The enactment of cultural values and taste-making within contemporary classical music
Lead Research Organisation:
University of St Andrews
Department Name: Management
Abstract
The research builds on an established and successful interdisciplinary partnership between research organisations from the complementary standpoints of organizational studies and music practice (St Andrews University Management School (PI)), and music 'insiders' (CI) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), (including artistic research and policy maker partners). It also builds on a track record of successful funded ESRC research among music festivals on which the PI was Research Fellow (ESRC: RES-331-27-0065) and on audience development research (ESRC: RES-187-24-0014) conducted by the PI with one of the proposed partners, the Red Note Ensemble. The PI's background and approach from organisational studies and creative industries brings fresh perspectives to this field; this combined with the 'music insider' CI based at the RCS whose institutional research and Knowledge Exchange activity is centered on music practice results in an unusual and complementary knowledgebase which we hope will add to the Cultural Values project's framework and may be replicated in other cultural and artistic spheres. With the support of Creative Scotland and its networks we will explore whether these innovative methods are replicable across other cultural sectors and art forms.
We will employ tried and tested innovative methods in case studies of Red Note and Psappha contemporary music ensembles. Red Note is Scotland's contemporary music ensemble and Psappha is Manchester's new music ensemble. There are similarities between the ensembles in the musical styles but the audience, location, musicians and management teams are all different. This will illustrate that our methods may be replicated and they will produce theoretical and empirical insights that can enhance our understanding intrinsic cultural value.
Our methodological approach acknowledges the complexity of cultural value. Within society there are diverse range of values and meanings associated with these values, especially in relation to cultural value. We propose an innovative way of exploring this complexity, and that is through taste-making. Taste-making is a situated activity that rests on learning and knowing how to appraise specific performances of a practice (Gherardi, 2009). In this way music can be understood by studying the social and organisational practices of its creation, performance and communication, as well as its enjoyment; these are all music practices. Taste shapes and is shaped within difference practices and is refined through negotiation and reflectivity, in order to express aesthetic judgments of it (Gheradi, 2009). For example gaining pleasure from music is a form of attachment socially supported by the respective communities of practice, which have developed vocabularies and specific criteria of taste and value in order to communicate, share and refine the ways in which such practices are enacted. This research will involve exploring such enactments of taste-making among the different communities of music practitioners.
Our methods and outcomes could clearly contribute to a framework, firstly through the development of a vocabulary and concept of taste making from alternative positions, and secondly the methods to be used for assessing the different forms of taste and processes would help to enable an evaluation of value. The approach explores perceptions and reflections of a cultural experience before, during and after the performance, and this may allow us to elucidate how the different practitioners value that cultural experience. This way of looking at experience deliberately does so from different perspectives and draws in different disciplines. There is no singular experience and hence no singular perceived value, therefore a methodological approach that can capture the richness and diversity and that can produce focused insights is needed.
Reference
Gherardi, S (2009) Practice? It's a matter of taste! Management Learning, 40(5): 535-550.
We will employ tried and tested innovative methods in case studies of Red Note and Psappha contemporary music ensembles. Red Note is Scotland's contemporary music ensemble and Psappha is Manchester's new music ensemble. There are similarities between the ensembles in the musical styles but the audience, location, musicians and management teams are all different. This will illustrate that our methods may be replicated and they will produce theoretical and empirical insights that can enhance our understanding intrinsic cultural value.
Our methodological approach acknowledges the complexity of cultural value. Within society there are diverse range of values and meanings associated with these values, especially in relation to cultural value. We propose an innovative way of exploring this complexity, and that is through taste-making. Taste-making is a situated activity that rests on learning and knowing how to appraise specific performances of a practice (Gherardi, 2009). In this way music can be understood by studying the social and organisational practices of its creation, performance and communication, as well as its enjoyment; these are all music practices. Taste shapes and is shaped within difference practices and is refined through negotiation and reflectivity, in order to express aesthetic judgments of it (Gheradi, 2009). For example gaining pleasure from music is a form of attachment socially supported by the respective communities of practice, which have developed vocabularies and specific criteria of taste and value in order to communicate, share and refine the ways in which such practices are enacted. This research will involve exploring such enactments of taste-making among the different communities of music practitioners.
