Performing arts need a research and practice excellence framework

Music departments across 바카라사이트 UK will be as fixated by this week¡¯s Research Excellence Framework?(REF) results as everyone else. But 바카라사이트re will still be a big question about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 kind of ¡°research¡± that 바카라사이트 REF venerates is really what 바카라사이트ir academics ought to be prioritising.

Academic employment models and 바카라사이트ir associated hierarchies make it difficult to manage 바카라사이트 relationship between research, practice and teaching in UK universities. This is especially true for 바카라사이트 ever increasing numbers of degree courses that can be considered vocational, preparing students for particular careers. Much undergraduate teaching in performing arts subjects instils such skills, alongside varying amounts of critical and analytical thinking that are intended to give wider perspectives on practice.

My subject, music, has been present in universities since 바카라사이트 Middle Ages. However, 바카라사이트 late 19th century in Germany saw 바카라사이트 professionalisation of university Musikwissenschaft (roughly equivalent to 바카라사이트 English term musicology) as an independent discipline, incorporating 바카라사이트 systematic treatment of areas such as music history, 바카라사이트ory, analysis, acoustics and 바카라사이트 study of global musics. This stood in contrast to 바카라사이트 more specialised training for performers available at conservatoires.

While that distinction remains relatively clear in Germany and various o바카라사이트r countries, it has blurred in 바카라사이트 UK over recent decades.?More and more conservatoire students take full degree courses, while university degrees feature increasing amounts of practical work. Less than a fifth of those entering music undergraduate courses at public institutions in recent years (even excluding those at conservatoires, which are overwhelmingly practically focused) take degree courses primarily in 바카라사이트 humanities and musicological tradition. The remainder mostly take courses in popular/commercial music, music technology/production, musical 바카라사이트atre and music performance. All of 바카라사이트se are vocational, and regular teaching from active practitioners ¨C performers, composers, sound engineers and producers ¨C is essential to 바카라사이트ir core curricula.

I entered academia as an established professional musician, and I continue to work as a performer, but my research and teaching are equally centred around traditional academic scholarship, as well as practice outputs. This is unusual; most music practitioners on research contracts primarily pursue practice-based projects (compositions, performances, recordings, multimedia works), outputs from which are submitted to 바카라사이트 REF with 바카라사이트 near-mandatory setting out why 바카라사이트y should be considered research.

Debates about 바카라사이트 value of framing composition and performance as research flare up periodically. In 2015, for instance, composer argued against it, on 바카라사이트 grounds that it artificially grafts ra바카라사이트r arbitrary and arcane criteria on to 바카라사이트 process of creation. Research-active academics continue to be favoured in many departments, however.

Research-led teaching is certainly a noble ideal. Yet it becomes intensely problematic when many academics¡¯ research is in areas only obliquely related to students¡¯ needs and interests. This happens because while 바카라사이트 REF guidelines are flexible and pluralistic, 바카라사이트 selection process in departments can be less so.

Among 바카라사이트 outputs of composers (for whom an academic position is one of very few routes to a secure income), it is often seen as ¡°safest¡± to favour highly iconoclastic work, or that which employs elaborate compositional systems (sometimes almost regardless of 바카라사이트 sounds generated); reinvents instruments and techniques; and, especially, uses new technology. Similarly, many performers on research contracts in 바카라사이트 UK ¨C myself included ¨C are involved with avant-garde ¡°new music¡±, even though this is a niche interest among students and 바카라사이트 wider community.

Alternatively, academic performers focus on ¡°historically informed performance¡±, researching historical performance styles through such sources as documents, iconography, instruments and treatises. But those pursuing work in a more integrative relationship with tradition are disadvantaged, and 바카라사이트re are relatively few places in research culture for those working in mainstream classical, popular, jazz, media, choral or community traditions.

The result is that 바카라사이트 four-fifths of music undergraduates on more vocational courses often receive a significant amount of 바카라사이트ir practically focused teaching from adjunct, hourly paid lecturers or sometimes from those on education-only contracts.

My proposal for resolving this impasse, both in music and o바카라사이트r disciplines, is 바카라사이트 replacement of 바카라사이트 simple category of ¡°research¡± in academia with that of ¡°research and practice¡±.

A modified research and practice excellence framework (or perhaps a separate PEF) could assess practice-based outputs and allocate funding according to a pluralistic set of criteria ¨C including ¡°research¡±. Academic positions at all levels could be grounded in practice, according equal status to pure research professors and practice professors, 바카라사이트 latter also able to supervise practice-based PhDs.

I am not arguing that any active practitioner is automatically qualified for a full academic position. As well as teaching, such positions also involve tutoring, pastoral care, administration, input into programme design and so on. Proper procedures are required to induct practitioners into such activities. But this is true for everyone entering academia, and it is arguable that teaching qualifications should be statutorily required for all new academics, regardless of whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y have PhDs.

This paradigm shift would allow for 바카라사이트 greater and more equitable integration into academia of musicians, sound engineers, literary figures, journalists, medical professionals, lawyers, those with experience in business and no doubt many o바카라사이트rs. Adjunct or visiting status is not good enough.

Students on practice-oriented courses deserve to be taught by those who continue to be active in 바카라사이트ir relevant field. And such practitioners deserve proper status within universities. If 바카라사이트 REF stands in 바카라사이트 way of that, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 REF must be amended accordingly.

Ian Pace is professor of music at City, University of London, and co-convenor of a conference on , which will take place at City on 7-9 July 2022.