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Innovation is being called for to renew higher music education (HME) due to substantial societal changes, yet the implications of this trajectory remain unclear. By turning to institutional theory and Foucauldian theory, this article investigates how innovation is perceived in HME. Drawing from a case study in which twenty-four music performance students and professors were interviewed in Norway and the Netherlands, the findings suggest that the call for innovation is enmeshed with institutional politics. Indeed, innovative practices (e.g. genre independent programmes) have caused institutional resistance but also fostered necessary renewal. Thus, the balancing act between innovation and tradition is discussed.

Institutional change is being called for to renew higher music education (HME). But what institutional pressures, specifically, are driving these calls, and how are HME organisations responding to pressures to change? By turning to institutional theory, we lean on the concept of institutional isomorphism to shed light on how HME organisations may be navigating pressures to appear legitimate in the field to secure organisational survival. Drawing from a comparative case study of two HME organisations from Norway and the Netherlands, in which strategic plans and interview transcripts with students and professors have been analysed, we discuss how change processes are intertwined with an organisational quest for legitimacy. The findings suggest that there are overarching pressures to change in the field of HME and that variables in the institutional environment indicate how processes of change may unfold. Finally, implications of this unveiled landscape are discussed.