Guro Gravem Johansen

My research interests center around learning and teaching in jazz and improvised music. Instrumental practice is also a crucial aspect of my research. Previously, I have investigated the connection between ear training, aural skills, and improvisational abilities. My doctoral thesis, titled 'Practising Improvisation' (2013), was a qualitative study of Scandinavian jazz students' practice habits, with a specific focus on the development of improvisational skills. In the field of practice, I have co-authored several published research articles and led various development projects across musical genres at the conservatory level.

Furthermore, I conducted an extensive ethnographic study of 'Improbasen,' an instrumental teaching practice in Oslo catering to beginners on their instruments, exclusively offering instruction in jazz improvisation. In this study, I applied sociocultural theory on how children learn in collaboration with adults through 'guided participation.' The study resulted in the monograph 'Children's guided participation in jazz improvisation: A study of the 'Improbasen' learning centre,' published by Routledge (2021).

I have served as a co-editor for a special issue of Frontiers in Education addressing gender aspects in jazz education. Additionally, I contributed an article to this issue examining the relationship between gender, children's identification, and the development of belief in their own future mastery (self efficacy) within the jazz tradition, based on sociocognitive theory of vicarious learning.

I have also investigated teaching in free improvisation at European conservatories in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh. Additionally, I have conducted trailing research on a larger European collaborative project within higher jazz education, with a focus on the development of repertoire and methods within large jazz ensembles.
 

At Musikhögskolan Ingesund I teach Almän musikdidaktik (General music didactics). Previously, I have taught at the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Music Conservatory in Tromsø, and the Department of Musicology at the University of Oslo. I have taught jazz vocals as main instrument, jazz vocal didactics, general didactics for rhythmic music, jazz ear training, music pedagogy, general music didactics, voice technique, improvisation, and practising workshops.
 
 
 

During the period 2016-2018, I served as Norway's representative in the INA Council within the global association ISME (International Society for Music Education). I have been the editor-in-chief for the anthology "Expanding the space for improvisation pedagogy in music: A transdisciplinary approach" (Routledge, 2019)  along with an international editorial group consisting of Kari Holdhus (Stord, Norway), Christina Larsson (Karlstad, Sweden), and Una MacGlone (Glasgow/Edinburgh, Scotland). I am also a member of the Advisory Board for the British association Jazz in Education Initiative and the editor-in-chief for Nordic Research in Music Education, where I lead an international editorial team comprising Marie Helene Zimmerman-Nilsson (Sweden), Sanna Kivijärvi, and Danielle Treacy (Finland).

I earned a Bachelor's degree in music education with jazz vocals as my main instrument at the Norwegian Academy of Music in 1998, a Master's degree in 2003, and a Ph.D. in the same field and institution in 2013. Since 1999, I have been teaching various jazz, singing, and didactics-related subjects at the Norwegian Academy of Music and other higher education institutions in Norway. I also have extensive experience as a conductor for children's choirs, women's choirs, and mixed choirs, and I have taught music in primary school, at the upper secondary level, and at a folk high school. I led the revision work for Fagfornyelsen for the Music, Dance, Drama program in Norwegian upper secondary school (2019-2021).

As a performing singer, I have sung in jazz bands and various improvisational ensembles. I have also contributed on several record releases, including collaborations with Söyr and Österdalsmusikk. I was the band leader for the jazz quartet Crazy Moon, which released an album in 2017 based on songs from the musical West Side Story. I would also like to highlight my collaboration with the cellist and composer Sergio Castrillion (Helsinki) and the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra.

MacGlone, Una & Guro Gravem Johansen. In Press. "Teaching free improvisation in European higher music education." International Journal of Music Education. 

Johansen, Guro Gravem. 2023. “Playing jazz is what she does”: The impact of peer identification and mastery experiences on female jazz pupils’ self-efficacy at Improbasen. Frontiers in Education 7:1066341. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.1066341

Johansen, Guro Gravem.  2021. Children´s Guided Participation in Jazz Improvisation: A Study of the ‘Improbasen’ Learning Centre. London: Routledge. 

Nielsen, Siw Graabræk, and Guro Gravem Johansen. 2021. “The role of peers in supporting learning in music.” In Routledge international handbook of music psychology in education and the community (chapter 26), edited by Andrea Creech, Donald Hodges and Susan Hallam.  Routledge.

Mwamba, Corey and Guro Gravem Johansen. 2021. “Everyone’s music? Explorations of the democratic ideal in jazz and improvised music.” In The World into Higher Music Education, edited by Sidsel Karlsen and Siw Graabræk Nielsen. Utdanningsforskning i musikk – skriftserie fra CERM (Centre for Educational Research in Music) [Educational research in music]. Vol. 2.  NMH-publikasjoner

Johansen, Guro Gravem. 2019. ”Seven steps to heaven? An epistemological exploration of learning in jazz improvisation, from the perspective of expansive learning and horizontal development.” In Expanding the space for improvisation pedagogy in music: A transdisciplinary approach, edited by Guro Gravem Johansen, Kari Holdhus, Christina Larsson, and Una MacGlone, 245-260. London: Routledge.

Johansen, Guro Gravem and Siw Graabræk Nielsen. 2019. “The Practicing Workshop: A Development Project.” Frontiers in Psychology; 10:2696, 1-9. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02695

Nielsen, Siw Graabræk, Guro Gravem Johansen and Harald Jørgensen. 2018. “Peer learning in Instrumental Practicing.” Frontiers in Psychology. 15 March 2018. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00339

Johansen, Guro Gravem. 2018. “Explorational instrumental practice: An expansive approach to the development of improvisational competence among jazz students.” Psychology of Music; 46(1), 49-65

Johansen, Guro Gravem. 2017. ”Genres, values, and music pedagogy students’ identity formation as music teachers in spe.” In Utdanningsforskning i musikk – didaktiske, sosiologiske of filosofiske perspektiver – Festskrift til Geir Johansen [Educational research in music – didactic, sociological and philosophical perspectives. Festschrift for Geir Johansen], edited by Siw Graabræk Nielsen and Øivind Varkøy, 127-139. Utdanningsforskning i musikk – skriftserie fra CERM (Centre for Educational Research in Music); Vol. 1. NMH-publikasjoner;2017:10.

Johansen, Guro Gravem. 2014. ”On my own. Autonomy in Learning practices among jazz students in higher education.” Finnish Journal of Music Education 2014 ; 17(2), 35-54

Johansen, Guro Gravem. 2013. “’Learning from musicians better than me’: The practice of copying from recordings in jazz students´instrumental practise.” In Aural Perspectives. On musical learning and practice in higher music education, edited by Inger Lise Reitan, Anne Katrine Bergby, Victoria Cecilie Jakhelln, Gro Shetelig, and Ingunn Fanavoll Øye, 75-96. Oslo: NMH-publications. The Norwegian Academy of Music.

Johansen, Guro Gravem. 2013. Å øve på improvisasjon. Ein kvalitativ studie av øvepraksisar hos jazzstudentar, med fokus på utvikling av improvisasjonskompetanse [To practise improvisation. A qualitativ study of practising practices among jazz students, with a particular focus on the development of improvisation skills.] Norges Musikkhögskole, PhD-avhandling.