Experimenting with Art-Science Collaboration in Higher Music Education : Toward Ecological Musicianship?

Abstract

In this chapter, we consider how embedding ecological awareness in higher music education may transform the core artistic practice of music performance students beyond merely learning about environmental issues. We reflect on the potential of this transformative practice through a collaboration between artists and scientists in a study module, Artists for a Sustainable Future (ArsADAPT) at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. In ArsADAPT, a group of students and teachers from different music performance programmes collaborated with a group of scientists from the Adaptation and Resilience for Sustainable Growth (ADAPT) research programme funded by the Strategic Research Council of Finland. ArsADAPT experimented with artistic work and its integration with the scientific communication of issues related to sustainable growth adaptation, which manifested in a transdisciplinary artistic-pedagogical process and public engagement. Drawing from our experiences as key actors in the collaboration, we explore the pedagogical possibilities for nurturing future musicians’ artistic pathways toward environmentally and socially sustainable practices and identify possibilities and challenges in developing a transformative practice for ecological musicianship in higher music education performance programmes.