Higher music education has recently increased its focus on preparing graduates for diverse and sustainable careers. This has necessitated an evolution in the approach to instrumental and vocal one-to-one tuition, from traditional instructional models, often referred to as the Master Apprentice model, to ones that are more transformative and prepare students for lifelong learning. Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process (CRP), which is gaining recognition as a valuable and effective process to give and receive feedback, is one approach that aligns with transformative pedagogy. CRP is a collaborative and inquiry-based process for receiving constructive feedback in a supportive environment. At the core of CRP is meaningful dialogue aimed at strengthening students' abilities to solve problems inherent in their own creative endeavours and in turn their autonomy. This autonomy, which includes the ability to problem solve and reflect, is important for emerging musicians, who are likely to have diverse portfolio careers, and to also become the next generation of music teachers.

Through a qualitative study involving focus groups with eight community vocal teachers enrolled in a Masters in Vocal Pedagogy program, one conservatoire investigated whether CRP is beneficial to one-to-one teachers wishing to develop a transformative approach to lessons and whether its use contributes to fostering student autonomy. Through the insights gained in this study, it is evident that CRP has the ability to increase teachers’ awareness of their pedagogical approach to lessons, and importantly, to break down the master-apprentice stereotype. CRP enhanced these teachers’ ability to use transformative pedagogical strategies such as critical questioning, collaboration and placing the responsibility for learning with the student, leading to more student autonomy of learning, responsibility and awareness in relation to their learning needs.

While some teachers experienced an initial discomfort in adapting the CRP process to the one-to-one context, working collaboratively through professional development opportunities assisted them to become more comfortable and confident in using its principles in their teaching practice. It would therefore appear that for transformative learning strategies such as CRP to be effectively implemented, professional development is both beneficial and desirable. While this investigation was conducted within a single institution, there is potential for the CRP to be applied both within instrumental and vocal contexts in other institutions, or within other educational contexts including higher degree research supervision, workshops and mentoring settings. This is turn will ensure students are better prepared for diverse and changing musical educational and employment opportunities where self-direction and critical thinking are key.