The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how performers can develop and/or transform their artistic voice through the process of transcribing and imitating an iconic musician. To fulfil this aim, I formulated the following research questions: How can a performer’s voice be developed and transformed through a process of transcription and imitation?What is the impact of the affordances of the diatonic harmonica in such processes?How does transcription from an instrument other than the harmonica alter these processes?In what ways can an application of the process of transcription and imitation contribute to student autonomy in the teaching and learning of music performance in Higher Music Education? I have used several methods common in traditional music scholarship when interviewing, transcribing and emulating the playing of iconic harmonica player Charlie McCoy. Based on the findings, I have developed a personal artistic method for generating original material. The design of the project is situated in the field of artistic research, aiming to examine a performers transformational journey. This method provided me with not only an understanding of what I could, and aspired to, contribute to the field of Country harmonica playing, but also with the playing techniques required to do so.    Based on the findings in this artistic project, I performed a study with harmonica students in higher music education, with the aim to help them initiate a process leading to the fostering of an individual voice, through transcription and imitation. In the final analysis, the project points to the close connection between the notion of transformative learning and the informal learning typical of the teaching and learning of popular music in general.