The master and the apprentice: Educational power and musical culture in the “wild, wild west”

The master–apprentice model has received substantial criticism within music education. While critiques often focus on the negative impact on the artistic agency of students and the rigid hierarchical structure of master–apprentice teaching, the ways in which gendered bodies move through and navigate such spaces are rarely considered. Through in-depth interviews with 20 musical women who work in the Australian Classical Music Institution (ACMI), this study identifies the presence of abusive and sexist behaviour in the Australian community and demonstrates how the role of a “master” pedagogue indoctrinates its musical women, perpetuating and normalising abusive pedagogical practices that extend into workplace culture. Drawing on the accounts of these musical women, this article presents a model to conceptualise and problematise the cyclic nature of the master–apprentice model and calls for a diversification of pedagogy within instrumental music education. The lived experiences of musical women working in the ACMI highlights how it is not merely the individuals within the system who perpetuate a culture of abuse, but the system itself that enables—and, indeed, encourages—gendered and abusive behaviour.