Louise Atkins I Have Recently Embarked Upon Doctoral Research

PARTICIPANTS: A SYNOPSIS OF RESEARCH INTERESTS Louise Atkins I have recently embarked upon doctoral research investigating how music students within the UK conservatoire sector are educated and supported in matters of occupational health and wellbeing, and will explore the feasibility of implementing a national strategy and/or policy in this area. The notion of a single, national initiative is something that is becoming increasingly common internationally, and this project will assess whether UK conservatoires should also become more united on health-related issues. The task will be approached in a variety of ways, including a survey of current provision mapped against the perceived needs of students, an examination of established practice in parallel agendas internationally, and an exploration of the thoughts of key stakeholders on the possibility of a common approach in the specialist training of musicians. Although this project is very much embedded in the health sciences, my background is in music. As a clarinettist I studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level within the conservatoire sector, however this is my first large-scale research project from a social science/educational perspective. I decided to take this route into more scientific, health-based research and make musicians’ health a key focus of my work whilst studying at the Hannover University of Music and Theatre on an ERASMUS exchange four years ago. There I was privileged to work with some world leaders in the field of music medicine, and I quickly grew to realise how important health and wellbeing is in both enhancing and prolonging a performing career. I have been working on developing the approach, design and methodology of this project from a health science standpoint, but am mindful that the research must be relevant, useful and useable in a practical way within a conservatoire setting. I have a diverse team of supervisors based in three distinct subject areas; one in a conservatoire (RWCMD), one in the Cardiff Institute of Creative and Cultural Industries and the other within the Faculty of Health Sport and Science at the University of Glamorgan. The mixing of artistic and scientific contexts is an important, but complex element of this project. It is very new to me, and to my supervisors! Jane Booth Jane Booth is a specialist in the early clarinet and chalumeau. In addition to her work as Head of Historical Performance at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, she has pursued a busy international career, playing all over the world with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Avison Ensemble, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, English Baroque Soloists, Tafelmusik, Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen, Anima Aeterna, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, London Handel Orchestra and The Academy of Ancient Music etc. Jane has worked under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Mark Elder, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Harry Christophers, Christopher Hogwood, Vladimir Jurowski, Bruno Weil and Philippe Herreweghe. Her repertoire is vast and extends from the works of Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi through to Wagner, Mahler and Debussy – all on historically appropriate instruments. Jane is also much in demand as a chamber musician and concerto soloist in the UK, North America, Japan, Australia and Europe. Early in her career she was invited to perform for the Early Music Network in several national tours with prizewinning ensembles. More recently her performances of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in Ontario with the Eybler Quartet, The Wigmore Hall with EnsembleF2, Tudeley Festival and North York Moors Festival have been widely acclaimed. Solo performances include baroque concertos by Fasch, Telemann, Graupner, and Molter, Mozart’s Concerto for basset clarinet and Weber’s Concertos performed across Europe. Recording projects include Mozart Gran Partita (Harmonia Mundi), “Aux Armes Citoyens” - Revolutionary Wind Music from France (ATMA), Mozart Clarinet Quintet with the Eybler Quartet (Analekta - September 2010); chamber music by Schumann (sfz); and Schubert (sfz); “Clarinets by Arrangement” a programme of nineteenth century arrangements of popular works employing basset clarinet, basset horn and fortepiano (sfz). Maria Brzuchowska Since 1989 I have been a violinist of the Witold Lutoslawski Philharmonic Orchestra in Wroclaw and I am a part-time lecturer at the Karol Lipinski Academy of Music in Wroclaw, Poland. I am currently pursuing doctoral studies at the National University of Music in Bucharest, Romania, on the subject of the ‘Formation of the Orchestral Musician’, looking at both the sociology and psychology of the orchestra. The two orchestral paradoxes are that orchestral players are not taught theory of conducting while conductors’ training is little concerned with the people factor in this profession. It lacks both a theory of socio-techniques and experience of verbal communicating with the orchestra, whilst intuitive responses predominant in players, even though they perceive it as ‘understanding’ the conductor’s intention, has further implications in player-conductor interaction. The efficiency of the orchestra is understood as an instrument of sophisticated machinery is affected by psychological and sociological factors, such as player’s necessity of transferring cathexis from self-expression to contribution; impact of mood on response to conductor’s gestures, and on performance’s brilliance; impact of emotion derived from inner social interaction context of ensemble performance. Underestimation of playing in orchestra perceived as artisanal task may be discussed in terms of A. Maslow’s idea of integrated creativity. Further player’s frustrations may be catalysed by: unbalanced poise of introversion - extraversion; permanent re-evaluation; peers pressure; spatial proximity of players and distance from the conductor, from which derive many orchestral peculiarities to be considered in terms of E.T. Hall’s proxemics. Significance of players’ creativity and motivating enthusiasm, supported by theories of F. Herzberg or M.F. Losada (in context of group inertia, importantly), should be reflected in methods for orchestral homogeneity, and particularly because the phenomenon of the orchestra is constantly evolving, both artistically and sociologically. The change of the audience’s musical identities, and of its music listening habits may eventually have impact on orchestral repertoire, on conductor’s role, on concert format and, ultimately, on orchestral shape and activities. Kirsteen Davidson-Kelly I have been performing and recording contemporary music since 1989, primarily as a founder member of Piano Circus, as well as teaching and working in a variety of contexts in creative music education. I am now studying part-time for a PhD in Music at the Institute for Music in Human and Social Development at the University of Edinburgh, supervised by Dr. Katie Overy and Dr. Nikki Moran. My research interest is in the use of mental imagery as a learning tool and was largely inspired by my own participation in a course in Alexander Technique and piano playing taught by Nelly Ben-Or. Her teaching concerning the use of mental imagery appeared to have marked effects on my own and other advanced pianists’ performance; this, and my interest in developing my own teaching practice, triggered my current research. I aim to contribute to the growing body of literature about musical imagery and mental practice and, more generally, to related work on musicians’ health and well-being. To begin the PhD I acted as participant-observer at another of Nelly Ben-Or’s courses; participants included conservatoire students and professional pianists from across Europe. In order to examine some of the outcomes of the course I video-recorded interviews and teaching sessions; I also collected questionnaire responses from all participants, both during the course and several months later. The analysis of this material informed an online questionnaire examining learning strategy choices and self-perceptions of skill. Piano students from five UK colleges took part in the survey, analysis of which is ongoing. I am currently designing two experiments. An fMRI study of musical imagery is being developed in collaboration with Prof. Neil Roberts at the Centre for Medical Imaging Research at the University of Edinburgh. To date I have been acquiring research skills in fMRI experimental design and analysis (running pilot experiments and learning data analysis software); a full experiment is planned for this spring. In addition, a behavioural experiment with UK conservatoire students is planned for next academic year. Sebastiano Dessanay I have been active in piano pedagogy and performance for more than 13 years. As a full time teacher at the largest state music school in Rio de Janeiro (BRAZIL), I gave instrumental lessons and trained students to entry undergraduate courses in Brazilian universities from 2003 to 2010. My previous academic training includes Bachelor in Piano (1997), Teaching Certification (2001), and Masters (2005). After completing a MA in Performance Practice, I recorded a CD with 25 piano pieces by the living Brazilian Edmundo Villani-Cortes which was recently launched in Brazil (2010). I am MPhil/PhD student in the Department of Arts and Humanities of the Institute of Education (IOE), University of London, under the guidance of Professor Graham Welch, Dr. Evangelos Himonides and Dr. Cynthia Stephens Himonides. My MPhil/PhD studies have been supported

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