Seminars & Events
The Research Department regularly organises research seminars, symposia and other events. Please find below information on the current series of seminars as well as on recent and forthcoming conferences and events.
Research Seminars
The current series of research seminars runs from December
2011 to March 2012.
All seminars in this series, unless stated otherwise, take
place in the Laban Lecture Theatre on Wednesdays from
16.15h-17.30h and are followed by an informal get-together
in the Laban Bar. All welcome!
7 December 2011
Jonathan Clark (Head of
Research, Trinity Laban)
Aesthetics, Voice, Historicity
The paper sketches a historiography of early music that aims to
shed light on different problems in historicist theories arising in
the contemporary philosophy of history (including the work of
Michel Foucault and Frank Ankersmit), as well as the related
historicism of the so-called 'New Musicology'. The presentation
will contain an analysis of three episodes in early music history:
Susan McClary's account of gender construction in the operas of
Monteverdi; the role of the object-voice in Renaissance polyphony;
and a revisiting and reworking of the 'harmonic cosmology' of
Johannes Kepler. In considering these examples, I aim to
elucidate some aspects of the representational practices of the
past (and of the present) that resist straightforwardly historicist
readings. Central to this argument is a recognition that music, due
to the triangulation and codetermination of
subject/object/representation, is always already embedded in what
Foucault called 'epistemic' formations, but that certain salient
features of what music becomes via this embedding cannot be
explained by the embedding alone. Most crucially, these features
coincide with the musical consequences of the failure of discursive
formations to account for their own generating principle.
8 February 2012
Imogen Walker (Dance
Science Researcher and PhD Candidate, Trinity Laban)
Commitment, adherence and dropout among young talented dancers: A
longitudinal, mixed methods investigation
Dance is a unique art form that involves movements of the body
to communicate artistic intent. Dance can be both a challenging and
rewarding vocation, and the pursuit of a career in this demanding
art form often takes years of dedicated practice. Given the
subjective (and competitive) nature of dance, no amount of training
can guarantee a successful career. How does a young person in
training remain committed and dedicated to his or her craft when
the eventual outcome is so unknown? Why do some young people
persist in dance while others withdraw? Findings will be presented
that have begun to answer such questions.
The presentation will cover five studies conducted over the
course of a three-year PhD investigating commitment, adherence and
dropout among young talented dancers. These studies were part of a
larger project on talent development working with the Centres for
Advanced Training around England. The research into commitment,
adherence and dropout employed a mixed methodology: quantitative
data were generated regardingwhatthe young dancers were like, and
qualitative data were gathered from the dancers' own words
regardingwhythey committed to or withdrew from training. Findings
synthesised from the five studies will be presented, and practical
implications put forward.
22 February 2012
Gavin Morrison
(Curator)
What we know of ignorance
Ignorance necessarily carries a pejorative sense. It is
understood as being different from merely not-knowing in that there
is a presumption of a normative state of that whichshouldbe known,
thereby ignorance is the defective or incomplete form of that
state. Ignorance can have a significant position within cultural
power structures, whether it is the designation of that which is
considered fundamental knowledge or a militant refusal to defer to
standards of knowledge. This informs the possibility of creative
practices to position themselves outside of the culturally implied
standard of knowledge and allow for a possibility of different
forms of understanding, questioning and articulation to emerge.
This paper will consider creative methodologies that assume a
position of informed ignorance and question the viability of this
approach.
7 March 2012
Dominic Murcott (Head
of Composition, Trinity Laban)
Conlon Nancarrow: an introduction to the composer and his lost
percussion orchestra.
Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1987) is often described as the first
digital composer due to the majority of his works being created for
player piano by laboriously punching holes into rolls of paper,
thus bypassing the limitations of human performance. Though
relatively obscure in his lifetime he is now acknowledged as one of
the twentieth century's great musical pioneers and his individual
working methods produced a raft of new ideas that predate works of
other more widely known composers. In commemoration of the
centenary of Nancarrow's birth, Dominic Murcott is curating a
Festival and Conference dedicated to his work at the Southbank
Centre in April 1012. In advance of this event this paper will
introduce Nancarrow's work and the author's exploration and
interpretation of his early percussion/musique concrète
experiments.
