Technology and Contemporary Classical Music: Methodologies in Practice-Based Research
This was the first major meeting of researchers in the UK discussing practice research in music around new technologies. Led by Dr Zubin Kanga, it gathered many of the leading researchers in the field, who discussed and mapped out the unique and significant aspects of this emerging area of research.
There were many diverse viewpoints discussed, but a number of common challenges were identified, such as research rigour, positionality and its relationship to autoethnographic methods, how technology enables critical engagement with artistic practice, the agency of instruments, impacts on audiences, researchers, artists and industry, and cross-disciplinary research methods.
There were also a number of common issues in the field identified, including the creative use of AI, the role of voice and vocality, the development of sensor-based instruments and devices.
The Innovation Forum was held at Royal Holloway, University of London on 15 June 2023, as part of Cyborg Soloists, a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship research project. It was a successful event with leading researchers in the field from across the UK, as well as Germany, all engaging in a series of lively discussions across a range of topics and technologies. Many future research initiatives and outputs were discussed, and all attendees agreed to contribute to a position paper.
Outputs
The initial findings of the Forum were discussed and presented during the Cyborg Soloists Music Ex Machina conference on 16 June 2023, for a wider audience. This led into the keynote presentation by one of the Forum researchers, Dr Scott McLaughlin. As a practice-based demonstration of the theoretical ideas discussed in the Forum, two forum members (Dr Zubin Kanga and Dr Mira Benjamin) presented the premiere of McLaughlin’s new work, We are environments for each other (2023).
The Cyborg Soloists team worked with the forum researchers to co-author a position paper covering the topics discussed at the Innovation Forum. This position paper discusses the current state of the field of practice research integrating new technologies. All members of the forum contributed sections to this report, with a diverse range of disciplinary approaches and focal points within the field represented.
Dr Kanga and the Cyborg Soloists team are in the planning stages for a book, which will include researchers from both the Forum and the conference, as well as other artists and researchers associated with Cyborg Soloists.