ABSTRACT
This chapter explores that cultural formation is regarded as an important pre-condition for collaborative learning. It presents the power issues inherent in collaborative music learning. In the collaborative classroom, music students may learn that their opinions are valued, and that they are expected to contribute actively in decision-making. Collaborative learning in higher music education can encompass many different musical activities such as group improvisation, ensemble playing/singing, computer-assisted composition, wiki writing, drum circles, panel debates, peer tutoring and academic supervision. A related issue to collaborative learning in higher music education concerns processes of formal evaluation. In a collaborative music-learning situation, students are supposed actively to seek out and construct musical knowledge; they are expected to do so in willing collaboration with other knowledgeable peers. Pierre Bourdieu's arguments indicate that whether a collaborative attitude 'sneaks up' on the students by situational habituation, or is imposed on them more explicitly, it is either way linked to power.
