ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. It rests on the idea and one shared conviction that collaborative learning is becoming one of the most powerful ways to deal with the challenges of development in music and higher music education. The chapter aims to embrace the tension between reflection within and beyond familiar professional cultures or, by using John Sloboda's distinction, between professional and paradigm reflection. It also aims to bridge theory and practice, to assemble the richness and multiplicity of international perspectives in order to address the large socio-cultural issues, collaboratively and through collaborative learning. The chapter seeks to transform the perception and illustrates that collaborative learning may equally relate to one-to-one contexts, peer-teaching, interdisciplinary collaborations, distributed networks, partnerships, mentoring and leadership. It provides an interesting platform to reflect on higher music education and on the challenges collaborative work faces within musical and educational traditions.
