PGR Conference (May 2023)

New Voices and new perspectives in music and education research.

Keynote: Dr Jo Yee Cheung, Olympias Music Foundation

22 – 23 May 2023

Monday 22 May

Session 1: 10:00 – 11:30
Forman Lecture Theatre, Chair: Jane Ginsborg

Naomi Kayayan, Music Education
“As you walk along the way, the way appears”
(Rumi, 13th Century Poet)
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: A researcher’s journey around the hermeneutic circle.
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) investigates how people make sense of their lived experiences in the context of their personal and social worlds (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). Therefore, a fundamental aim of the phenomenological researcher is concerned with making meaning from the meaning making of research participants. This is what is known as a hermeneutic process. Both the researcher and the research participant enter into a journey around a hermeneutic circle; the participant sharing their experiences of the phenomenon in question, and the researcher interpreting the stories of their personal lived experiences. This presentation will describe the methodological processes of two IPA studies which were carried out with 16 conservatoire piano students and professors between October 2022 – April 2023. Within the context of conservatoire piano lessons, the research questions which guided the two studies, asked participants to describe their lived experiences of ‘Engaging Students as Partners’ (Cook-Sather et.al., 2014; Bovill, 2020; Mercer-Mapstone & Abbot, 2020). Specifically, this presentation will share a personal, reflective journey from the researcher’s perspective post interview process, and will explore some observations during the initial stages of analysis. It will describe the methodological strategies which contributed to the interview process, and, how the use of recorded technology, and a two-step interview structure impacted upon the research experience.

Rosalind Ridout, Music Education
Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Ecoliteracy: Magic and nature connection within a musician’s teaching practice.
This research project asks how Dalcroze Eurhythmics and ecoliteracy can work together to inform an ecoliterate teaching practice which uses music, movement, sensory experience and social interaction. Ecoliteracy views the world through interconnection and works to build healthy relationships between us and the rest of the more-than-human world — our living, animated and reciprocal landscapes. This paper will detail some of the connections I have found between Dalcroze and ecoliteracy in their practice and theory, and I will also present some of my autoethnographic explorations. I will share reflections on my own practice as I consider what it means to cultivate responsiveness, wonder and kinship in my life and work as a teacher in relationship with the more-than human world.

Ellen Casey, Music Education
Finding an embodied musical self: An autoethnographic journey through the lens of J.S. Bach’s suites for solo cello.
As an initial phase of my research into how musicians’ engagement with AT training shapes their integration of physical and psychological elements of musical practice, I have made myself the object of study through autoethnographic reflection. Using the act of playing to provoke reflection, I permit external thoughts and memories to surface in response to the auditory and kinaesthetic stimulus. I play and I write in a cyclical dance. A significant part of my daily practice involves J. S. Bach’s suites for solo cello, and the memories and feelings associated with playing this music give me insight into myself as a learner. To give form to my autoethnographic reflection I use movements from the suites to frame stages in my journey towards a more
embodied musical self, accompanied by moments of music so that you may meet me not just through my reflection, but through my sound. Inspired by Pelias’ methodology of the heart (Pelias, 2004), I foreground my emotionally vulnerable, evocative, and poetic voice to see what we can learn from sharing a musical life as it is lived, experienced and embodied.

Break: 11:30 – 11:50
Refreshments on the Carole Nash Mezzanine

Session 2: 11:50 – 12:40
Studio 8, Chair: Simon Knighton

Melvin Tay, Performance
Re-realising opera performance for chamber ensemble.
Chamber arrangements of large-scale works have been gaining popularity in the last decade with professional groups, educational institutions, and amateur opera societies, especially as they reduce costs and allow for performances in small venues. Their use also increased as they allowed for social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, many arrangements are often poorly executed and include indications pencilled in haphazardly, resulting in time being wasted before and during rehearsals. Therefore, this project aims to suggest alternative approaches and explore how we can re-realise opera performance by using chamber arrangements. The paper will explore the method in producing these arrangements. This will follow my arrangement and performance (I also conduct the performances) of two operas, a 65-minute version of Puccini’s La Boheme that was performed in November 2021 and Lehar’s Die Lustige Witwe that will be performed in the last week of April 2023. There is little literature on how a chamber arrangement of an opera might be made, with reduced forces and reduced duration. Hence, in order to construct a framework for my own arrangement, I first proposed a list of ten factors to consider when producing an opera arrangement. The second element was to record my arranging process in a diary. And finally, I designed a questionnaire that would be able to capture useful data from audience, singers and instrumentalists involved in the performances.

