Norwegian Academy of Music

Growing attention highlights the potential of music as a social prescription to enhance wellness. Explicating music’s function in communities can lead to healthy outcomes. During the COVID pandemic, communities tended to isolate, increasingly avoiding in-person interactions. Progress in music-based interventions highlights the potential of live music to improve our sense of community. The need for social prescribing to develop and maintain community brings us together. We propose a model that highlights how music serves as a social modality for maintaining wellness. As a musician and a music therapist, our focus includes analyses of historical contexts through time, and how through humanity’s struggles we’ve relied on music’s integrative elements to unite us, moving toward resilience as a quest to survive. Integrating these trajectories and expanding upon them, we elucidate ways that live engagement in music can strengthen performance and health and wellness. Music’s capacity to treat social aspects of humanity changes the way humanity works within community. This includes our sense of feeling connection and togetherness that feeds social willingness to perceive intimate relationships. In contexts where healthcare systems prioritize symptom management, we must realize that the larger picture includes how we socialize, thus Social Music is supported herein as an inclusive model of care.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine music teacher agency within the frames of an in-school music education program in India, as it unfolds in a collaboration between India and Norway. The concept of relational agency, informed by cultural-historical activity theory (Edwards, 2005) constitutes the theoretical framework. The study draws on six interviews with music teachers and one leader of a music school in India. Important for the development of the in-school music program, has been establishing a community of music teachers, which fosters an environment of inclusivity, safety, and professional values. Central to these values is a vision of a music program that sees every child as musically talented and promotes active participation, emphasizing student well-being as much as musical learning. The musical material developed in the collaboration, embodies these professional values and standards. Teacher agency, distinct from teacher autonomy, requires the capacity to align with and negotiate the professional values in the community. Essential to the community is the establishment of a relational infrastructure that enhances agency.

Abstract Emotions are an important part of university teachers’ well-being and can interfere with teachers’ motivation to teach, their quality of teaching, and their willingness to engage in educational development. This mixed-methods study explores academics’ emotional experiences before, during, and after they engage in teaching, as well as what factors trigger these emotions. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from university teachers in a large research-intensive university in Norway using a questionnaire. Statistical analyses and qualitative analyses of free-text responses confirmed that university teachers are emotionally activated by teaching and that the emotional valence varies with the different phases of teaching. Excitement, pride, doubt, and anxiety were the most prevalent emotions, while anger, shame and boredom were experienced less frequently. Interaction with students was found to be the most important trigger of emotions. Lack of leadership support and acknowledgement triggered negative emotions. Implications for supporting university teachers are discussed.

This article explores deep learning in collaborative music-making contexts, examining the experiences of nine electric guitar and bass students (aged 17–18) in Norwegian upper secondary schools. Deep learning is conceptualized as meaningful learning and transfer of learning, analysed through cognitive, social, affective, embodied and performative dimensions. Using the metaphor of mycorrhizal networks – underground systems of plant roots and fungi – knowledge is framed as interconnected and constantly evolving. Based on participatory observations and semi-structured interviews, the study highlights diverse learning approaches across genres, tensions between formal and informal situations, and the role of collaboration in fostering deep learning. Insights emphasize the need for inclusive and flexible music education frameworks that accommodate diverse genres and pedagogical approaches to support deep learning and creative growth.

Introduction Mitigating occupational stress for professional dementia caregivers in residential aged care facilities is critical to workforce sustainability, care quality, health, and economic burden. This study examines the evidence to understand how occupational stress is experienced and how it may be mitigated by interventions. Methods A systematic review of CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed and MEDLINE databases was conducted to identify original research published in English between 1995 and March 2023. Two reviewers screened search results. Quality was appraised using the Downs and Black Checklist, CASP and MMAT. Framework synthesis was used to synthesise data. Results 52 studies were eligible for the review from 1,121 aged care facilities and involving 16,372 caregivers. Data synthesis resulted in a Conceptual Ecosystem of Professional Dementia Caregivers’ Experience of Occupational Stress in Residential Aged Care Settings, which proposes a complex and active system with dependent factors. Stress is experienced psychologically, physically and relationally. Activators and mediators of stress occur every day and as singular events. Interventions that address multiple factors simultaneously appear most effective. Conclusion Professional caregiver occupational stress is systems-based and complex. Interventions are recommended that prevent stress activating events, reduce constant stress activators, and increase constant stress mediators. Practical implications are discussed.

Disruptions, i.e. things or events that interrupt the normal or expected, may be experienced as something positive, but also as something negative. They are an integral part of clinical trials, often representing ethical challenges. As researchers, we are the agents of disruption: we intervene in participants’ lives by implementing interventions and collecting data; we engage stakeholders and ask colleagues for support. How do these disruptions affect the researchers themselves? In this study, we explore disruptions from a researcher’s perspective in a qualitative self-study of our experiences while working together on an international randomised controlled trial. The data comprises qualitative interviews with us, the music therapy research team in the Norwegian partner institution of the trial. The interviews were analysed using a collaborative reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes, representing different types of disruption and qualities in our experiences of them, were identified: background noise, rejection, empathic disruption, and disruptive dissonance. These themes share the characteristics of being relational, sometimes ambiguous, and influencing each other, requiring interpretation in context. This complexity makes them challenging to define and navigate. We argue that continuous reflection on different disruptions and negotiation of their boundaries are vital to ensure high ethical research standards and to support researchers’ self-care.