For information about the conference and festival please visit
the following page: Nancarrow In The 21st
Century.
21 March 2012
Patricia Holmes (Senior
Lecturer, Trinity Laban)
The performer's experience: psychological, philosophical
and educational perspective (PhD by prior
publication)
What is the relationship between the performer and the
performance? This question lies at the heart of my research, and I
have chosen to address it principally through dialogue with the
performer. Music performance research is generally directed towards
objectivity - that is, study of performance as a phenomenon that
can be observed and measured. In contrast, I aim to explore the
subjective reality of the performer. Against this broad
backdrop, the papers that constitute my published portfolio fall
into three main categories - learning and memorisation
(specifically the role of advanced technique and exceptional
insight in these processes at elite level), the contribution of
personal characteristics to the development of expertise, and the
nature, function and significance of timbre in expressive music
performance. Predominantly qualitative methodologies (specifically
phenomenology) have enabled me to reveal some of the more
interesting, esoteric and hitherto unknown aspects of the world of
the performer. In analysing some of the more surprising data, I
have been glad to take advantage of recent blurring of perceived
lines of demarcation between disciplines and have drawn
increasingly and productively on developments in sport, dance and
the social sciences.
In this seminar I will place the submitted portfolio in the
context of later relevant research and also reflect upon the clear
resonances with modern philosophical thinking that emerged from my
studies.
2 May 2012
Kathy Dyson (jazz guitarist and composer)
17.15h-18.30h, Room 157, Faculty of Music at King
Charles Court
Jazz, Music and the Brain: theoretical and practical
possibilities for enhancing performance, practice and teaching
approaches in jazz, from a musician's
perspective
Scientific knowledge and research into music and the brain and how
one affects and interacts with the other, continue to grow apace.
Much of the research is highly specific and generally tends to be
disseminated amongst experts and in academic journals, or is
oversimplified by the press.
So, what is the current thinking about how music affects the
brain and how the brain is organised through listening to and
performing music? How can the jazz musician and educator use this
knowledge to better understand and to enhance their creative,
learning, performing and teaching processes?
This lecture aims to cover three areas, from a musician's
perspective:
- To provide a clear and intelligible summary overview of brain
anatomy and function (in as far as it is known) related to the
learning and performing of music and a brief review of the latest
relevant research in the field.
- To describe a theoretical model based on the above, about how
jazz improvisation may be learned and performed from a
neuro/cognitive perspective, based on schema theory.
- To suggest how it may be possible to integrate ideas and
insights from both areas into daily practice and teaching
approaches.
Recent Events
Nancarrow in the 21st Century
21 and 22 April 2012
Southbank Centre / Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music
and Dance
London UK
To mark the centenary of Conlon Nancarrow's birth, Trinity Laban
Conservatoire of Music and Dance hosted a conference at
London's Southbank Centre to coincide with Perfect Constructions:
The Music of Conlon Nancarrow, a two-day festival. The theme of the
conference was the exploration of contemporary practice and
thinking in relation to Nancarrow's original ideas.
For details please visit the conference
website.
Without Warning
31 January to 11 February 2012
Without Warning is a piece of contemporary live theatre
combining dance and live music inspired by Brian Keenan's
compelling account of four and a half years in captivity.Following
sell-out premier performances at Laban Theatre in November 2010,
Without Warning Company is re-siting the work for two weeks at the
Old Vic Tunnels. Read more about Without Warning.
Symposium: Passion, Pathways and Potential in
Dance
A symposium in October 2011 presented the
findings of a major national research project into dance
talent development
Are you interested in training the dancers of tomorrow? Do
you want to know more about dance talent development? Read more
about Symposium:
Passion, Pathways and Potential in Dance.
Research Student Showcase
PARALLAX 01
April 2011 saw the first in a new series of annual events
curated by and showcasing the work of Research Degree Programme
Creative Practice students:
Performances, installations and an open discussion. Read more
about PARALLAX
01.
PARALLAX 02 is planned to take place in September
2012.
