Table Of ContentResearch-Creation in Music and
the Arts
Since the 1970s, the landscape of higher education and research has been
considerably altered by the integration of the arts within the university envi-
ronment. Even though a form of research is inherent to artistic creation, the
creative process is not comparable to the established procedures involved
in academic research. As such, how can the imperatives of intellectual (and
sometimes restrictive) rigour characteristic of scholarly endeavours be rec-
onciled with the more explorative and intuitive approach of artistic creation?
The concept of ‘research-creation’ allows artists and scholars to collaborate
on a common project, acknowledging each participant’s expertise in the
production of an artistic work that either generates theoretical reflections or
has emerged from academic research. This fully revised and updated trans-
lation of Sophie Stévance and Serge Lacasse’s original French book offers
an overview of the historical, political, social, cultural and academic con-
texts within which research-creation has emerged in Quebec and Canada,
before similar (yet often divergent) conceptions appeared elsewhere in the
world. Focussing primarily on the case of music, the book goes on to explore
the pedagogical potential of research-creation within a university-based en-
vironment and proposes a clear and encompassing definition, as well as a
theoretical model, of research-creation supported by concrete examples. By
underscoring the reciprocal nature of this approach and the potential ben-
efits of collaborative relationships, the authors’ vision of research-creation
extends far beyond the field of music and art alone: rather, it has the poten-
tial to integrate all approaches and disciplines that seek to combine practice
and research.
Sophie Stévance is Canada Chair Research in research-creation in music
(www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/chairholders-titulaires/profile-eng.aspx?pro-
fileId=3481). She is Professor in musicology at the Faculty of Music, Univer-
sity Laval, Quebec City (Canada), Head of Laboratoire de recherche-création
en musique et multimedia (LARCEM) and Groupe de recherche-création
en musique (grecem.oicrm.org). She is the author of several books (such as
Quand la musique prend corps, with M. Desroches and S. Lacasse, 2014; Les
Enjeux de la recherche-création en musique, with Lacasse, 2013; Musique
actuelle, 2011; Duchamp, compositeur, 2009; Composer au XXIe siècle, 2010;
L’Itinéraire du timbre, 2006). She has received two awards from The Académie
Charles-Cros, in 2006 and in 2010, as well as research grants (Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council, Quebec Research Funds, Canada Foun-
dation for Innovation’s Leaders). Her field of study is research-creation in
music around different projects with creators, particularly about genetic
analysis of creative process in music and modernization of Inuit throat-
singing (with Tanya Tagaq).
Serge Lacasse is Professor of musicology, specializing in popular music, at
the Faculty of Music, Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada. He heads
both the Laval site of the Observatoire interdisciplinaire de création et de
recherche en musique (oicrm.org) and the Laboratoire audionumérique de
recherche et de création (larc.oicrm.org). Favouring an interdisciplinary
approach, his research and research-creation projects mostly deal with the
study and practice of recorded popular music and the singing voice. In ad-
dition to multiple chapters, articles and conference papers, he co- authored
(with Sophie Stévance) Les enjeux de la recherche-création en musique
(PUL, 2013) and co-edited Quand la musique prend corps (PUM, 2014) with
Monique Desroches and Sophie Stévance, as well as Rewriting the Rules of
Record Production (Routledge, forthcoming) with Simon Zagorski-Thomas,
Katia Isakoff and Sophie Stévance. He is also active as a record producer,
musician and songwriter.
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SEMPRE Studies in the Psychology of Music
Series Editors
Graham Welch, Institute of Education,
University of London, UK,
Adam Ockelford, University of Roehampton, UK
Ian Cross, University of Cambridge, UK
The theme for the series is the psychology of music, broadly defined. Top-
ics include (i) musical development at different ages, (ii) exceptional musi-
cal development in the context of special educational needs, (iii) musical
cognition and context, (iv) culture, mind and music, (v) micro to macro
perspectives on the impact of music on the individual (from neurological
studies through to social psychology), (vi) the development of advanced
performance skills and (vii) affective perspectives on musical learning. The
series presents the implications of research findings for a wide readership,
including user-groups (music teachers, policy makers, parents) as well as the
international academic and research communities. This expansive embrace,
in terms of both subject matter and intended audience (drawing on basic
and applied research from across the globe), is the distinguishing feature of
the series, and it serves SEMPRE’s distinctive mission, which is to promote
and ensure coherent and symbiotic links between education, music and psy-
chology research.
