Shifting Authenticities in Scandinavian Music Education

Overview & Synopsis

There has been an ongoing tendency, taking place in the Scandinavian countries from the late 1970s onwards, to expand the repertoires and resources of music as an educational matter, an academic field, as well as an area for support and funding from cultural authorities, organisations and institutions. Here, popular music, jazz, folk music and world music have gained considerable educational, curricular and institutional status. In this article, we will discuss how different ideas of what is considered to be genuine, original or authentic meet and break against each other in music education. Using a deconstructive methodology, our point of departure is three specific examples from earlier research in music education, on popular music and jazz education, respectively. We aim to deconstruct the different and partly contradictory concepts of authenticity that characterise the fields of music education we examine.