Connect–Reconnect – ICONgo Seminar

Where and when

The seminar takes place in Oslo at Voksenåsen Conference hotel, starting 29 Sept at 6 pm and ending 1 Oct at 1 pm.

The need to reconnect

The seminar welcomes teachers of performance, theory, history, entrepreneurship, ensemble and all other subjects in higher music education. Participants will explore coaching as instructors, feedback, peer learning, and reflection as a creative process during the seminar. In ‘making’ sessions, participants will develop creative work, present it to each other and explore what learning took place and how peers can give each other constructive feedback.

The pandemic has, for two years, demanded a huge effort from instructors. We have had to reorganise our ways of teaching by creating new ways of enabling learning while holding our students’ motivation and well-being in those isolated times. With this seminar, we want to offer time and space to reconnect with ideas and explore practices that will nourish us as instructors as we move forward in collaborative work.

How to register

Teachers from all fields taught in higher music education are welcome to be part of the seminar. In total, we have room for 20 teachers from all three institutions. To show your interest in the seminar, please contact:

• Gerda van Zelm - if you belong to the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague
• Helen McVey - if you belong to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
• If you belong to the Norwegian Academy of Music, contact your Head of Department.

Thursday 29 Sept

• 6 pm - Dinner
• 7.30 pm - Coaching session

Friday 30 Sept

• 9 am - Feedback session
• 11 am-5.30 pm - Making/exploring session
• 5.30 pm - Dinner
• 7 pm - Presentation and feeback

Saturday 1 Oct

• 9.30 am - Reflections, conclusions and next steps

The seminar finishes at 12.

In the coaching sessions, we will look at how the principles that underpin pure coaching can enrich learning in a Conservatoire setting. We will identify and practise skills and tools which can enable a positive exchange between students and instructors. Furthermore, we will explore active listening, identifying strengths, and the usage of questions in teaching and learning. We will reflect on how we can give students a continuing belief in their creativity as they access their craft.

In learning and teaching processes, feedback can come at different times and forms. We give our students feedback during lessons or after assignments, concerts, exams, or group sessions. How can we deliver constructive feedback that enhances students’ learning? How do we give students agency during feedback moments and enable them to take ownership of their learning? What is the best way to guide them in self-assessment as a strategy to develop their inner dialogue?

In the ‘making’ sessions, the groups will make a piece together that can involve text, music, movement, structured forms or improvisation, or any other format that is meaningful to what you want to create. We will work in smaller groups moderated by a coach. that will help the different groups find a common goal and formulate strategies for explorative learning. The groups will develop their ‘work’ over several sessions and then present it to the larger group. This will be followed by a feedback process where we can reflect on what we have experienced and on peer learning and coaching.

ICON (Innovative Conservatoire) is an international collaboration that brings instructors from music conservatoires together. The project initiates meetings several times a year where instructors can discuss and explore relevant themes such as effective one-to-one teaching, small-group, and master class teaching, the role of coaching/mentoring in music education, the artist in society and artistiz citizenship, improvisation and creativity, the art of practising, presence and performance, using assessment and feedback for learning; health and well-being; and approaches to reflection and practice-based research. ICON was first initiated in 2006.