy

  3. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Stord, Norway

    Magne I. Espeland

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Bresler, L. (2021). Craftsmanship in Academia: Skilled Improvisation in Research, Teaching, and Leadership. In: Holdhus, K., Murphy, R., Espeland, M.I. (eds) Music Education as Craft. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67704-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67704-6_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-67703-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-67704-6

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