Andreas Berg: Quality and value in improvised music in Norwegian Upper Secondary Schools

Field of study: Music Education

As a listener, performer, master or apprentice, we assess music all the time. Usually at a superficial level, but occasionally at a deeper level. We appreciate and assign a value to what we have heard — first and foremost for ourselves. As a teacher, it is different. That is, at least, Berg’s experience as a teacher over 15 years in upper secondary school. The teacher must not only assess quality for themselves, but also say something about the path forward for students in a way that makes them aware of their learning goals and what they can do to develop further. In isolation, this is not a problem either; it is part of being a music educator. In the new national curriculum for the Norwegian upper secondary schools — LK20 — the word “improvisation” appears in several contexts. And that is where it gets interesting. What counts as quality in musical improvisation? Which qualities in students’ improvisations carry value — and who decides? What does it mean “to improvise” — is it a product or a process, or both?

Improvisation pedagogy is full of metaphors like “having your own voice” (as if you could have someone else’s), “playing what you hear,” or simply “being yourself in the music.” So ask yourself: how good are you, on a scale from 1 to 6, at being “yourself” in the music — and how do you or your teacher know? Would you say you are fairly good, good, or outstanding? This is, of course, taking it a bit far — but Berg admits he has asked himself that question many times in his teaching career.

The project is therefore about how teachers and students assess improvised music in upper secondary school. How do they navigate and make sense of the complicated language we use when assessing improvised music? Are there common features — certain qualities everyone agrees on — is there a pluralistic understanding of quality, or is it acceptable for teachers to hold entirely their own understandings of quality when it comes to this musical phenomenon? What happens to different understandings of quality when they meet the school’s curriculum and assessment practices?

Through interviews with teachers and students, curricula, and research literature, I will investigate which discourses compete for the meaning of “improvisation.” And what happens when music that exists only in the moment meets the school’s assessment practices?