From 2004 to 2007, developmental research was performed at the Department of Music and Media in Piteå, a part of Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Sweden. The aim was to improve higher-level seminars with a focus on text-related responses. Due to Sture Brändström’s open-mindedness towards new ideas, this work took the form of an action research project in which PhD-students, senior lecturers and professors were involved. The project received internal financial support from LTU, and was thoroughly documented (Wennergren 2007b). In a Festschrift dedicated in honour of Sture, it has been a matter of course to write about ‘response seminars’, or ‘the Piteå model’, which has become the alternative name of the seminar model in question.In the following, we will portray the response model and highlight issues, which emerged within the heterogenic research community in Piteå. We will also describe and reflect upon some developmental strains of the model together with their consequences. Above all, we will discuss different kinds of generic skills that were utilised and developed within the frames of the academic seminar. Finally, we will discuss relevant challenges, which need to be confronted when a research community wants to avoid becoming trapped in routine-like traditions. We think our findings could serve as both inspiration and a basis for discussion.