Mika Pohjola
Through his dissertation project, Mika Pohjola aims to research the relation between the identities of being a performing musician, a student musician and particularly a music teacher.
Project title: Musical identity – The music teacher student's identity dimensions
Research Education Subject: Educational Science
Principal supervisor: Prof. Erkki Huovinen, KMH
Assistant supervisor: Per Lindqvist, Linnaeus University, Kalmar
Admitted to: Lund University
Project period: 2022–2027
Purpose of the dissertation work
As a part of Lund University's ROCIT (Research on Collaboration in Teacher Education) research school, Mika explores the relation between the identities of being a performing musician, a student musician and particularly a music teacher. The primary focus is on the identity transformation – or possibly accumulation – of a pre-service music teacher. This scenario and process could be described with a joint term: “musical identity.” Additionally, this project aims to delve into what theoretical and notation-based tools pre-service teachers use in their musical performance related activities and teaching.
The results of the dissertation work may lead to considerations on how a college education or a college preparatory education can provide the necessary tools and study circumstances for a student teacher; partly for the newly graduated music teachers to continue developing as a performing musician, partly to pursue their university studies with a future teaching profession as a tenured career.
About the PhD student
Mika Pohjola was born in Finland in 1971. After studies in classical piano as a child he moved to Stockholm to pursue high school and conservatory studies at KMH. He continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA in his early twenties, and subsequently moved to New York, from where he lead his career as a jazz pianist and composer until 2012. Mika has toured in Europe, North and South America and Japan with his U.S. ensembles, been awarded as a Steinway Artist, and produced about 40 albums under his own name. He lives in Stockholm since 2012 and has two master’s degrees from KMH, one in jazz composition and another one in music production.
