Thresholdconcepts … an issue for Music Education Research?

In my presentation I will discuss some possible connections between music-education discourses and the use of music in pedagogical practices. Today I´m involved in an interdisciplinary research project concerning Professional Discourse, Proficiency and Action Competence in the Late Modernity. In my presentation, this problem field is reduced to the problem of Music-Pedagogical Competence. The pivotal point here is the role music-education theories and threshold concepts can have regarding pedagogues competence to problematize and develop their use of music in their practices.
The aim of this presentation is to illuminate some aspect of the dialectic between problematizing and conceptualization in music education research in relation to artistic research. In connection with this, I will present the concept ―Music-Pedagogical Power of Definition‖. This concept is taken from my Ph.D thesis and is defined as ―the semiotic thinking that is connected to the pedagogue‘s ability to prepare learning-situations from the starting-point of his/her own interests and knowledge and the participants' musical capabilities. The music-pedagogical power of definition is not just awareness of the learning situation, but also the ability to act strategically from this awareness.‖
One of the problems that rise in the Ph.D. study is about the validity of music-education research in the critical discussion of musical learning in pedagogical practice. Professional threshold concepts are very complex and can never be considered as finally defined. An authentic music-pedagogical concept is not fixed to a scientific paradigm, but to critical thinking. It is also characterised by the fact that it is rooted in practical experience of music and development of musicals knowledge. Music pedagogical power of definition, therefore, could also be described as the ability of a pedagogue to use music-education theories on the basis of her own pedagogical and musical experience.
Hopefully the short presentation can inspire to identify and problematize research questions that can include educational, as well as art based research.