Abstract / Summary
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Research Problem
The Research Challenge was initiated by the following Call For Participation
Challenge Overview
This Research Challenge invites postgraduate researchers and early career researchers (PGRs & ECRs) to share, exchange, and reflect on the qualitative methods they use to investigate their own musical practice. Different research aims, forms of practice and contexts require different methods and the C21MP research centre is dedicated to supporting PGRs and ECRs by conducting research into those methods. This project is one of several steps we are taking in that direction.
Practice research requires methods that can get close to the lived experience of doing music — the decisions, impulses, and processes that unfold in real time, before reflection reshapes them. Established qualitative methods such as stimulated recall, think-aloud protocols, video diary, and autoethnography have all been used in this context, but researchers frequently adapt and refine these approaches to suit their specific practice and research questions.
This challenge is designed to describe, make explicit and share that methodological knowledge — the customisations, workarounds, and insights that rarely make it into formal publications.
What does the challenge involve?
- You create a 10-minute video demonstrating a qualitative method you use in your own practice research — including how and why you have adapted it to your aims, practice and context.
- You are paired with another participant and exchange videos.
- You explore their method in relation to your own practice and create a second 10-minute response video.
- You watch your partner’s response to your method.
- You and your partner meet online for a 20-minute filmed discussion: 10 minutes on how each of you interpreted and adapted the method, and 10 minutes analysing what the exchange revealed.
The four videos and the discussion are edited into a 60-minute research output and published by C21MP as a jointly authored, DOI-allocated, peer-reviewed practice research publication via the UK’s JISC Octopus.ac system.
What kinds of methods are in scope?
Any qualitative method that aims to capture the lived experience of musical practice from the inside — for example:
- Stimulated recall (video-assisted or audio-assisted)
- Think-aloud / verbal protocol
- Autoethnography
- Practice diary / video diary
- Reflective journaling
- Other approaches — provided they are oriented towards lived experience rather than post-hoc theoretical explanation
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Publication Type: Research Problem
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Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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Rationale / Hypothesis
Proposal: Onion Soup: creative video work as multimodal articulation of process
Bea Hebron
My doctoral research explores how a foregrounding of process can reveal the embodied knowledges that structure songwriting and how verbal scoring can anchor this foregrounding. In response to the theme of this Research Challenge, I am proposing an exploration of how I use creative video work as a multimodal
articulation of process. In my composition practice I document a multitude of components that are part of
my practice, framing practice as ‘concrete examples of actions, moments of doing, […] instances of materialised activity’ (Spatz, 2015). To articulate my multimodal experience, I explore multimodal forms of expression. My video work makes up a significant part of this; it is grounded in the methodology of video illuminations as
outlined by Ben Spatz but expanding this through additional textures and layers. The playful term ‘onion soup’ points towards layering and immersion, and combines and adapts elements from video diaries, reflective journalling, and stimulated recall. In this type of articulation of composition process through video work, simultaneity of different text(ure)s is intentional, inviting ever-shifting focal points with each new instantiation, mirroring my lived experience of composition practice. Themes that emerge strongly in my work are memory, fragmentation, assemblage, and repetition, which all form sites of shared embodied technique (Spatz, 2015) across songwriting
and verbal scoring.
Proposal: Autoethnography as Meta-Method
Jack Irving
I employ autoethnography as a meta-method of documenting and examining my experience of creative method, informing the development of an embodied, ethical methodological framework for accessible practice-based, insider community research. I create and forage data, including contemporaneous diaries, recordings, poetry, art, and lens-based media. My current autoethnographic focus is the development of four interactive, sound-and-art installations for gender-minority participants, using sensor technologies to enable live participant creation with pre-composed sound and art. The compositional process is physically and creatively situated within the natural heritage of Scotland, particularly in sites of historical human-spatial interaction. With the first video submission in mind, autoethnographic enquiry takes place demonstratively both in situ and within my studio practice, where written materials are produced and comparative journaling and analysis occur. I evidence emotional responses to creative method and moments of dis/composure relating to practice and identity. Through this enquiry, I examine how methods function in action and iteratively revise my overarching method for the installations, foregrounding a non-exploitative experience. With a foundation in ethical philosophy and participatory research design, the autoethnographic meta-method embodies the compositional and creative experience of my practice, positioning researcher and participants in equal ethical consideration while developing transferable methodological insights
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Publication Type: Rationale / Hypothesis
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Method
This protocol establishes a structured method for collaborative practice research between two music practitioners through asynchronous video exchange. Participants independently develop proposals and create 10-minute videos exploring a practice concept, technique, or approach. Videos are exchanged, prompting each participant to create a second 10-minute response exploring how their partner’s work stimulates new directions in their own practice. The process concludes with a 20-minute filmed discussion analysing interpretative choices and outcomes. The protocol produces a 60-minute structure, serving as peer-reviewed, DOI-allocated practice research output via JISC Octopus. This method makes tacit practice knowledge explicit and generates transferable insights into practice innovation.
For further details see: https://doi.org/10.57874/s80m-1g18
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Results / Sources
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Analysis
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Interpretation - Coming Soon
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Applications / Implications - Coming Soon
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I thought this was a compelling research video, with an excellent pairing of approaches that led to some very interesting insights and discussions. It was also well evidenced throughout, with a number of helpful sources providing context for each contributor’s respective approach.
I particularly enjoyed how Bea communicated her method so directly through her practice, and how Jack then took this somewhat daring approach in his response video, adapting and integrating some of the approaches and ideas that Bea had demonstrated while bringing in his own unique methods and research concerns. This made for a very fruitful and thought-provoking interaction between the two contributions in the opening exchange.
From Jack’s side, I found the communication of an anti-exploitative approach, coupled with an explicit concern for both his own vulnerability and that of the environment, very effective. I loved the idea of foraging, and appreciated how Bea also referenced this, contrasting it with the potential for implied violence or non-consent associated with the notion of ‘capturing’.
From Bea’s side, I appreciated her recognition of the tension between the effectiveness of video as a methodological research tool and its potentially harsh qualities. Her emphasis on process as central to both the method and the meaning of her research is something I strongly relate to and increasingly recognise in my own work, albeit in a completely different context.