Abstract

Part of the Arts and Social Justice Seminar Series

In this seminar, I will discuss theoretical and practical approaches to music education technology from the standpoint of digital culture. Using Finnish popular music pedagogy and general music education as a critical reflecting surfaces, I argue that the impact of digital culture does not just indicate changes in the choice of musical tools and how such tools are used in the classroom: more importantly, it calls music teachers to identify new aesthetic approaches to music(k)ing that transcend the lines between traditional artistic practices, including those of popular music. Furthermore, digital culture introduces new ways to think about musicianship and how it is developed in social networks of learning, helping us to recognize how a music teacher can operate as a node in the diverse webs of social-cultural transactions that help the students to construct their musical-artistic identities. I will also discuss the implications of all this to music teacher training and research of music education, using recent developmental projects at Sibelius Academy as examples.

Lauri Väkevä is a professor in music education at Sibelius Academy of University of the Arts, Helsinki, Finland. After graduating as a music teacher from University of Jyväskylä, he began his doctoral studies at University of Oulu, graduating as a Licentiate of Education in 1999 and as Doctor of Philosophy in 2004. He has been working at Sibelius Academy since 2004, first as a lecturer and later as a professor.