Towards the civic conservatoire

This chapter starts from the premise that a civic conservatoire must include a civic community. This requires dialogue across the institution that encourages questioning and critical interrogation of what we do, why we do it, and hence what our relevance and function are in society. This necessitates thinking beyond the ‘rational community’, finding ways to enable quieter, dissenting, or hidden voices to be heard. In this chapter, we explore what a dialogic approach could offer the conservatoire and provide three examples of work that might (constructively) disturb the conservatoire’s rational community. We conclude with some critical reflections on infrastructures to support the civic conservatoire

Preventing Musician’s Focal Dystonia: a guide for music educators

Musician’s Focal Dystonia is a task-specific neurological movement disorder affecting the fine motor control of 1% to 2% of highly skilled musicians, often disrupting or even terminating professional musical careers. Given that recovery from the condition is time-consuming and not at all guaranteed, prevention is of high importance. The disorder develops as a result of a period of maladaptive learning, prompted and aggravated by a complex set of risk factors. While some of these, such as genetic predisposition, are immutable, others, such as practice organisation and strategies, general performance-related health and psychosocial factors within the learning environment, are malleable and can be positively influenced in educational settings. This implies that music educators can play a significant role in protecting future generations from acquiring Musician’s Focal Dystonia. Therefore, this article aims to provide music educators with clear information about the pathophysiology of the condition, the potential risk factors, and guidelines for practical preventative steps which can be implemented in individual and group instrumental teaching. We hope that this work is the start of collaborative work between clinicians, health professionals, music educators and the musicians themselves to work towards the common goal of reducing the cases of this disorder

Lifelong creative careers

This chapter focuses on the role of conservatoires in preparing students for creative careers. It begins by considering the different backgrounds of conservatoire students, contending that the wide range of nationalities and experiences has implications for how a conservatoire needs to think about preparing students for the global music profession. The chapter goes on to argue that careers in music have changed rapidly over the past decades, with entrepreneurship, technology, and the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to a quickly changing professional landscape. Against this backdrop, the chapter considers critically what world-leading career support looks like in the conservatoire setting, including introducing the Royal College of Music (RCM)’s Creative Careers Centre. Finally, the chapter outlines new RCM initiatives designed to facilitate entrepreneurship, audience development, and creativity

Handel: Ouverture HWV424 for two clarinets and horn

Handel's Ouverture HWV242 for two clarinets and horn, performed on two of the world’s first 3D-printed two-keyed clarinets by Colin Lawson and Ingrid Pearson (clarinets) and Gavin Edwards (horn), recorded in the Royal College of Music Museum in December 2024. The recording is published on Vimeo and is licenced CC BY-NC (Creative Commons: Attribution Non-Commercial). For an article by Colin Lawson on this recording see https://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/2640

The musician in the digital age: technology in the conservatoire

This chapter reflects on the ways in which conservatoires are responding to a digital world where musical performance, creativity, and communication are increasingly mediated by technology. The chapter proposes a framework for understanding the ways in which students encounter technology as classical performers in the conservatoire and explore how these encounters can promote self-sufficiency in digitally informed practices. Based on observations at the Royal College of Music, an exploration follows, examining the key skills required by conservatoire performers in the digital age and mapping a trajectory towards the development of digital fluency or artistry. Through the analysis of selected curriculum case studies, the chapter argues for an aesthetic shift that moves digital experiences into the conservatoire’s core work as practices that are not simply actioned upon or around students but involve active student engagement and self-regulation. In discussing an integrated approach to embedding digital practices across the conservatoire, it becomes highlighted that oppositions between traditional and technologically mediated forms of practice are unsustainable in today’s conservatoire and profession. Finally, the chapter concludes with a horizon scan of what the future might hold for digital innovation in classical music performance and how conservatoires can contribute to shaping new paradigms

The landscape of musical care during the beginning of life in the United Kingdom: a mixed-methods survey study

Background: The first 1001 days of life are a critical time in children’s development and can be challenging for parents and caregivers. Some families in the United Kingdom (UK) are not getting the support they need. Research indicates that musical care – the role of music in supporting any aspect of people’s developmental or health needs – can support families during, what we term, the beginning of life: pregnancy to two years of age. Musical care activities can take place in health and community settings and include music making, music listening, and music therapy. We must describe and understand the patterns of use of musical care activities during the beginning of life in the UK to capitalise on the potential of musical care to support families. Methods: This article explores, from parents’ and musical care providers’ perspectives, (1) participation and provision of musical care activities, (2) descriptions and experiences of musical care activities, and (3) motivations for, deterrents from, and perceived outcomes of participation in musical care activities. Data from two co-developed cross-sectional surveys for parents/caregivers (N = 578) and providers (N = 50) was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results: Most parent/caregivers had participated in at least one musical care activity (83%). The most attended activity was play and development groups for babies that involve some music. Following our thematic analysis, personal preference, experiential and practical factors, recommendation by healthcare providers, and expectation of benefit were identified as motivators while deterrents included challenges in resources and logistics, and lack of inclusivity and diversity. Parents/caregivers perceived both positive and negative outcomes of attending musical care activities. Most providers had not had specific training and for many this work was not their primary income source. Conclusions: There is a wide range of musical care activities during the beginning of life in the UK. Reasons for attending them range from those specific to music and its care potential to seeing them as leisure activities. The findings have implications for the flexibility and role that musical care activities can play during the beginning of life and call for investigation into how musical care activities may be integrated into care

