Digital tools and technology can be considered as important driving forces in our rapidly changing society, requiring explorative, creative approaches to new challenges. The renewal of the national Norwegian curriculum features critical thinking, technology skills and practical learning as core issues, along with three interdisciplinary themes: citizenship and democracy, public health and life skills and sustainable development (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2019). These issues must therefore be addressed in music teaching and learning in schools, as well as music teacher education.
Through the FUTURED research project, the current state of general teacher education in music is investigated further, and issues of critical reflexivity, agency, development of new curricula and assessment examined and researched. One of the main research tasks identified in the project involve the development of collaborative, innovative and interactive music education in schools (Christophersen, 2018, p. 3). The MineMixMusic project delves into this task, seeking to develop critical and inquiry-based practices inside and outside of the music classroom, and to explore and understand how innovative approaches with digital tools can provide new access points for music education in the 21st century. The overarching aim is to study how interactive, collaborative and innovative music education spaces be opened up through co-creative practices and critical reflection processes, promoted and mediated by digital tools connecting virtual reality, the music classroom, and the outside world.
