Beyond single-loop correction: Musicians’ occupational health and professional role identity in tertiary music performance training

Background Music-related occupational health concerns are widely documented. However, in tertiary performance training, efforts to address these concerns are frequently positioned as supplementary “add-ons”. Interpreted through single-loop learning, such provision can leave governing assumptions and routine role expectations in tertiary performance training comparatively unexamined. Purpose This article examines how role meanings associated with musicians' occupational health remain conceptually adjacent to, rather than stabilised within, routine role expectations in tertiary performance training, and identifies what reconsideration of governing assumptions is implicated in moving toward a double-loop orientation. Methods Using principles of reflexive thematic analysis, the study analyses a purposively assembled corpus of published literature on musicians' occupational health in tertiary training and closely related professional contexts, constructing typifications from recurring accounts of behaviours and reported responses identified within the corpus, guided by organisational learning and identity theory. Results The analysis constructs three typifications—analytic constructions from recurring accounts that indicate how meanings associated with musicians’ occupational health are interpreted within routine training expectations: (1) pain normalisation and endurance-oriented practice; (2) teacher-centred help-seeking and blurred professional boundaries; and (3) student-led inquiry and discipline-internal reflexive engagement. Conclusions In a double-loop learning perspective, moving beyond outcome-focused correction involves reconsidering how professional meaning is organised within routine training expectations. The proposed framework outlines how meanings associated with musicians’ occupational health can become available as identity standard content within professional role identities, thereby framing musicians' occupational health as a routine dimension of professional formation.