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Paul Draper

Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Faculty Member

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Professor Paul Draper holds the Artistic Research Chair at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and is program director of the Doctor of Musical Arts. He has previously served as Conservatorium Research Dean and as Griffith Chair in Digital Arts. He has designed and led undergraduate and postgraduate programs and is the recipient of numerous awards in these areas. Paul is a jazz musician, composer and record producer who has published widely on practice-based research, music technology and music education.

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Papers by Paul Draper

On Disintermediated Culture, Education, and Craft

Consumer technologies and web 2.0 networks bring liberating potentials to music-making while simu... more Consumer technologies and web 2.0 networks bring liberating potentials to music-making while simultaneously challenging recent conceptions of professional practice. These effects are felt strongly in Western tertiary education institutions, now increasingly held accountable to a central responsibility for an expanded role in the cultural and commercial innovation environment. This article examines this convergence in order to better understand the imperatives for the education of next generation professional musicians. It does so by arguing an interdisciplinary approach to span preconceived assumptions about music genres, technology and specialised curricula. A wider investigation of 'music 2.0' is positioned as an endpoint for the article and as an invitation for further collaborative research in this field.

The 'little r' in Artistic Research

How Music Technology Students Use ICT to Drive Collaborative Learning and Professional Practice

ABSTRACT No Yes

Podcasting: Can the eLearning experience inform eResearch in the digital arts?

*NB this is NOT a text paper. This is an audio & multimedia paper - a one hour, enhanced podcast ... more *NB this is NOT a text paper. This is an audio & multimedia paper - a one hour, enhanced podcast of the multimedia presentation, recording of the conference presentation and Q/A from audience. This presentation examines the ways in which final year undergraduate students are taking a central role in the development of and responsibility for their learning. They do so through the creation of original digital products: musical compositions, concert performances and self-reflective radio-styled broadcasts. Because the work is in the public domain, students are supported by coursework and a range of knowledge transfer opportunities re. Intellectual Property in the digital arts, culminating in academic peer review of their material and subsequent Creative Commons contractual processes not dissimilar to accepted professional standards for academic publication. This interactive session will explore these links. No Yes

Between Practice And Research: The Honours Undergraduate Experience At An Australian Conservatorium

Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundarie... more Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundaries between professional practice, research and its outcomes increasingly take on new forms and meaning. This paper examines artistic research processes in music through the experiences of students, graduates and their academic supervisors at an Australian conservatorium of music. The authors utilise a multiple case study methodology to probe key milestones in the higher degree lifecycle in order to ascertain the efficacy of the pedagogies, processes and outcomes. Overall, the paper offers conclusions as to how these research programmes may continue to evolve in the future.

Journal on the Art of Record Production Toward A Musical Monograph: Working With Fragments From Within The Improvisation-composition Nexus

This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of ins... more This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of insights into a single recording endeavour have been published along the way (Draper & Emmerson, 2009; Draper, 2010). The music itself dates from 1908, regarded by many as a landmark in the history of European Modernism, with some of the 20th century’s most remarkable composers finding their distinctive voice via seminal works for solo piano. These include Alban Berg’s ‘Sonata Op.1’, Arnold Schoenberg’s 3 ‘Piano Pieces Op.11’, and Béla Bartók’s ‘Bagatelles Op.6’. The works were performed as a centennial celebration in 2008, followed later by studio recordings involving a close collaboration between the authors – one a classical pianist and musicologist, the other a sound producer and electric guitarist. As such, this represents the meeting of two different paradigms in pursuit of a shared understanding of ‘artistic practice as research’ (QCRC, 2010). The recordings were recently released as...

Practice based research training at the Queensland Conservatorium

This chapter explores the characteristics of research training at an Australian conservatoire. To... more This chapter explores the characteristics of research training at an Australian conservatoire. To do so, we examine a number of student experiences drawn from recent dialogue alongside our earlier publications which track similar data over time. As a backdrop to this, while an Australian higher education reform agenda may have broadly mirrored that of the UK and the EU, we also believe that a number of important differences have emerged due to local conditions. It is these features that we illuminate here. The Australian Context Policy environment Following the so-called 'Dawkins reforms' of the Australian government (DEET, 1998), vocational institutions were amalgamated with universities during the late1980s. This included the implication that research was produced via processes including experimental design, defence by proof, and written exegetical outcomes. This proved to be not quite the case in the creative arts and so an ongoing round of 'equivalency' exercises...