For a full list of recent titles, please visit https://www.routledge.com/
SEMPRE-Studies-in-The-Psychology-of-Music/book-series/SEMPRE
Communities of Musical Practice
Ailbhe Kenny
Embodiment of Musical Creativity
Zvonimir Nagy
Listening in Action
Rebecca M. Rinsema
Music and Empathy
Edited by Elaine King and Caroline Waddington
Body, Sound and Space in Music and Beyond
Multimodal Explorations
Edited by Clemens Wöllner
Research-Creation in Music and
the Arts
Towards a Collaborative Interdiscipline
Sophie Stévance and Serge Lacasse
Copyright 2013 Presses de l’Université Laval, Canada
English version first published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2018 Sophie Stévance and Serge Lacasse
The right of Sophie Stévance and Serge Lacasse to be identified as the
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-4724-8607-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-60557-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
List of figures and tables viii
Series editors’ preface ix
Introduction 1
1 Art, culture and creation in the university: social issues 22
Introduction 22
Observations 24
The concept of “project-grounded research” in the field of
research-creation 53
2 University training in research-creation 65
Introduction 65
The music conservatory and the university 66
The students 84
Project-grounded research: an epistemological and
methodological foundation for research-creation 91
Embarking upon learning and teaching 99
Conclusion: towards collaboration 109
3 Definition and scope of research-creation 123
Definition 123
Scope 126
Research and innovation (intersection 2) 144
Concluding remarks 145
General conclusion 149
References 155
Index 171
Figures and tables
Figures
3.1 Venn diagram of research-creation 127
3.2 Samuel Bianchini’s iterative model of research and creation 142
Tables
2.1 Comparison between creation, research on creation and
research-creation 87
2.2 Evaluation of the creation component 98
Series editors’ preface
The enormous growth of research that has been evidenced over the past three
decades continues into the many different phenomena that are embraced
under the psychology of music ‘umbrella.’ Growth is evidenced in new
journals, books, media interest, an expansion of professional associations
(regionally and nationally, such as in Southern Europe, Latin A merica,
Asia), and with increasing and diverse opportunities for formal study, in-
cluding within non-English-speaking countries. Such growth of interest is
not only from psychologists and musicians, but also from c olleagues work-
ing in the clinical sciences, neurosciences, therapies, in the lifelong health
and well-being communities, philosophy, musicology, social psychology,
ethnomusicology and education across the lifespan. As part of this global
community, the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research
(SEMPRE) celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2012 and continues to be
one of the world’s leading and longstanding professional associations in the
field. SEMPRE is a registered charity and is the only international society
that embraces formally an interest in the psychology of music, research and
education, seeking to promote basic and applied knowledge at the inter-
face between the twin social sciences of psychology and education with one
of the world’s most pervasive art forms, music. SEMPRE was founded in
1972 and has published the journals Psychology of Music since 1973 and
Research Studies in Music Education since 2008, both now produced in
partnership with SAGE (see www.sempre.org.uk). We continue to seek new
ways to reach out globally, both in print and online, as well as through our
charitable activities. Our publications include the launch in 2017 of a new
peer-reviewed, open access journal, Music and Science and we recognize that
there is an ongoing need to promote the latest research findings to the widest
possible audience. Through more extended publication formats, e specially
books, we believe that we are more likely to fulfil a key component of our
mission, which is to have a distinctive and positive impact on individual and
collective understanding, as well as on policy and practice internationally,
both within and across our disciplinary boundaries. Hence, we welcome
the strong collaborative partnership between SEMPRE and Routledge
(formerly Ashgate Publishing).
