“You can’t construct the mood alone” : Three Brazilian music teachers on teaching in Swedish highereducation.

Abstract: This thesis looks into cross-cultural music-making in higher education byexploring the plausible outcomes of the teaching of three Brazilian music teachers thatcame to a Swedish university to teach Brazilian music to Swedish students in theLinnaeus-Palme exchange project between the said university and a Brazilian universityin the 2010s. Through interviews the three Brazilian music teachers have given theirview of the teaching that took place, what they taught and why, and what methods theywere using. Comparing the answers to current literature, this thesis shows that there areboth musical gains that lead to musical maturity in working with new unknown materialwith insider teachers as well as gains in terms of cultural competence, a culturalawareness, when getting the chance to study with insider teachers that introduces thestudent to traditions and cultural values through the methods of their teaching. Culturalawareness is a useful competence when working in a multicultural society and aglobalized world, hence universities with music education should consider finding waysof letting students study with insider teachers.