From Music Higher Education to the Festival Stage: Questioning the Neoliberal Environments of Scottish Jazz

Raine, Sarah; Medbøe, Haftor

Abstract

As evidenced from the festival stage and behind the scenes (Raine, 2020), the UK jazz scene continues to be male-dominated and middle-class (Umney and Kretsos, 2015; Umney, 2016). Drawing upon interviews and focus groups with jazz musicians, educators, students and festival professionals, this chapter considers the intersecting ideologies of jazz and neoliberalism evident in both the Scottish jazz scene and the educational pipelines that feed it. We argue that, when left unchallenged, this ideological context inevitably leads to a culture of exclusion, monocultural student (and later musician) cohorts and ultimately an unsustainable national jazz scene. Reflecting on our own pedagogical practices at Edinburgh Napier University (UK), we offer a tentative toolkit for an inclusive, critical, and subversive approach to jazz Higher Education.

• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: May 24, 2024
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Higher Music Education and Employability in a Neoliberal World
• Chapter Number: 3
• ISBN: 9781350266957
• Publisher URL: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/higher-music-education-and-employability-in-a-neoliberal-world-9781350266957/