21st Century Music Practice – Research Network Launch
On November 26th 2016 at the University of West London
A new London & SE research network on 21st Century Music Practice involving sixteen universities and other higher education institutions will be launched at a public event on Saturday 26th November from 1pm to 5pm followed by a wine reception. The network will organise six one-day study days throughout 2017 to encourage and disseminate research on the practices of 21st century music. The launch event will include short presentations on each of these six topics followed by discussions.
Confirmed speakers include: Lisa Busby (Goldsmiths), Mark Doffman (Oxford University), Leah Kardos (Kingston University), Rodreguez King-Dorset (University of West London), Milton Mermikides (University ofSurrey), Tom Perchard (Goldsmiths), Helen Reddington (University of East London), HillegondaRietveld (London South Bank University), Chris Wiley (University of Surrey), Simon Zagorski-Thomas (University of West London)
The six presentations will discuss:
1. Performing With Technology
2. Interaction And Collaboration
3. Musical Worlds And Environments
4. Teaching And Creativity
5. Students And Practice As Research
6. Seeing And Sound
The University Of West London, St Marys Road, London W5 5RF
http://www.uwl.ac.uk/about-us/our-location/getting-university/getting-ealing
November 26th 2016 from 1pm to 5pm followed by wine reception
A list of the participating institutions in the network can be found at: http://www.uwl.ac.uk/academic-schools/music/lcm-research/current-research-projects/21st-century-music-practice
The event is free but please email [log in to unmask] to reserve a place.
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Most academic research events or publications that use the term ‘music’ in their title (without an epithet such as ‘popular’) refer to western art music but that is a tiny subset of the music that is played and listened to in the 21st century. Indeed, the musical lives of contemporary musicians are far more inter-disciplinary than the academics who study them. This research network was established as a contribution to several recent trends towards more inter-disciplinarity in the academic study of music. By organising a series of study days about quite broadly defined themes the aim is to bring together academics and practitioners from a range of musical cultures - popular music, musical theatre, performance studies, music for visual media, recording, electronic and electroacoustic music, live sound, ethnomusicology and composition. The focus on practice is also important in that it highlights the idea that music is a process or an activity rather than a thing. That doesn’t dismiss the music itself, but it does suggest a study of the ways in which listeners, composers and performers interpret the sound as opposed to the study of certain intrinsic features in a score. Indeed it’s not an ideological attempt to oust this more traditional approach to studying music, simply an attempt to continue a trend to see both flourish. The network is framed as relating to London and SE England because it is about face to face activities. Academics from elsewhere in the UK and abroad who happen to find themselves in the proximity of these events would be more than welcome to participate.
Discussion of the six planned events will for the backbone of the launch event but it is also an opportunity for networking with other scholars and hopefully making plans for further events in the future. The six themes that have been identified so far are:
1. Performing With Technology: looking at how musicians work with studio technology (both analogue and digital), exploring the interfaces and possibilities of electronic music performance and examining how the technological staging of popular music and musical theatre has an impact on performance.What types of new creative practices are emerging? How do they work in both the technical and aesthetic sense? What kinds of opportunities and threats do they afford?
2. Interaction & Collaboration: Twenty first century music practices have brought forth a variety of new ways to collaborate and to interact – most obviously through the internet. How can we understand the mechanisms of ensemble-based creativity in both new and established forms as they exist in contemporary music making? What are the historical hierarchies of power in rehearsal, performance, production and presentation and what is being done to either sustain or change them?
3. Musical Worlds & Environments: The places in which musical activity occurs are a key determinant of musical cultures. Theatres, concert halls, festivals, clubs and pubs, university music departments, conservatoires, recording studios and the other formal and informal spaces of music making and musical networking have all changed dramatically in recent years. Even where the physical spaces have remained roughly the same, their relationship with the rest of the world has changed. Of course, the 21st century has also seen the evolution of virtual musical worlds as well. What is the nature of these places and spaces and what types of change are we witnessing? How are they affecting the processes and cultures of music making?
4. Teaching & Creativity: This theme involves both the idea of ‘Teaching Creatively’ and ‘Teaching Creativity’. As educators we need to understand the process of learning. Through theory such as Vygotsky’szone of proximal development or Lave’slegitimate peripheral participation in situated learning we can examine our current pedagogical practice, evaluate it and consider how it can be improved. However, should we be looking for a unified approach to education or is variety a good thing? Perhaps in the brave new world of TEF, HEIs or even departments should develop their own teaching philosophy and methods as a USP.
5. Students & Practice As Research:A large part of musical activity is tacit knowledge – knowledge that is transmitted via experience rather than via text or the spoken word. Practice as research is a central part of current research into these forms of musical activity and one of the key challenges for academics is to find ways of creating parity of rigor and between outputs of ‘traditional’ research and practice as research. This is as true of assessing student work in higher education as it of our research community.
6. Seeing & Sound: The last century of recorded music and amplified concert music (and theatre) have, in large part, involved the synchronization of the aural and the visual. This theme examines this phenomenon from a variety of angles – whether it be recorded music for visual media such as film, television or computer games, or the use of highly mediatised musicin contemporary musical theatre. What we see influences what we hear and therefore we need to understand that interaction to successfully produce music for visual media.
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The London & SE 21st Century Music Practice Research Network was established by Professor Simon Zagorski-Thomas of the University of West London in the summer of 2016. The aim is to encourage and disseminate research and scholarly collaboration that includes all areas of contemporary musical activity. In particular the network will seek to stimulate discourse between disciplines: bringing together scholars from popular music, musical theatre, performance studies, music for visual media, recording, electronic and electroacoustic music, live sound, ethnomusicology and composition to discuss broad themes that are relevant across subject boundaries.
For further details about the event or to be added to the JISC mailing list please contact: [log in to unmask]
Participating HEIs
British & Irish Modern Music (BIMM) Institute
Goldsmiths, University of London
Institute of Contemporary Music Practice (ICMP)
Kingston University
London South Bank University (LSBU)
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford University
Portsmouth University
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Southampton Solent University
University of Surrey
University of Sussex
University of East London (UEL)
London College of Music, University of West London
Westminster University
Winchester University
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