Creative learning and ‘original’ music performance

(John Rink – Cambridge)

This project explores the means by which creativity and originality in musical performance might be fostered in the teaching studio, practice room and academic classroom. Focusing on advanced students at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music, the research will interrogate conceptual constructions of originality in relation to performance, noting that while all performance may be creative, it may not be ‘original’.

The project will address six research questions:

• What qualities are thought to connote originality in given types of performance?
• How do notions of originality vary across different performance traditions, instruments, and teachers or learners?
• What teaching and learning techniques are most conducive to transmitting the musical skills and knowledge required to surpass the routine and predictable in musical performance?
• Should originality necessarily be considered the most important artistic goal for each and every performer?
• Is originality compatible with the interpretative traditions that many musicians feel inspired or obliged to perpetuate?
• How can the knowledge and skill acquired in the teaching studio, practice room and classroom be used to maximum benefit in performance?

Two postdoctoral research assistantships, held by Dr Mirjam James and Dr Karen Wise, are associated with this project. They will carry out fieldwork at the Guildhall School and RCM and will observe teachers and their students using a range of established methodologies. Their interactive observations during the three-year project will produce longitudinal data on teaching practices and rehearsal, shedding light on the outcomes of given techniques as against intended purpose. This work will be accompanied by parallel study of performance-related academic teaching methods (particularly historical and analytical) in use at the Guildhall School, RCM and possibly other institutions, to explore potential efficacy and relevance to the perceived quality and originality of student performances.

The aims, then, are to describe current practices and their perceived effectiveness, and to work towards the development of an increasingly effective and integrated performance curriculum in which students may aspire to, and attain, a heightened sense of interpretative innovation as well as greater expertise. A series of three project workshops will involve teachers and learners at the RCM and similar institutions as well as select specialists working in different environments and/or performance traditions. These events will permit fruitful engagement between practitioners inside and outside the Western classical sphere.