Research Catalogue

This report on research was supported by the Lectorate of Music, Education, and Society at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague. The following work explores the endeavor to integrate creative concepts and artistic exploration into the Bachelor's curriculum at conservatoires, with the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague serving as a case study. It presents the researcher's ideas for innovative content and structures related to creative practices and interdisciplinary collaboration, compiled in a playful structure known as the ‘Category Game’. This article provides a comprehensive list of tools designed to facilitate these creative collaborative processes, which were either developed during my work with students or gathered from relevant literature, colleagues' contributions, or other academic programs. During the course of this research project, I engaged in discussions about interdepartmental and creative activities in higher music education with both teachers and students, conducted projects and case studies with various student groups, and ultimately designed a toolbox in the form of a game. Background: In recent years, my educational interests have centered on fostering creative interdepartmental collaboration among music students. The initial phase, exemplified by the research project ‘Learning Pods,’ involved practical case studies where specific forms of creative interdepartmental work were experimented with and analyzed. These 'learning pods' paired students from different departments for semi-structured creative sessions, demonstrating significant positive impacts on learning, autonomy, motivation, confidence, self-efficacy, and performance experience. Subsequently, during the 'Crossing Borders' initiative, a series of case studies with diverse formats was conducted, involving musicians from various institutions and collaborations with fellow educators. The complexity of creative cross-genre projects became apparent, influenced by students' personalities, musical backgrounds, genres, and departmental affiliations. While students displayed varying levels of confidence in exploring new artistic territories and collaborating across departments, a collective desire for increased interdepartmental exchange emerged. As my focus expanded to encompass 'the creative act in higher music education' more broadly, a central question arose: What tools and structures could be easily applied to facilitate a creative process for an interdepartmental group of music students in an easy and playful manner, regardless of their prior experience in creating or improvising? This inquiry necessitated an examination of the existing study offerings and their structure within the institution. Do these activities significantly contribute to interdepartmental collaborations? What modifications or additions might be beneficial? Further inquiries addressed the role of improvisation, the management of definitions, and the potential contribution of jazz—a genre and attitude toward improvisation and creation that appears underexplored in the institution's discussions.

From One Space to Another is a sound essay in video format of the ongoing research of understanding the world, phenomenons and situations through sound and listening. The ambition is that through the act of listening use the detail as a means of highlighting a phenomenon where sound serves as a deeper means of registering and understanding the environment. By zooming in we can accumulate knowledge, broaden and expand our perception and comprehension and create greater understanding of the bigger context. This way it might be possible to raise awareness and bring to consciousness the things we might not be aware of and that we sometimes fail to notice. In this practice-led sound essay you take part of sound art pieces that are intertwined by thoughts and reflections throughout the journey. From One Space to Another presents recordings and compositions of smaller components such as the acoustics of fibers in the trees and the needled thread of embroideries as well as the structural repetitiveness of machinery in the textile industry. At the same time it shows how the recorded material inspires and encourages various kinds of expressions. This sound and video essay is an independent project within the Master Program Experimental Composition and Creation at the Academy of Music and Drama in Göteborg, Sweden.

This is my research portfolio on Bill Evans and his influence on jazz.

Sophie Luger (Institute of Architecture) and Lenia Mascha (Institute of Architecture) address the increasingly important issue of urban noise pollution. "SoundCape. Combating Environmental Noise in Urban Areas" explores how sound and noise prevention can be incorporated into architectural design. To develop building structures for noise control in urban environments, the authors examine contradictory historical approaches from architecture and acoustics to learn about the relation of sound and material. Their approach focuses on geometry; experiments with Chladni patterns show that geometrical and material properties of architectural façades have an impact on spatial acoustics and result in the design of ornamental elements that can reduce unwanted noise in cities.

Conny Zenk (Center Research Focus, PhD candidate PhD in Art), Bianca Ludewig (researcher and journalist) and Magdalena Scheicher (researcher) are interested in taking not only unusual paths but also using vehicles in different ways. In their contribution "A Collective Cycling Body Of Sound", they reflect on the bicycle as a medium for art and sound and present activist strategies of collective cycling to open up queer-feminist, solidarity-based perspectives on the city. In doing so, they explore the possibilities of public space as a sound space and discuss insights from Zenk’s activist practice. Inviting Ludewig and Scheicher for interviews, Zenk discusses bikefeminism and counterpublics, and approaches soundrides as a form of empowerment.

In his contribution "Post-Digital Angst – The Direct Experience", Mong-Sum Joseph Leung (Center Research Focus, PhD candidate PhD in Art) explores anxiety in the post-digital age, examining it as a basic anthropological condition in relation to concepts such as hollowness, nullity, and the unknown. Leung intertwines personal experiences from daily life with his artistic practice and ontological reflections on the human condition, working with Heidegger’s notions of Sorge and Angst, to reflect on affective experiences in a digitalized world.