Research-Creation in Music and the Arts : Towards a Collaborative Interdiscipline

Since the 1970s, the landscape of higher education has been considerably altered by the integration of the arts within the university environment. The concept of ’research-creation’ allows scholars to collaborate on a common project, acknowledging participants expertise in the production of an artistic work that either generates theoretical reflections or has emerged from academic research. This fully revised 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 conceptions appeared elsewhere in the world.

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.