Early March 2021, the Nordic Network for Research in Music Education (NNRME) arranged an online virtual conference. The conference was hosted by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the theme was Qualities in Music Education Practice and Research. Three important topics were raised by prominent researchers in our field. First, Professor Monica Lindgren, who is also one of the researchers in FUTURED, discussed the topic of quality in music education based on recent and ongoing research. Professor Randall Allsup gave us an important wake-up call speaking about the lessons learned from music education teaching during the Covid-19 crisis. We were also engaged in an interesting discussion raised by Professor Øyvind Varkøy and Professor Petter Dyndahl about politics and music education.
In a pre-conference PhD-seminar, our two associated PhD-students Eyolf Nysæther and Silje Bjørnevoll presented their work for discussion with co-students and respondents. The day after, when the conference started, researchers from WP2 Silje Onsrud, Bendik Fredriksen and Hanne Rinholm had a captivating presentation of their action research study. The theme for the research paper was The multiplicity of pre-service teachers’ positioning, and in their well organized talk they described how preservice music teachers are situated in a complex situation with multiple possibilities for positioning. The analysis identify some of the positions preservice teachers take in the discursive space this particular participatory action research constitutes.
Finally, researchers from WP3, both studies, had alotted time slots in the technology track at the end of the conference. From Study 5, Kari Holdhus, Catharina Christophersen and Heidi Partti held an interesting presentation looking into their action research project about technology and music teacher education practicum periods from a socio-material perspective. In Study 6, the participants have created music videos, collaboratively ‘mining’ and constructing spaces for music in Minecraft, as well as mixing, sharing and developing music for the videos. In her presentation, Tine Grieg Viig engaged her respondent in a discussion about potential analytical approaches to understanding the pedagogical spaces opened up in the critical action research project.
All the presentations were followed by responses from fellow researchers across the Nordic network, with important feedback for the further development of the research projects and upcoming publications. We thank all of our collaborators and colleagues for a wonderful time together in the virtual world. Hopefully we can all meet again soon!