Our methods and outcomes could clearly contribute to a framework, firstly through the development of a vocabulary and concept of taste making from alternative positions, and secondly the methods to be used for assessing the different forms of taste and processes would help to enable an evaluation of value. The approach explores perceptions and reflections of a cultural experience before, during and after the performance, and this may allow us to elucidate how the different practitioners value that cultural experience. This way of looking at experience deliberately does so from different perspectives and draws in different disciplines. There is no singular experience and hence no singular perceived value, therefore a methodological approach that can capture the richness and diversity and that can produce focused insights is needed.
Reference
Gherardi, S (2009) Practice? It's a matter of taste! Management Learning, 40(5): 535-550.
Planned Impact
From the PI, CI and Red Note's previous research experience (ESRC: RES-187-24-0014), we are aware of the impact research findings can have on the development of an ensemble's venue and repertoire strategy. In particular incorporating potential attenders into the sampling has had a social impact by exposing their music experience (You Tube and Contemporary Music examples played as part of the groups) to those outside of their existing audience, and these perceptions and attitudes have also helped Red Note develop its practice. The Red Note research findings and its impact have been presented at the Sound Festival in Aberdeen (2011), within the RCS (2011) and Music Matters Conference in Glasgow (2012).
As well as having an impact on our Research Partners' practices, our methods and outcomes will impact on the practices of our policy partner and its networks. Creative Scotland sees considerable value in our proposed study, and is contributing £2,000 to help disseminate our findings, since it addresses one of the core elements of its mission in opening up the arts to wider, more diverse audiences. Creative Scotland as the national development agency for the arts, and the primary investor in the subsidized arts sector needs to understand as precisely as possible the cultural value of those art forms it funds. As such there is an obvious synergy with the aims and objectives of the AHRC's Cultural Value project as a whole. Specifically, we will set up a project steering group with Creative Scotland so that our methods and outcomes can be communicated across a broad range of cultural sectors and art forms. With the support of Creative Scotland, which is contributing £2,000 to help in the dissemination of our research findings, we will develop a written summary of our methods and outcomes of the Cultural Values project to be disseminated across its networks. We will follow this up with a workshop at Creative Scotland to discuss our methodological approach and its outcomes for the Cultural Values Project in order to see if and how these are replicable and applicable to other cultural sectors and art forms. It is intended that learning from the content and process of the research will be mobilized for capacity building of policy makers, academics and practitioners (for example, through workshops and conferences).
As well as having an impact on our Research Partners' practices, our methods and outcomes will impact on the practices of our policy partner and its networks. Creative Scotland sees considerable value in our proposed study, and is contributing £2,000 to help disseminate our findings, since it addresses one of the core elements of its mission in opening up the arts to wider, more diverse audiences. Creative Scotland as the national development agency for the arts, and the primary investor in the subsidized arts sector needs to understand as precisely as possible the cultural value of those art forms it funds. As such there is an obvious synergy with the aims and objectives of the AHRC's Cultural Value project as a whole. Specifically, we will set up a project steering group with Creative Scotland so that our methods and outcomes can be communicated across a broad range of cultural sectors and art forms. With the support of Creative Scotland, which is contributing £2,000 to help in the dissemination of our research findings, we will develop a written summary of our methods and outcomes of the Cultural Values project to be disseminated across its networks. We will follow this up with a workshop at Creative Scotland to discuss our methodological approach and its outcomes for the Cultural Values Project in order to see if and how these are replicable and applicable to other cultural sectors and art forms. It is intended that learning from the content and process of the research will be mobilized for capacity building of policy makers, academics and practitioners (for example, through workshops and conferences).
