Researcher
Intergenerational Näppäri music education promoting socio-cultural sustainability in Finland
This study addresses the potential of music education to promote sustainability in societies. Sustainability is understood in the context of ecological theorization, encompassing social and communal aspects as well as intangible cultural heritages. The study explores Finnish Näppäri music education, an inclusive intergenerational practice rooted in folk music, through an instrumental case study. Research questions focus on participant experiences shaping ecological understandings of Näppäri in relation to sustainable music education. The first findings of the study suggest that Näppäri highlights the need for a transition of mental models in music education towards 1) widening accessibility to culture-making, 2) intergenerational social inclusion, and 3) musical pluriversality through translating heritage in contemporary society. These three interconnected dimensions can be seen to together pave the way to the transformational politics of sustainability in Finnish society.
The Finnish Cultural Foundation funds the research.
Presentations
Symposium presentation: Counterlabelling as a political act towards sustainability: Transitions in and through Näppäri music education. Presidential Sessions. International Society for Music Education. World Conference in Helsinki, Finland. July 31, 2024.
Presentation: Näppäri music education as a counterlabelling act and critical counter-practice. Society and Research in Dialogue. Siba Research Days. Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts. Helsinki, Finland. March 15, 2024.
Invited speech: Unleashing the Potential of Folk: Equal access, Social change, and the Näppäri Practice. Transformative Resonance & the Arts: Social change, Accountability, and Imagination. Seminar. Malmö Academy of Music/Lund university, Sweden. November 8, 2023.
Presentation: Elevating local musical heritage: Finnish Näppäri practice as a game changer. 3rd European Music School Symposium. University of Performing Arts Vienna, Austria. October 6, 2023.
Invited speech: Between changing society and sustaining heritage: Elevating locality in and through the hybrid Näppäri practice. Communality & the Arts: Place, sustainability and heritage. Seminar in Lund University, Malmö Academy of Music, Sweden. November 8, 2022.
Invited speech: The Finnish Näppäri practice. European Network for Music School Research. Doctoral student forum in the presymposium. University of Performing Arts Vienna, Austria. October 13, 2022.
Symposium presentation: The Näppäri practice: An educational innovation for sustaining local folk music traditions in Finland. International Society for Music Education. World Conference in Brisbane, Australia (online). July 20, 2022.
Presentation: Researcher’s memories as part of data: Seeking social and cultural sustainability in the Finnish Näppäri practice. PhD day in Nordic Network for Research in Music Education Conference. Jyväskylä, Finland.
April 4, 2022.
Publications
Lamminmäki, N. (upcoming). Rethinking music school education through Näppäri: Intergenerational meaning-making towards socio-cultural sustainability.
Lamminmäki, N., Sæther, E., Treacy, D., & Westerlund, H. (in print). ‘Counterlabelling’ as a political act: Towards ecological sustainability in and of Finnish folk music education. In A. Odendaal & D.S. Treacy. (Eds.), Ecological transitions in and through music education. Springer.
Backer Johnsen, H., Capponi-Savolainen, A., Choi, S., Fornhammar, L., Jääskeläinen, T., Kallio, A. A., Kamensky, H., Keskinen, K. A., Kivijärvi, S., Koivisto, T-A., Lamminmäki, N., Lehtinen-Schnabel, J., Mesiä, S., Miettinen, L., Siljamäki, E., Snellman, A., Thomson, K., Timonen, V., Treacy, D., Tuovinen, T., & Vallenius, L. (2020). Collaboratively Navigating Liminality in Music Education Doctoral Studies. In Laes, T. & Hautsalo, L. (Eds.). Remarks on a visionary’s journey. An anthology celebrating Heidi Westerlund. Hansaprint.