Tracing Transformation through Academic Continuing Education

Music Mediation as a Boundary-spanning Practice in Higher Music Education Institutions

Abstract

This article presents a theory-informed reflection on practice concerning transformation in higher music education by examining boundary-spanning music mediation practices in academic continuing education. It focuses on the Schleswig-Holstein Competence Centre for Music Education (KMB.SH) and the continuing education programme Music in Social Work/Community Music at the University of Music Lübeck (MHL). The analysis traces how music mediation supports ongoing translation between the professional logics of higher music education institutions, music education and social work, and how transformation processes become observable through this work. At the micro and meso levels, the article examines potentials for change, including shifts in professional role understandings and the negotiation of musical quality in socially situated music making. It argues that music mediation contributes to transformation as a practice embedded within a wider set of conditions and identifies limits in terms of reach, resources, and structural stability.