Kantoren – en «hemmelig» musikkpedagog? Kirkemusikeres tanker om musikkopplæring i en religionspedagogisk kontekst

Abstract

Approaching an arena not necessarily associated with music education, Ragnhild Strauman asks whether the average church musician or organist could be understood as a “hidden” music educator. Her exploration considers interviews with eight organists working in the Church of Norway, who discuss, among other things, their criteria for selecting musical material and their perceptions of their own roles in the religious education of children and youth. Building on theories of pedagogical Bildung, Strauman shows how her interviewees take great care to select songs and hymns with educational value, both from the perspective of cultural heritage and tradition and with respect to providing opportunities to learn about the Christian faith. She also finds that a common music education practice seems to exist, which emphasises effective learning of the actual music and its related lyrics, but with sparse room for reflection. Overall, the interviewed church musicians believe that the music education they facilitate, mostly in the form of children and youth choirs, is central for their participants’ religious education, but they do not necessarily perceive themselves to be music educators. Consequently, Strauman calls for higher music education institutions to bring the world and ideas of music education more effectively into the education of church musicians to highlight the pedagogical functions and responsibilities of this particular profession.