Meriel Price, Composition

Forman Lecture Theatre, Chair: Darragh Kelly

Megan Steinberg, Composition
’An Ingenious Way to Live’: Composing for Disability, Deafness and Neurodiversity.
This 20-minute talk will explore 1) barriers faced by disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent musicians in the creative process, 2) accessible solutions to these barriers, and 3) the ingenious creativity of disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent music making. By looking at case studies from my work and the work of others, we will reposition the field of disability studies into
compositional process and suggest an accessible process for collaboration and creativity.

Songhao Yao, Composition
Exploration of breathing patterns in non-wind instruments composition: Notating the physical breathing actions of non-wind instruments in performance.
There are already established traditions for the use of breath notation in wind, brass and vocal writing, mainly because of the obvious link these instruments have with breath in the formation of the majority of their traditional sounds. In contrast, breath 3 notation for non-wind instruments (for example strings, piano) is not considered a systematic technique currently. The main purpose of this research is the development of practice-based and collaborative methods to investigate the effects of different breathing patterns and actions notated in scores for non-wind instruments. It seeks to develop a framework for breathing notation as compositional technique with these instruments. In this talk, I will present the early stages of this research. This will include an overview of works with notated breathing and my compositional intentions. By way of example, I will present excerpts of performances of these works with and without notated breathing.

Lunch: 12:40 – 14:00

Session 3: 14:00 – 15:30
Studio 8, Chair: Larry Goves

Simon Knighton, Composition
Sound Sculptures, Dynamical Systems and the Natural World (part 2).
The swing of a pendulum, the flow of water, the motion of air particles: these are examples of real-world processes that can be modelled using dynamical systems. In 2022, I curated a spatialized concert (for four musicians, eight speakers and an installation) that presented a set list of musical pieces inspired by dynamical systems. This presentation focuses on three
interconnected pieces from the concert: I will discuss how three different forms of technology infused autonomous/semi-autonomous musical processes (with three distinct levels of human involvement) led to three different yet recognizably linked musical outputs, and how this created a sonic environment that artistically connects to the sometimes simple, sometimes
chaotic mathematical processes that surround us in everyday life.

Cee Haines, Performance
Electronic HRT, a talking saxophone and a singing cymbal: An up close analysis of instrumental affordances and player effectivity through a trans lens.
Inspired by Dr Richard Perk’s research on affordances of the fretless electric guitar, this paper will use and expand on Gibson’s (1979) Theory of Affordances and Shaw, Turvey and Mace’s ideas of ‘effectivity’ to explore how the trans experience can inform our approaches to and beliefs about the bodies of musical instruments and instrumentalists. In order to explore these ideas, I will be looking at three examples of what I consider to be ‘transness’ (of a sort) in my composition and performance practice. I begin by outlining how I intuitively began to use software to transform my voice to align with a more authentic expression of myself, transforming my own voice into a more ‘masculine’ form, and how the limitations of such software informed my artistic choices. I then outline two examples of a development of this kind of trans and transformative practice; playing my own electronically manipulated voice through the Sylphyo EWI (electronic wind controller), and creating vocal timbres on instruments not usually associated with the voice – in this case, a cymbal. In each instance, I will examine how transness informs my view of the embodiment/disembodiment of sound in live performance, the relationship between the aural and the visual, and what I might explore in the future.

Ellen Sargen, Composition
Performative bodies on stage: Recent work and methods as ‘composer-performer’ (on stage and in the ‘laboratory’).
This presentation will focus on a recent piece, ‘Lost in your whole world’, which is part of my wider PhD project investigating performer behaviour and physicality through collaboration and composition. ‘Lost in your whole world’ is a piece for flute, saxophone, cello and myself as speaker, composed during the summer of 2022 for House of Bedlam. The piece was made by transcribing (and later editing and developing) recordings of improvisations made by House of Bedlam in response to a series of open scores that I had written for the trio. These open scores were designed to creatively explore discomfort in performance, a “performance behaviour” that I had investigated during a previous piece as a ‘composer-performer’. ‘Lost in your whole world’ is a commentary on consent in composer/performer relationships, which flips halfway to critique the act of coding behaviours to a performer’s body. This presentation will critique the creative methods I used to create the piece and discuss how the piece contributes to current dialogues around ‘composer-performers’ and specifically, ‘performative bodies’ on stage.