The cultural significance of the cittern in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

The cultural history of the cittern is the story of the battle between tradition versus innovation in a cultural climate of major forces of change, notably the economic circumstances of the sixteenth century, the beginnings of the modern age and their effect on musical culture. The increase of wealth of not only nobles but merchants, bankers, government officials and other lesser or non-aristocrats, as well as the demand for music, instruments, and art in general as means of acquiring and displaying social status and consolidating power, represented groundbreaking shifts. Music was affected by the larger investment in and consumption of art, which brought transformations in business organisations and international commerce. Such changes established a market for new varieties of musical practices and instruments, which reflected a novel amalgam of ideologies, traditions, and innovations. The cittern originated in an autochthonous instrument known in the Italian Peninsula as the cetra, which since the thirteenth century had been an iconological, Christianised version of the quintessential, mythological lyre of Classic antiquity. The cultural identity of the cetra, encompassing its humanist heritage and traditional manufacture, were dramatically transformed in response to the growing practice of polyphonic instrumental music and basso continuo. While in the Italian Peninsula, the instrument remained strongly bound to humanism, its transalpine counterpart underwent a greater commodification process. Within these transformations, the cittern acquired a range of contrasting social values and categorisations, helping shape social identities. This metamorphosis can be considered both as progress but also as a regression because in each important stage, the instrument lost as well as gained values. On the one hand, the cittern was stripped of its most important artistic value and cultural identity, its humanist heritage. On the other, through a mass globalisation this wire plucked stringed instrument became an intrinsic part of the social fabric and everyday music of early modern Europe and set the foundations for the majority of wire strung plucked instruments of the Western continent

No pain, no gain? Satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs, somatic burden, giving up, and life satisfaction in music students

Performance-related somatic symptoms may include pain, weakness, numbness, and tingling, and they are commonly experienced by students in higher music education. From a self-determination theory perspective, this study examines the relationship between basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS) and frustration, somatic symptom burden, giving up, and life satisfaction among music performance students (n = 281). Two theoretical models were tested hypothesizing that music students’ BPNS would be negatively associated with both students’ somatic symptoms and giving up and positively related to general life satisfaction. Basic psychological need frustration (BPNF) was anticipated to have the opposite relations. The two models were confirmed. Participants whose basic psychological needs were satisfied were unlikely to be burdened by somatic symptoms and giving up and simultaneously likely to experiencing high levels of general life satisfaction. Conversely, participants whose basic psychological needs were frustrated were more likely to be burdened by various somatic symptoms and to giving up facing adversity. Need-frustrated participants also reported low levels of life satisfaction. This study contributed to extending the application of self-determination theory to address somatic symptom burden in the context of music performance. Educational implications are discussed in the light of teaching and learning in higher music education

Foregrounding migration in conservatoire teaching—action towards “global artistic citizenship”

In this article I discuss how a focus on migration and transnational mobility of composers and performers can help to overcome exclusionary methodological nationalism in higher music education and foster an increased awareness of artistic citizenship in a global rather than national arena. Reflecting on insights from participatory action research at the Royal College of Music in London that engaged with the theme of music and migration and encouraged student musicians to explore hybrid transnational identities in classical music, I explore the usefulness of a utopian concept of “global artistic citizenship” as a prototypal term. Attached to historical research about migrant musicians from Nazi Europe who found refuge in Britain during and after World War II, the research invited student musicians to perform repertoire by these previously marginalised composers and become part of a process of reflection about the wider implications of this action. The research took place during four consecutive performance projects involving student performers from diverse backgrounds over a period of three years. Reflections, notes and semi-structured interviews with participants of these projects prompted the wider theoretical discussion of the concept of artistic citizenship in this article. Engaging with Garcia-Cuesta’s suggestion of a more fluid concept of artistic citizenship and recent research about the concept of global citizenship, I develop the prototypal concept of ‘global artistic citizenship’ as a tool for critical reflection and activism within diverse learning communities in higher music education