Art courses need to take into account research and practicality

Recently, the "Research Excellence Framework" (REF) official website of British universities' scientific research influence evaluation mechanism released the results of the 2021 evaluation results. Earlier, Ian Pace, a professor of music at the University of London University of London, issued a post on the official website of the Times Higher Education Magazine in the UK that REF's applicability of music science and other performing arts has yet to be enhanced.

Ped said that in the British academic system, with the increasing number of vocational courses, how college teachers have become more and more challenges to balance the relationship between scientific research, teaching, and practice. For example, European universities have opened music majors since the Middle Ages, but until the end of the 19th century, music science appeared in German universities for the first time as an independent discipline. Music science involves the history of music history, music theory, acoustics, etc., is a systematic study of music; and the Conservatory of Music provides more professional training, focusing on cultivating creative and performance skills.

In Germany, comprehensive colleges and universities are significantly different from the music science majors of the School of Music. In the United Kingdom, in recent decades, more and more students from the School of Music have begun to study music studies completely. Comprehensive college music studies The practical content of China has also increased day by day, and the boundaries between the two tend to blur. In recent years, undergraduates with more than 80%of music majors in British public universities have chosen vocational courses such as pop music, music technology, and musicals. In order to ensure the quality of the curriculum, hiring professional musicians who are active in the music industry, composers and other professional musicians are essential. They are mainly engaged in practical work, but they have to submit a statement to the REF reviewer, stating that their work should be "studied".

Whether the performing arts should be placed under the general scientific research framework is a controversial topic. John Croft, a professor and composer of the University of Brunell University in the United Kingdom, once published an article that academic institutions are increasingly requested that composers describe their work as "research" and indicate "research issues" "Target", "result" and so on. In order to write a research plan and funding application, the composer even explained the original contribution of a piece of music before the creation. This will lead to one -sided emphasis on the novelty of cooperation, technology and superficialization, and damage the real originality of music. In addition, the cognitive dimension of music lies in concrete, revealing or displaying, not inquiry and description.

Ped said that although the original intention of led teaching by research is good, an increasingly severe problem is that the research results of many teachers match the needs and interests of students. Although the guidance policy of REF is flexible and diverse, the selection criteria for teachers may not be the case. For musicians with academic positions, the most "safe" and closest "research" methods include the use of complex and fine composition systems; innovative performance skills and the use of musical instruments, especially using new technologies; exploring the pioneer " New music, although this is not the main interest of students and the public. Therefore, although there are a large number of undergraduates who have chosen professional courses, they teach these courses to part -time teachers or teachers who only signed a lecture contract.

Perstes suggest that for music science and other performing arts disciplines, they should replace REF or set a separate "practical excellence framework" based on the "research and practice excellence framework", and evaluate practical output and audit funding applications based on diversified standards. Of course, this does not mean that active practitioners in the performance art industry automatically have the qualifications to obtain formal faculty in colleges and universities. In addition to teaching tasks, the formal teaching positions also take responsibility for guiding students, participating in curriculum design and administrative management. Any professional who wants to obtain formal faculty should be appropriately selected. College students who choose vocational courses have the right to teach and instruction from the corresponding fields, and the latter also has the right to get better treatment than part -time teachers and guest teachers. Improvement and adjustment of Ref helps the academic community to absorb performance art practitioners in a more equal way, bringing their practical experience and professional insights to college students and other academic personnel.

Source: China Social Science Network-Journal of Social Sciences of China

Author: Wang Youran/Compilation

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