Research-creation in Music and the Arts ― Towards a Collaborative Interdiscipline

Since the 1970s, the landscape of higher education and research has been considerably altered by the integration of the arts within the university environment. 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 reconciled 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 translation of Sophie Stévance and Serge Lacasse’s original French book offers an overview of the historical, political, social, cultural and academic contexts 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 environment 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 benefits of collaborative relationships, the authors’ vision of research-creation extends far beyond the field of music and art alone: rather, it has the potential to integrate all approaches and disciplines that seek to combine practice and research.

Sophie Stevance is Canada Chair Research in research-creation in music (www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/chairholders-titulaires/profile-eng.aspx?profileId=3481). She is Professor in musicology at the Faculty of Music, University Laval, Quebec City (Canada), Head of Laboratoire de recherche-creation en musique et multimedia (LARCEM) and Groupe de recherche-creation 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-creation en musique, with Lacasse, 2013; Musique actuelle, 2011; Duchamp, compositeur, 2009; Composer au XXIe siecle, 2010; L’Itineraire du timbre, 2006). She has received two awards from The Academie Charles-Cros, in 2006 and in 2010, as well as research grants (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Quebec Research Funds, Canada Foundation 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, Universite Laval in Quebec City, Canada. He heads both the Laval site of the Observatoire interdisciplinaire de creation et de recherche en musique (oicrm.org) and the Laboratoire audionumerique de recherche et de creation (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 addition to multiple chapters, articles and conference papers, he co-authored (with Sophie Stevance) Les enjeux de la recherche-creation en musique (PUL, 2013) and co-edited Quand la musique prend corps (PUM, 2014) with Monique Desroches and Sophie Stevance, as well as Rewriting the Rules of Record Production (Routledge, forthcoming) with Simon Zagorski-Thomas, Katia Isakoff and Sophie Stevance. He is also active as a record producer, musician and songwriter.