ABSTRACT
After World War II, the term 'popular music' has primarily been used to represent orally transferred musical traditions such as rock, pop, reggae, folk songs, world music and so forth. In this way, the concept of popular music encompasses many musical genres and styles, and it is such an understanding of the term that forms the basis for this article. The PhD specialisation in popular music performance was established in 2008 by the board of the University of Agder, in accordance with the national rules for the establishment of such studies in Norway given by NOKUT (the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education). In accordance with the changes to the overall structure of doctoral studies at the university in 2011, PhD education in popular music performance was changed to a PhD specialisation in popular music performance on the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Fine Arts.