Forman Lecture Theatre, Chair: Dan Baczkowski

Peggy Nolan, Performance
Player/Listener/Interpreter/Director/Explorer: Surveying the roles and responsibilities of the multifaceted researcher-performer.
The upcoming stage of my research project is centred around the practical exploration of 18 string quartets by Boccherini, at which point collaboration with my fellow colleagues within the string quartet necessitates a schedule which is truncated into intensive bursts of activity over a short timeframe. Furthermore, it requires me to assume the threefold position of director, researcher, and cellist. This presentation addresses the complexity of this multi-purpose role, and discusses the most pertinent strategies and methodology in overcoming the challenges it presents.

Faith Thompson, Musicology
Untangling the reception of Gabriel Pierné’s Music: Clues from La Revue musicale (1920–40).
Gabriel Pierné (1863–1937) was one of the most prominent and well-loved French conductors of the early twentieth century. He steered the prestigious Concerts Colonne from 1910 to 1933, and has accordingly been deemed ‘one of the most powerful men on the postwar Paris scene’ (Nichols 2002: 42). Pierné’s public identity was divided, however: he also composed prolifically over many decades, and enjoyed tangible success in this field. My presentation will use La Revue musicale, Henry Prunières’s highprofile music journal, to help unravel Pierné’s composer-conductor identity. The journal reveals that reception of Pierné’s music was heavily intertwined with that of his conducting, a situation which both helped and hindered his reputation as a composer. Problems in the reception of Pierné’s creative output will also be traced via La Revue musicale to the musical content of some of his works. While shedding light in these ways on Pierné’s own career and legacy, this study is a window onto wider musical values in interwar France, including perceptions of the composer-conductor role, negotiations of the musical past, and the great emphasis placed upon originality.

Break: 15:30 – 15:50
Refreshments on the Carole Nash Mezzanine

Session 4: 15:50 – 16:50
Studio 8, Chair: Veronika Lubert

Rosie Middleton, Performance
Content warning: this presentation contains brief references to self-harm, sexual violence and trauma.
Performance as self-harm: The separation of person from ‘Product’.
Though post #metoo, discussions around ‘consent’ and ‘safety’ in classical music have slowly increased, in practice, hierarchical power structures in singing training and the opera industry combined with onstage sexual and physical violence against women continue to lead to well-documented abuse, and a culture of disempowerment for women. Singers sit at the intersection of classical music and theatre, combining the obedience and unattainable perfectionism of classical training with theatre. Vulnerability onstage is highly prized for female and upper voice singers, who embody a wide range of intense emotions and violence including abuse, murder, grief and explicit sex scenes. However, displaying real, human vulnerability offstage is often received as ‘being difficult’ or unprofessional. In an industry where the jobs are already limited, and currently declining, the fear of not being rehired is high, making it very difficult to give meaningful consent, or be ‘safe’ at work. Drawing on my own experiences in both opera and in new music collaborations, this paper will consider the separation of our onstage and off stage personas and the physical and psychological risks taken by experimental vocal performers who were trained for the opera industry. I will explore the tension between onstage and off-stage vulnerability, and the point at which performance or creation can become an act of self-harm. I will also refer to written accounts by my peers in experimental vocal music and consider tools we can employ to reduce harm from broader artforms including performance art and theatre.

Amelia Clarkson, Composition
White Doves: Exploring the impact of violence in new music for dance.
This talk will focus on my current process as I explore communicating violence in new music for dance. I will discuss current work-in-progress, White Doves, a two-act semi-narrative/abstract ballet. The work navigates peace and identity in Northern Ireland from the viewpoint of the post-Troubles generation in collaborative ‘cross-community’ practice with choreographer. I will be discussing our collaborative experiences and methods as we merge narrative historic scenes with bird imagery to communicate the impact of violence on the Belfast community.

Tuesday 23 May

Session 1: 10:00 – 11:30
Studio 8, Chair: Darragh Kelly

Matthew Brown, Composition
“My” Band
Abstract: This presentation explores the confused phenomenon of the “smaller wind band” and the “larger wind ensemble” from a composer’s perspective. In particular, I aim to describe how – in composition – I attempt to make a conventional group of musicians such as a wind band feel like “my own” band through my treatment of instruments and combinations. In contrast, through the discussion of wind ensembles I also aim to test the term “chamber music”.

