How music performance education became academic: On the history of music higher education in Europe

Abstract

Abstract - This text aims to answer the question of the academic self-image of music from an historical perspective. In the first section, a certain concept of teaching the art of music is shown as having emerged from the musician’s particular historical social situation and a tradition of transferring knowledge which may even today be closer to craftsmanship than to scientific learning. In the second section, light is shed on the history of the institutions where professional musicians are educated. The author reveals how historically grown form of learning and teaching music represent, up until the present day, a basic contradiction to the characteristics and requirements of academic teaching. The third section describes the process of academisation as it took place in Europe from the mid-20th century onwards and questions the reasons that triggered this process but also the motives which made it desirable for those affected to ‘go academic’. As part of a final outlook, some topics are listed which, in the author’s view, might pose challenges to the music higher education sector in the coming years as well as issues which seem worthy of further research.