From teaching skill to performing art

Is it possible to move away from a highly specialized and skill driven methodology to a more indeterminate and elusive approach without loosing the craft? In music we know that a number of hours practicing is necessary in order to become a skilled performer. Is teaching music merely to supervise that practicing? Of course not. So why are we talking about teaching music so much in terms of technique and so little in terms of art?

Some of the newer expressions in music of the last 70 years lack this strong relation to skill. Not the least music technology has become an area where performance skill has been nullified, partly because music-technology instruments gets constant updates making any skill developed obsolete.

But in music in general, is there an order to which knowledge has to be developed? Is skill naturally a condition for an informed discussion on aesthetics? My feeling is that we need to focus on aesthetics in music teaching and supervision of music students. We need to think more about the possibilities of our art rather than the our possibilities in practicing our art.