Matthew Holmes, Musicology
Self-borrowing, Inversion and Nostalgia: Robert Simpson’s Variations and Fugue for Recorder and String Quartet.
Robert Simpson’s (1921-97) best known contributions to music came from his writings on composers such as Nielsen and Bruckner, and many more general musical subjects; and as a broadcaster and producer at the BBC (1951-80) where he championed the works of lesser-known composers through his programme, The Innocent Ear. It is no surprise then that those composers whom he championed, both new and old, would have significant impacts on his own music. From Haydn and Beethoven especially do Simpson’s 15 numbered string quartets owe a great deal, both in more general terms such as their mastery of classical rhythm and form, and more specifically, in several quartets, such as Simpson’s 4th, 5th and 6th – composed as close studies of Beethoven’s op. 59 ‘Rasumovsky’ quartets. The 6th quartet (1975) is the most mature of these and leaves behind the superficial analogies of the earlier two for deeper, re expressions of the musical and personal content of its source. One of the clearest examples of this is Simpson’s interpretation of Beethoven’s Minuet movement. In an interview with Malcolm Macdonald, he explains his belief that Beethoven was nostalgic for the form, having recently lost the last of his hearing. Simpson’s analogy here is far more complex than he let on, as a quote from his once lost Variations and Fugue for Recorder and String Quartet (1959) extends the nostalgic analogy back to his very first quartet (1952) and its own source, Haydn’s ‘Lark’ quartet (op. 64 no. 5) through two rare examples of self-borrowing.

Emma Clarke, Composition
The embodied voice artist as compositional practitioner: Artifice, gender and the regional creative.
We can be tricked into thinking the human voice is like a fingerprint: personal, recognisable and identifiable. But subtle combinations and gradations of the six elements of vocal expression (pitch, pace, pause, power, inflection and tone colour) can conceal and distort the speaker’s ‘true’ identity and meaning, resulting in nuanced degrees of vocally applied artifice; the verbal and embodied sounds we make may be ambiguous, misinterpreted, inaccurate or false. We can use music that features the human voice and embodied sounds to examine the tension between meaning and sound, truth and artifice. Artificial vocal identities are created by delicately altering the formation of phonemes within the framework of the elements of vocal expression, producing almost limitless vocal identities: acousmatic, embodied, phenomenological and phonographic. My compositional portfolio uses the embodied phenomenological and phonographic human voice to explore the concept of vocal artifice in specific relation to femininity, northernness and machine-learned vocal sounds. I examine how generic and specific Northern accents can be performed for non-comedic dramatic effect; how three archetypal aspects of the feminine are vocally conveyed; how embodied sounds of breathing can be phonographically manipulated to create inferred meanings, and how machine-learned audio can ape the sound of human speech. By using the concept of artifice, vocal agility and the elements of vocal expression, I can compose music that includes and foregrounds the human voice in ways that connect my work as a voice actor with music composition.

Forman Lecture Theatre, Chair: Anna Wright
Akiho Suzuki, Music Psychology
Developing an online intervention on effective practice and performance preparation for conservatoire piano students Intervention studies are common in research. However, most of these studies usually report an evaluation of the intervention, while the process of how the intervention was developed is rarely reported in detail. An intervention development study is a study that describes the process of turning an initial idea for an intervention into something that is ready for preliminary testing 6 (e.g., pilot study). Reporting this development process allows the intervention to be more transparent and reproducible, while potentially providing useful guidance for other researchers looking to develop interventions. This paper describes and discusses the process that was undertaken to develop an online intervention that aims to help conservatoire piano students practise and prepare for performance effectively. Several studies were conducted to gather the information necessary to design the intervention including a systematic review of existing interventions for effective music practice; an interview study with conservatoire piano teachers; and a questionnaire study with tertiary music students about their preferences. Furthermore, I reviewed the literature on music practice, self-regulated learning, effective design of online interventions, and self-regulated learning interventions in other domains. The paper will present key findings from these studies and reviews, and discuss how they informed the content and design of the intervention. I will discuss the factors that need to be taken into consideration when designing an intervention for music students and the challenges that can arise. It is hoped that this paper will be of use to researchers wishing to design interventions for music students, and encourage more researchers to report and discuss the process of intervention development.

Christian Jones, Performance
How do audition panels reach a consensus when comparing trombonists? When responding to feedback, is it possible for the performer to adjust their sound during a live audition?
In my experience, trombone auditions are decided almost exclusively on the candidates’ apparently innate sound. What are audition panels actually listening for and why? If the concept of timbre is difficult to express in words, how can professionals communicate effectively with an applicant making a poor sound? I am exploring these questions as part of my investigations, using specialist software and direct comparisons between instruments and performers.

