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.

Name: Isabelle Roelofs Main subject: Master Natural Horn Research supervisor: Daniel Salbert Title: How (not) to write a Bb French Horn beginners method book Research question: How (not) to write a Bb French Horn beginners method book Summary of the results: As a horn teacher, I realize that the existing Dutch method books seem not to be written from the perspective of a beginning, young horn player. They show little consideration for the specific physical abilities of children at a young age when learning to play the horn, probably because those methods are mostly not written by a horn player. Therefore, I have researched the do's and don'ts behind writing a method book. If playing the exercises in a method is not physically feasible, it can lead to frustration for the student, which, in my opinion, is detrimental to the learning process. I have always learned that moments of success are crucial for the development and maintenance of motivation. I find these moments of success lacking in existing Dutch-language horn methods. I also believe that they progress too quickly to emphasize reading notation. I notice that my own students often prioritize correctness over musicality. I have critically examined and compared the available Dutch horn method books. Additionally, I interviewed fellow horn teachers to gather their perspectives. Furthermore, I attended a lesson for young horn players at BASIS (Royal Conservatory of the Hague) where auditory learning takes precedence. I am not the first to consider writing my own method. Other horn teachers have embarked on this journey, each with their unique motivations. My research has revealed that I am not the only one who has critical thoughts about the existing horn method books. A significant part of the interviewed teachers also emphasized this same point. Based on the obtained results, I have outlined the initial steps that, in my opinion, are necessary for a starting young horn player, along with the corresponding range of tones. Biography: Isabelle Roelofs, an accomplished horn player and dedicated music teacher, earned degrees in French Horn and Music Education from Codarts University. Graduating with honors from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, she is currently pursuing a Master's in Natural Horn at The Hague Conservatory with Teunis van der Zwart. Isabelle is the founder of Belle Musique (2018), where she imparts her musical knowledge through personalized horn lessons, shaping the future of horn players step by step.

This research explores the concept of authenticity in transcription. It is applied to Béla Bartók's Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, movements one, two and five. By prioritising different aspects, the overall look of the transcription is shaped. Examples of these aspects are the sonic possibilities of the chosen or original instrumentation, the general style of the composer and the piece, one's own musical context, the technical abilities of the players... All these aspects could be considered as a form of authenticity. The first chapter elaborates on the concept and discusses methods of transcription. The second chapter analyses the history of the classical guitar, including its transcriptions. The guitar's search for a place in the classical mainstream has encouraged guitarists throughout the centuries to write transcriptions. Throughout history, the concept of authenticity in these transcriptions has changed. The final chapter discusses the entire process of transcribing, from the intentions behind selecting the piece to the obstacles and dilemmas that arose during the process. It shows that the transcribing part is as important as the individual practice and rehearsals. They alternate and influence each other. The Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm were of great importance to Bartók. Today they are not as popular as his Six Romanian Folk Dances but given their historical context they deserve to be heard more in today's classical music scene. Finally, it becomes clear that the abstract musical idea of the composer should be kept clear from the beginning to the end of the transcription process.

The research entitled "Augmented Feedback", is focused on developing a compositional practice, centered around acoustic feedback processing in digital spaces. I wish to explore acoustic feedback that occurs in virtual spaces, including the hybrid world of physical and digital space and physical phenomena that occurs from the excitation of feedback through microphones and loudspeakers. I will focus on experiments, reflections, developing techniques and functions that I have discovered while composing and experimenting with pieces that have used processed acoustic feedback as sonic material, microphones and loudspeakers as instruments. The outcome will have brief background and development reflections about my approach to feedback around my personal compositional practice, the historical side of feedback and how it relates to the works of other composers and artists, technical and philosophical content of feedback in compositional situations, and how my compositional approach led me to the term “augmented feedback”. “What if the sonority of feedback was not the center focus point of a piece? What else can we develop by using feedback and imagining it in different sonic landscapes? What is the mystique of its nonlinearity? How can we deal with microphones and loudspeakers as a musical instrument through using software environments?” are the main questions that drove me into researching feedback. Dividing these questions into subcategories: conceptual and compositional.