RESEARCH PROJECTS
The “Global Visions Through Mobilizing Networks” research project, coordinated by the University of the Arts Helsinki, Sibelius Academy in Finland, seeks to co-develop intercultural music teacher education by engaging three different institutions, and their respective music teacher educators and researchers, in processes of collaborative and research-based learning. The three institutions involved are the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Levinsky College of Education in Tel Aviv and the Nepal Music Center in Kathmandu. The ultimate aim is to envision programmes of music teacher education which will equip students with the necessary skills and understandings to work within increasingly diverse environments. The project is funded by the Academy of Finland during the years 2015-2019.
Doctoral Studies
Timonen, V. Global and Local in Music Teacher Education in Nepal; Development Project for promoting Cultural Diversity and Student Centered Pedagogy
Nepal's new curriculum, established in 2010, includes music as a subject in all schools for the first time. The music curriculum is based on the teaching and learning of traditional Nepalese Raga based and Western musics. Nepal, however, does not offer a degree in music education nor is music education a part of any of the university's music studies. To further develop musician-teachers’ pedagogical understanding, the Nepal Music Centre has initiated international co-operation with the Sibelius Academy. As part of this co-operation, this development study focusses on the questions: How will questions concerning equality, cultural authenticity, concepts of learning and knowledge as well as human perceptions, which are inherent to music pedagogy, be solved in the context of Nepalese music teacher education. And how do the global ideals concerning music education and the local practices meet in discussion and in practical work? Because the method of the study is Participatory Action Research (PAR), the final questions will be formed collaboratively during the shared research and teaching process. Data is collected mainly via conversations, observations, interviews and workshops where various pedagogical approaches will be explored on a practical level. The goal of the study is to increase the researcher's and other participants’ knowledge, skills and understanding of pedagogical processes by reflecting on diverse practices in Finland and Nepal.
Treacy, D. S. Co-constructing Visions for Music Teacher Education: Appreciative Inquiry in the Kathmandu Valley
This doctoral study, initiated by Nepali stakeholders, aims to build a network of musician-teachers in Nepal in which to facilitate a process of co-constructing visions for music teacher education. The study aims to benefit both the Nepali participants and the development of global music teacher education; and contribute a majority world perspective to international discussions on how the local and global intersect in the envisioning of context specific music education practices. These objectives engage with the increasing societal diversity that characterises the music classroom as a meeting place for difference, requiring music education policy and practice to contend with various, potentially conflicting values. The study involves over 50 local musician-teachers in the Kathmandu Valley and increases the intercultural skills in the Sibelius Academy research community through methodological and ethical deliberations on anticolonial research in the majority world. The multi-method study tests Appreciative Inquiry as one possible method of co-constructing visions informed by educational ethnography, collaborative ethnography and reflexive methodology, to contribute to a culturally engaged research practice that is mindful of issues of power, ethnocentrism and coloniality. This doctoral study is part of the project, Global visions through mobilizing networks funded by the Academy of Finland in 2015-2019.
Conference presentations:
Bahadur, N. & Westerlund, H. (2015). Visions for Collaboration, Inclusion and Social Activism in the Arts - Meeting the 21st Century Challenges, International GLOMUS Camp in Borneo, Malaysia, January 9, 2015.
Partti, H. & Westerlund, H. (2015). Social activism in the ‘Majority World’ music education: A narrative study on one Nepalese Newari musician’s life-long negotiation between tradition and visions for inclusion, The 2015 Research in Music Education (RIME) Conference, Exeter, UK, April 14-18, 2015.
Shah, I., Treacy, D. S. & Timonen, V. (2015). Assessment as manifestations of culturally constructed conceptions of knowledge and values in music education: Challenges for envisioning practices in Nepalese schools, Cultural Diversity in Music Education XII, Helsinki, June 10-12, 2015.
Timonen, V. (2015). Co-creating music teacher education in Nepal, Cultural Diversity in Music Education XII, Helsinki, June 10-12, 2015.
Timonen, V., Shah, I. & Partti, H. (2016). Towards educational development through intercultural collaboration: Co-creating the ‘third space’ in music teacher education in Finland and Nepal. The International Society for Music Education 32nd (ISME) World Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, July 25–29, 2016.
Treacy, D. S. (2015). Co-constructing visions for inclusive music education: Appreciative Inquiry in Kathmandu Valley schools, Nordic Network for Research in Music Education, Helsinki, March 2-5, 2015.
Treacy, D. S. (2015). Co-constructing visions for inclusive music education in Nepal: Methodological choices and ethical considerations for cross-cultural research, Cultural Diversity in Music Education XII, Helsinki, June 10-12, 2015.
Treacy, D. S. (2015). Appreciative Inquiry and teacher collaboration as a strategy for envisioning inclusive music education in Nepal, Society for Ethnomusicology-International Council for Traditional Music, Limerick, September 13-16, 2015.
Treacy, D. S. & Westerlund, H. (2016). Rethinking the distinction between school music and ‘proper’ music education: Lessons from the School Song practice in Nepal, International Society for Music Education, Glasgow, July 24-29, 2016.
Treacy, D. S. (2017). Reflexive Appreciative Inquiry in the majority world: Methodological and ethical deliberations from a 4D cycle with musician-teachers in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Leuven, February 7-10, 2017.
?Treacy, D. S. (2017). Co-constructing Visions for Context-Specific Music Teacher Education: Appreciative Inquiry in the Kathmandu Valley, Nordic Network for Research in Music Education, Gothenburg, March 14-16, 2017.
Treacy, D. S., Thapa, S. & Neupane, S. K. (2017). Cultural Renewal and Change: The Role of Global Influences in Nepali Music and Music Education, Cultural Diversity in Music Education XIII, Kathmandu, March 29-April 1, 2017.
?Gurung, P. & Treacy, D. S. (2017). Building an Appreciative Inquiry Teachers' Network: A Co-reflection from the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, Cultural Diversity in Music Education XIII, Kathmandu, March 29-April 1, 2017.