“Jag antar att det handlar om att guida som en coach, leda som en ordförande och vara experten när det behövs”: En studie om handledning av låtskrivningsprocesser

Sammanfattning: When reading course plans for music classes or looking into the available music courses in the Swedish school systems’ pre higher and higher educations (gymnasium, folkhögskola and post gymnasium), the increased interest in creating music is shining through. Using Bennett’s (2012b) argument “if songwriting can’t be taught, it can certainly be learned” (Bennett, 2012b, s. 34) from the article You can’t teach songwriting…! as a starting point, this study explores which strategies and positions music teachers use to guide and critique students through songwriting processes at the levels of “gymnasium”, “folkhögskola” and post “gymnasium”. Through semi-structured interviews with five teachers teaching songwriting a pattern manifests itself, only two of the teachers have gotten useful strategies from their own previous education that has helped them in the setting of songwriting critiques. It has also been perceived that different schools don’t share a common view of what the subject songwriting should contain. As a result, the subjects making up the different songwriting courses can vary greatly and are dependent either on each specific teacher or school. This study shows that peer critique and a good ability for self-critique are desirable goals in songwriting to help the students’ develop their songwriting ability and strengthen them so as to prepare them to be a part of the challenging music industry. The result indicates that the teacher’s knowledge of feedback in creative processes are relevant for the students’ development in the above mentioned abilities. One of the strategies for coaching of songwriting processes, as the result indicates, is to focus on the process as opposed to the goal, using a coaching mindset with the student’s musical vision as a starting point.