People |
ORCID iD |
| Charlotte Gilmore (Principal Investigator) | |
| C Duffy (Co-Investigator) |
| Description | This study explored a genre at the hard end of cultural value, acknowledged by one musician as having a reputation for being "plinky plonk...squeaky gate, and has not shaken that off". However above all else the artistic directors and musicians valued the challenge of playing contemporary classical music, its musical and intellectual challenge. They also talked about valuing the soundscape and texture of the music, of being able to work with living composers and of being the first to play a piece of music. While valuing the music they noted that the music was a "hard sell", and of not being sure why audiences came to their ensembles' concerts. The artistic directors considered that this was because as a genre it is at the "high end" of the artistic spectrum, and given this economic considerations were ancillary to artistic content; central to a good performance was how "good the playing was". "Good playing" constituted values such as the players not being on the back foot, always being on the front foot" and that the players are positive, precise and communicative. The artistic directors also posed themselves other questions in terms of what made a good performance for them, these included: was the audience engaged and comfortable? what did the audience feel?; and was it the right venue? Indeed venues could play an important part in attracting new audiences to contemporary classical music. In terms of understanding audiences the venues around which the research was based attracted a loyal and dedicated following. As such one of the venue artistic directors noted, audiences that would not naturally attend a Red Note or Psappha performance would be exposed to them if they go to those venues for a drink or something to eat, because they "want to be known for going to that venueand so there is that sort of identity thing": "We want to be a place where people hang out and socialise, alongside the artthe longer those two things are alongside each otherpeople may look at something they might have previously considered." In this way the venue artistic directors acknowledged venue contemporary classical music was a "hard sell" when asked why they programmed this genre of music, they posed themselves questions: "of how we should be making music now and what that means?" "what the relationship between the performance and the audience is"; and "what do we get out of it on the most fundamental level: a significant performance for the performers and audience alike and one that feels contemporary and relevant now". Identity was also an issue acknowledged by audiences in terms of attending or not attending classical or contemporary classical concerts. There was a sense among non attenders and first time attenders (Pssapha) that they would be out of place going to such a concert; "not my crowd of people" and "I think there is a stigma with certain types of concerts. In part this was because there was a feeling that they needed to be knowledgeable both in terms of the music and concert etiquette i.e. knowing when to clap and knowing what to wear, before attending a classical concert, not least a contemporary classical concerts, a genre of which their was little or no awareness. Hence there is value in arts venues, attracting potential audiences by constructing a distinct identity based around the arts and which also provides areas to socialise within the artistic spaces. The challenge valued by the artistic directors and musicians was also reflected in the attenders and non-attenders values but in different ways. The attenders, as 'experimenters', enjoyed and sought out the challenge of new pieces of music across a range of genres. In contrast non-attenders did not seek a challenge when listening to music, indeed they valued music, which was familiar, which brought back memories and different emotions. Non-attenders, who had more conservative tastes than attenders, valued the celebrity artist to play their 'favorite hits' as opposed to exploring different genres of music. Non-attenders were either not aware of contemporary classical music as a genre, or their perception of it was of young musicians such as Vanessa Mae playing classical instruments. There were similarities in the values gained from music (in general) amongst non-attenders and attenders, a lot of which were on an internal level provoking memories and emotions. In addition both audiences found music to match their moods and activities such as housework or exercising. They also talked about it as being self-therapeutic, of allowing them to express themselves and as a form of escapism. However while non-attenders sought the comfort of the familiar i.e. favourite hits, attenders liked the dissonance and challenge, as well as the beauty of contemporary classical music. These values were evident in the groups conducted before and after the ensembles' performance for example with the Red Note performance amongst the attenders in addition to the PI who was observing there was both enjoyment and irritation. With the Psappha Islington Mill performance, there were first time attenders who were artists within the Mill so with an interest in the contemporary arts, who found the performance both difficult and yet amazing, as one attender said, "I'd rather watch that than Eastenders". In terms of developing these findings, I am currently developing two journal papers, one based on Red Note creating a space for musicians to play, and another based on the differing audience values. |
| Exploitation Route | On the basis of these finding I developed a successful Knowledge Exchange and Impact grant (University of Edinburgh), evaluating and measuring audience diversity within the contemporary arts in line with the key issue for Creative Scotland and hence its clients. From this I intend to develop an AHRC Follow On Funding bid, to develop a methodological tool box based on the methods used within the AHRC project and the KE / Impact project, to be developed with small arts organisation which seek to understand and diversify audiences. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0044/00447255.pdf |
| Description | Gilmore, C. (2014) sCene Seminar: Cultural Value: How do you measure the value of a cultural experience? http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0044/00447255.pdf Red Note Contemporary Classical ensemble states within its Final Red Note Regular Funding Assessment, 2015-2018:19, Creative Scotland) that "The primary findings from this research were again nuanced and quite complex; however, a picture emerges that shows that the traditional audience drivers that exist within other forms of music simply do not exist within contemporary music. Additionally, it was found that the definition of the word "contemporary" is a very problematic, baggage-laden term - both by creating false expectations, and by putting other people off. As a consequence Red Note are trialing the use of the word "new" within certain contexts to describe the music it performs." The findings from this study were disseminated and debated within two workshops at a part of the project: one in Creative Scotland Edinburgh Office with a music specialist audience, and the other at the University of Edinburgh with a artistic directors from contemporary arts venues, funders and policy makers across Scotland, where the work was considered "interesting, stimulating and valuable work" (Christine Hamilton, arts consultant and reviewer of Scottish Theatre for Creative Scotland 2013). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Policy & public services |