BackgroundMusic attuned technology – care via eHealth (MATCH) supports caregivers to use music-based strategies to enhance the care of people with dementia. It comprises a mobile app with an embedded training programme co-designed by music therapy experts and service users. This article presents findings from the first MATCH trial in the community.MethodsThirteen dyads (caregivers and care-recipients) trialled MATCH in an 8-week pre-post single-arm proof-of-concept study. We evaluated the acceptability (Acceptability E-Scale (AES)) and usability (System Usability Scale (SUS)) of MATCH, knowledge gain (Knowledge Assessment), and preliminary effects of MATCH strategies on mood and agitation (Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q); Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI)). Caregivers also completed weekly check-in interviews and maintained a paper diary, where they reported their use of MATCH (adherence) and any perceived effects; this data was analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsParticipants found MATCH acceptable (combined AES median score of 28, range 25–34) and useful (SUS median score of 73.5, range 55–100). NPI-Q scores showed a reduction in the severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia (median change: −5, 95% confidence interval (CI): −9, 0) and associated caregiver distress reduction (median change: −7, 95% CI: −13, 0). Qualitative findings revealed overall positive impacts of MATCH, including perceived benefits for mood, cognition, engagement and connectedness, easing personal care, and reducing agitation and caregiver stress. Additionally, findings highlighted barriers, enablers, and instances where MATCH was less helpful.ConclusionMATCH has the potential to help people with dementia and caregivers develop new music-based routines that can support wellbeing and connectedness and reduce distress.

This article examines comprovisation – an interweaving of composition and improvisation – through the string trio Landstrykere (Kari Rønnekleiv, Ole Henrik Moe and Tanja Orning). Operating within genre-free improvisation, the trio blends classical, contemporary and experimental influences, moving beyond traditional stylistic boundaries. Their music is shaped by recurring parameters such as harmonic transitions, extended techniques, and shared timbral gestures. This highlights the musician as compositional material, where performers' embodied histories and idiosyncratic musicianship shape the creative process. Building on Sandeep Bhagwati's concept of comprovisation (‘Comprovisation – concepts and techniques’, in Henrik Frisk and Stefan Östersjö (eds) (Re)thinking Improvisation, Lund University Press, 2013, pp. 99–104), this article expands the term by addressing its inherent composer-performer hierarchies. While the literature often presents comprovisation as a balance between structure and performer agency, it frequently retains a composer-centered perspective where the composer ultimately controls the final work. In contrast, Landstrykere embraces an egalitarian, collaborative model, where real-time interplay balances premeditation and spontaneity, creating a dynamic continuum between composition and improvisation. Using artistic research methodologies (Henrik Borgdorff, 2010), the study integrates theoretical reflection with embodied practice to explore how musical material emerges from performers' physical and historical connections to their instruments. Theoretical frameworks include Derek Bailey's idiomatic/non-idiomatic improvisation, George Lewis's notions of personal voice and narrative, and Jeff Pressing's ‘referent’ as an underlying structure in improvisation. The article argues that genre-free improvisation is never truly ‘free’, as it is shaped by internalized traditions and shared aesthetics. Challenging the dichotomy between composition and improvisation, it reframes comprovisation as a collective, intersubjective practice where musicians, as embodied agents, shape the music itself. The concept of material is expanded to include not only sounds and structures but also the musicians themselves – through their physicality, histories, and personal artistry – becoming both the source and site of musical creation. Landstrykere's approach dissolves traditional boundaries between composer, performer, and material, offering new insights into collective authorship and innovation in contemporary creative practices.

Objectives People living with dementia often experience behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), which severely affect their well-being during the course of the disease. Particularly for BPSD outcomes, there is a high demand for increasing the evidence-based knowledge of non-pharmacological approaches, such as music-based interventions. Although previous reviews emphasize the potential effects of music-based interventions in people with dementia, they cover a wide range of different interventions and outcomes. Method Therefore, this systematic review (SR) and network meta-analysis (NMA) aims to not only investigate the efficacy of music-based interventions on BPSD, but also to compare the impact of different types of music-based interventions on outcomes. Preferred reporting items for SR and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) and the PRISMA NMA extension were followed. Several databases will be searched from inception to the date the search will be performed, for relevant randomized or non-randomized controlled trials comparing a music-based intervention with treatment as usual, active controls, or another music-based intervention. Multivariate pairwise meta-analyses will be conducted for each outcome. NMA based on a frequentist random-effects model will be used to estimate the comparative effects of each type of music-based intervention and related components across outcomes. Heterogeneity will be investigated by meta-regression models. Conclusion Based on our knowledge, this may be the first SR and NMA study to compare the efficacy of different types of music-based interventions. In addition, combined with our multivariate analysis approach, it will allow us to identify potential effect modifiers in music-based intervention for treating BPSD.