Veronika Lubert, Music Psychology
Between discipline and creativity: Reflections on performing artists’ motivation from the perspective of self-determination theory.
Accomplished performing artists are typically fuelled by inherent interest, joy, and a deep sense of meaning in their pursuit of creative excellence – aren’t they? Alternatively, do they mostly submit to their effortful training, rehearsals and performances out of discipline, forgoing enjoyment and pleasure in the pursuit of long-term goals? Because both discipline and creativity are valued driving forces in the performing arts, the extent to which they are compatible becomes an important question. For example, to what extent should instructors promote creative freedom vs. disciplined practice? This presentation will give an introduction to self-determination theory – arguably the most influential motivation theory to date – with a focus on the personal experiences and behaviours of performing artists. Examples and quotes from recent research will be used to illustrate which nuances of motivation they perceive and how it may be possible to reconcile disciplined, hard work with creative freedom. The aim is to promote awareness of the complete spectrum of controlled and self-determined motivation and its wide-ranging implications.

Break: 11:30 – 11:50
Refreshments on the Carole Nash Mezzanine

Session 2: 11:50 – 12:40
Studio 8, open workshop

Simon Knighton, Composition
An introduction to sound sculptures and autonomous musical systems
The flow of water, the motion of air particles, the solar system: these are examples of real-world physical systems that, once set in motion, will run and evolve autonomously. In this session we will look at various forms of musical system which also run and evolve by themselves. In the second half of the session students will be invited to make their own autonomous sound sculptures using various DIY materials.
Brief session outline:
• Introduce various types of physical system in the natural world (pendulums, fireflies, streams of water etc), followed by examples of system/process-based music/sound art by artists such as Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier etc.
• Invite the participants to make their own automated sound sculptures using handheld fans and various DIY materials.
Who is the workshop designed for?
The session will be of particular interest to composers, producers, electronic/experimental musicians, and anyone with a curiosity for how sound works.

Lunch: 12:40 – 14:00

Session 3: 14:00 – 15:30
Studio 8, Chair: Ellen Casey

Devon Bonelli, Composition
Queen Midas: A Queer Reflection on the Fallout of the AIDS Crisis and the Camp of Opera
Queen Midas, by Devon Bonelli, explores how a common thread of the “fear of touch” found in the Greek myth of Midas and the fallout of the AIDS crisis can be used as the basis for innovative operatic retelling. The story, written collaboratively between Bonelli and poet Spencer Mason, explores the intersections of musical developments in disco and house that were fueled by queer people, constructions of reality, and the ongoing legacy of the AIDS crisis. Through the lens of a diva queen, indicative of the ‘handbag house’ genre in the 90s, the story of Midas is reimagined and brought to life, highlighting themes of love, loss, and the human need for connection. This performance, featuring soloist Georgie Malcom and electronics, will take place at The White Hotel, a club venue, in Salford on the 25th of June, therefore directly tying operatic tradition to queer nightlife. This presentation will be a sharing of archive film, music, and stagecraft in preparation for the performance.

Dan Baczkowski, Composition/Music Psychology
Shaping time in composition: Responses to research in music perception
Many musicological works analyse the proportions of various composers’ pieces and show how significant structural points align with the mathematical concept of the Golden Section. Two well-known examples are Lendvai’s writing on Bartók (1971) and Howat’s writing on Debussy (1983). However, the notion that these proportions are perceivable by the listener presupposes that the length of a section of music will be perceived in absolute relation to another regardless of their musical content. This is problematic as many studies of perceived duration in music have shown that this can vary depending on properties of the music, the listening environment, and the listener themselves (Phillips, 2022; Ziv & Omer, 2010). Skybeam (2023) is a piece I have composed around a Golden Section model and is also designed to explore various theories of time perception which could impact a listener’s experience. These theories are Poynter’s (1983) segmentation model, the expectancy contrast theory of Jones and Boltz (1989), and attention-based models such as that of Block and Zakay (1996). Much of this research in how listeners perceive time in music could have significant implications for proportional compositional methods which will be discussed in relation to my piece.

