Research & Development

At Sound and Music we don’t just accept the status quo.  We like to explore ideas and unchartered territory that supports our aim of enabling people to engage with experimental sound and music. We are also committed to exploring new digital practices and technologies at the forefront of art - through research and collaborations. Currently we have a number of projects we are exploring; including current music provision in schools, technology development, or research into the cognitive benefits of listening in the classroom.  Specific projects on the go are:

Labs

The lab is where we can test ideas in a quick and high risk way. From the lab we have already created an iPhone App, Lumisonic which is available from the apple store. 

Also in the lab we are testing how compatible external creative online applications work within the Scottish IT system (called GLOW) in primary schools.  If successful, we will develop projects to be beamed directly into schools in Scotland and then developed for the English IT system which is different.

We are delivering a lab project in a school in Lewisham called ‘Beat the System’ which is exploring how music teachers can deliver composition in a creative and risk taking way which also produce compositions that will score high marks.  The results will inspire a bigger project we are planning…

One special needs school commissioned us to develop interactive whiteboard software to enable their pupils to be creative with sound.  Once this is finished it will be free for all schools to use.

Knowledge Transfer

We are partners with Goldsmiths College in a 3-year knowledge transfer project funded by a £250,000 AHRC grant to prototype new ideas, including a brain controlled orchestra and an Oramics drawn sound application. We are also working with a special needs school to develop responsive software, controlled by movement and gestures instead of a mouse, to create sound and music through interactive whiteboards.

Minute of Listening

Embarking on a pilot with Norfolk and Norwich Festival, we are championing listening in the classroom.  Through previous projects we have delivered we have noticed how much teachers value projects about listening.  We’ll explore this idea in a more rigorous way in order to achieve our aim of encouraging all pupils to listen for a minute every morning to a new sound to develop their listening, thinking and concentration skills.

Composition in the Curriculum

At Sound and Music we support experimental and creative practice.  We are hoping to deliver research into the best practice of delivering composition in the classroom in a creative and experimental.  In order to do this we need to challenge the current curriculum and explore current practice and delivery in more detail.  We will embark on a year of symposia, and action research with the help of the UK’s best researchers and education providers.