Piloting AI with critical thinking in Nordic Music Education

This paper examines the impact of digitalization on Higher Music Education referring to the European network of music academies (AEC) and its strategic plan for 2030. The plan emphasizes staying ahead of trends, advocating for change, promoting excellence and quality, and building alliances. At the institutional level, the AEC has encouraged diversity and inclusion throughout the Artemis project (Empowering Artists as Makers in Society 2022-2025), with digitalization and AI being urgent areas of advancement. AI technology's rapid entry into higher education has prompted a reassessment of traditional teaching and learning concepts, advocating for integrating digital tools, including AI, to promote excellence and quality.This study explores a case in which AI was introduced to first and second-year Bachelor music students for writing and communicating about their music. It examines integrating critical thinking from the Nordic teaching tradition, especially in instrumental music instruction, into the AI course as a pilot for future enhancement. A two-day course aimed to introduce international and national music students to the Nordic teaching tradition and prepare them for using generative AI in music history and communication by fostering critical thinking.The study situates the Nordic teaching tradition within the welfare model, emphasizing an inclusive, student-centered learning approach. It raises questions about using generative AI and text production as tools for communication and dissemination, and the dilemmas of maintaining critical thinking while optimizing AI’s potential to create independent and equal access to learning.The study suggests a paradigm shift in understanding critical and in-depth learning, particularly in relation to new opportunities where artists with limited academic skills can contribute to the dissemination of their art and participate in the art debate. It questions what educational institutions should teach and what further education teachers require when music students can take on the role of masters, and teachers become apprentices. The study explores whether digital trends and AI can contribute to a less hierarchical approach to instrumental teaching or if they will further separate performing and academic subjects in conservatory education.References:AEC – Empowering Artists as Makers in Society (2022-2025) – Creative Europe Network | AECAEC-Strategy-2030.pdfAalborg Universitet. 2024. Generative AI & Learning. AAU MICRO. https://www.micro.aau.dk/available-aau-micros/generative-ai-learningLinks to an external site. Aarhus Universitet. 2024. Teach GenAI. https://teachgenai.au.dk/learn-genaiLinks to an external site. Almqvist, Cecilia Ferm, and Ann Werner. "Maintaining and challenging conservative teaching and learning culture in conservatories: The need for holistic pedagogy in educational fields of tension." Research Studies in Music Education (2023): 1321103X231187766.