Excellence, Inclusion and Intervention in Music (MUSOC) is an AHRC funded Research Network partnership between the Royal College of Music and York St John University.
The Research Network will bring together a wide range of practitioners and researchers, culminating in a major open conference that will launch the Music and Social Intervention Network into the wider research community. The Network runs for 18 months from June 2017.
Excellence, Inclusion and Intervention in Music will establish a global network of scholars and music educators who, through debate, dialogue and research practices, will critique the meaning of 'inclusive' and 'excellent' in the field of community music. The partnership is led by the RCM’s Area Leader for Music Education, Dr Jennie Henley (pictured), and Professor Lee Higgins, Director of the International Centre of Community Music at York St John University.
Through exploring a series of research questions, the network's objective is to foster debate, inspire dialogue and create new discourses surrounding excellence and inclusion within music interventions by:
- Identifying different constructions of excellence and inclusion from the perspective of different fields of study that intersect community music
- Subjecting these constructions to critique in order to question and challenge the way they are interpreted through research, and how they affect practice
- Developing a set of concepts built on new, shared definitions of ‘inclusivity’ and ‘excellence’ across the many different fields of interventionist musical practice that can inform and drive both practice and research forward
Three public events provide an opportunity for those working in the field to meet and discuss issues surrounding excellence and inclusion. Each event will provide a starting point for discussion of each of the aims in turn. Researchers and practitioners from a number of different fields can respond to the live events via the project website.