Anna Wright, Musicology
The desire for a music college in Manchester: an exploration of the background to the establishment of the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM)
Most histories of the foundation of the RMCM in the 1890s begin with the reports of a town meeting held on 3 December 1891 to discuss a proposal from Sir Charles Hallé to secure the future of his concerts, build a new concert hall and establish a school of music in the city. Writing a few years later about the RMCM Hallé refers to a ‘rumble of dissatisfaction [in the area] that provision for its [music’s] cultivation was so inadequate’. In his silver jubilee history the College’s first Registrar, Stanley Withers, describes a growing local feeling that’ some organised effort must be made in the interests of higher musical education…’, but neither gave any proof of this growing public desire for a college of music. In the course of my research I have found evidence from the 1880s which corroborates the comments made by Hallé and Withers. In this paper, drawing on original archival material from various Manchester institutions, contemporary newspapers and other published sources, I will explore the evidence to construct a timeline and demonstrate that Hallé’s scheme was the result of several years of conversations, discussions and ‘campaigning’ between and by several influential ‘Manchester men’.

Forman Lecture Theatre, Chair: Veronika Lubert

Julia Han, Composition
Composing the Chinese Zodiac: Exploring audiovisual composition vocabularies
The relationship between the instrumental music and instrumental presence is carefully considered alongside the video and any fixed media audio. Simultaneously I have been pursuing more commercial music writing for film, where the music is driven by the narrative and filmmaker’s agenda. This research seeks to develop my understanding of the relationship between my composition, live concert music, and moving image, though a series of case study audiovisual compositions that foreground the sights and sounds of ‘nature’, broadly defined, and by extension various audio-visual field recordings. I also intend to consider the symbiotic nature of this work alongside my audiovisual composition, with a culminating documentary film project based on the Chinese Zodiac. A secondary but significant part of this research will also consider composer collaboration with music performers and filmmakers. In the case of audiovisual composition, the agenda is usually driven by the film-maker/director. In concert music, in my experience, it is often expected that the composer takes a lead, although here the relationship is usually more nuanced. While all composers of acoustic music effectively collaborate to some degree with music performers, this project considers unusual relationships between music performers and film, and the extent to which musicians are either foregrounded or engaged essentially as a pit- band in the background. My research will therefore focus on enriching my compositional language by investigating techniques for audiovisual composition and achieving deeper interaction in the relationship between composition and image.

Darragh Kelly, Composition
Becoming wasp, becoming orchid: Neural synthesis and embodied practice
Neural audio synthesis, involving an algorithm with no awareness of the human body or a musician’s embodied technique, throws up many questions when being incorporated into composition and performance. This paper will assess the present and future of making music with such AI, using significant research into embodied practice by Spatz, Schwab, and others as a starting point. While the use of neural networks has parallels with well-established musical incorporations of electronically/algorithmically generated material and found sound, there are important distinctions which will be explored. Concomitant practices of sound-making human-computer interaction and digital music instruments will be reviewed, introducing new tools to think through an embodied musicking in the face of a field which continues to develop apace. Further, the conceptual implications of such AI and its effects on an embodied practice will be surveyed, touching on issues of being/becoming, mimesis, and posthumanism. My own work and that of others, including current and upcoming/possible developments in this field, will form the basis of this presentation, with a view to elucidating a comprehensive embodied perspective on musical AI through a practice-based research framework.

Eleanor Guenault, Music Education
How are the careers of female brass players impacted by the UK’s brass playing culture?
Brass playing in the UK has been shown to be a broadly masculine pursuit, with relatively low numbers of women found playing each brass instrument. It is crucial that the reasons for this discrepancy are understood so as to prevent this pattern from continuing into the next generation of musicians. This paper draws on a mixed-methods survey that focused on UK brass-playing culture and will explore the views and experiences of female brass players as they navigate this complex environment. Through the process of thematic analysis, several themes emerged that corresponded with previous research, including experiences of harassment, discrimination, and gender inequality. Although not every female participant described difficulties relating to their gender, the negative aspects discussed here show that more change is needed in the brass-playing world before true equality of opportunity is achieved.

Break: 15:30 – 15:50
Refreshments on the Carole Nash Mezzanine

Keynote address: 15:50 – 16:50
Forman Lecture Theatre, Chair: Wiebke Thormählen

Dr Jo Yee Cheung, Olympias Music Foundation
A Sustainable Music Education: What does it look like, and why does it matter?
The term “sustainability” has become a buzzword in recent years. We regularly discuss sustainability in the context of the environment and in business development, but what does it mean to grow a “sustainable music education”? In this talk, Dr Jo Yee Cheung (Chief Executive, Olympias Music Foundation) explores the purpose(s) of music education; financial and socio-cultural challenges facing diverse young people and communities trying to access music education; why a sustainable music education for young people is important for the music sector of the future and how we can all get there.

Reception: 16:50 – 18:00
Carole Nash Mezzanine