A musicianship for the recording studio

On Critical Listening, Musicianship And The Art Of Record Production

This article examines the idea of a record producer in a practice-based contemporary context. To ... more This article examines the idea of a record producer in a practice-based contemporary context. To do so, it firstly provides a review of critical listening schema employed across musical sub-disciplines including engineering, acousmatics, musicology and composition. Secondly, a philosophy of experimental systems is briefly examined where epistemological questions may be directed to outcomes but are often intertwined with evolving processes and skills. Finally, the paper turns to in-studio project extracts which reveal some of the interrelationships between listening schema, musical pre-conceptions, and the refinement and operation of an array of technical devices as expanded musicianship, as ‘producer’.

Dreaming, doing, knowing

Artistic Research Training In Music: Perspectives On Pedagogy, Higher Degrees And Professional Practice

Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundarie... more Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundaries between professional practice, research and its outcomes increasingly take on new forms and meaning. This paper examines artistic research processes in music through the experiences of students, graduates and their academic supervisors at an Australian conservatorium of music. The authors utilise a multiple case study methodology to probe key milestones in the higher degree lifecycle in order to ascertain the efficacy of the pedagogies, processes and outcomes. Overall, the paper offers conclusions as to how these research programmes may continue to evolve in the future.

Preparing for portfolio careers in Australian music: setting a research agenda

by Ruth Bridgstock, Dawn Bennett, Paul Draper, Huib Schippers, Brydie-Leigh Bartleet FAHA, and Huib Schippers

Australian Journal of Music Education, Nov 18, 2012

In the twenty-first century, Australian musicians increasingly maintain 'portfolio'care... more In the twenty-first century, Australian musicians increasingly maintain 'portfolio'careers, in which they combine diverse employment arrangements and activities. Often, these incorporate industry sectors outside of music. This career pattern is widespread but not well understood, largely because of the limitations of existing research. The lack of knowledge about musicians' work and careers means that Australia currently may not provide appropriate and effective policy, funding, initial training and continuing career support ...

The ‘little r’ in Artistic Research Training

by Paul Draper and Kim The Con Cunio

Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, 2013

ABSTRACT The idea of ‘artistic research’ is increasingly gaining acceptance in the academy, one o... more ABSTRACT The idea of ‘artistic research’ is increasingly gaining acceptance in the academy, one of its characteristics being that it accepts subjectivity (aka ‘little r’ research) as opposed to traditional scientific or statistical methods (‘big R’ research). Artists investigate, test and question their work, where the personal insights gained are placed in a context aiming to enhance knowledge both for themselves and within their own disciplines. This chapter details a number of interwoven components which present both familiar and unfamiliar thinking about musical practices in order to explore the following questions: How may musical thinking and its artistic outcomes be considered ‘research’? And, in what ways may its artefacts best serve to exemplify this?

Remixing Modernism

This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of ins... more This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of insights into a single recording endeavour have been published along the way (Draper & Emmerson, 2009; Draper, 2010). The music itself dates from 1908, regarded by many as a landmark in the history of European Modernism, with some of the 20th century’s most remarkable composers finding their distinctive voice via seminal works for solo piano. These include Alban Berg’s ‘Sonata Op.1’, Arnold Schoenberg’s 3 ‘Piano Pieces Op.11’, and Béla Bartók’s ‘Bagatelles Op.6’. The works were performed as a centennial celebration in 2008, followed later by studio recordings involving a close collaboration between the authors – one a classical pianist and musicologist, the other a sound producer and electric guitarist. As such, this represents the meeting of two different paradigms in pursuit of a shared understanding of ‘artistic practice as research’ (QCRC, 2010). The recordings were recently released as...

Evolving an Artistic Research Culture in Music: An Analysis of an Australian Study in an International Context

Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, 2013

ABSTRACT This chapter investigates the ways in which an Australian conservatorium has established... more ABSTRACT This chapter investigates the ways in which an Australian conservatorium has established and maintained an artistic research culture over the last decade. In doing so, the authors firstly review the international literature in terms of the current thinking about practice-centred environments, both in terms of academic research and research training as a sub-set of this. The chapter then examines the authors’ local conservatorium context as a case study to focus on staff research activity together with a review of higher degree research programs and resources. The data gathered incorporates materials drawn from the Australian federal government’s Excellence in Research for Australia exercise together with data from local research students, graduates, academic supervisors and administrators. Arising insights offer implications for this evolving artistic research culture and the on-going interplay between staff, student and federal government agendas.

Who's really doing the stealing? How the music industry's pathological pursuit of profit and power robs us of innovation

Open access to knowledge is the foundation of learning and discovery in higher education. Yet in ... more Open access to knowledge is the foundation of learning and discovery in higher education. Yet in Australian music faculties, the use of essential material is regulated and commercialized by record companies and music publishing houses. This paper details the impact of this framework through the eyes of music academics and students by making equity parallels with traditional academic arrangements. It outlines aspects of originality at the coalface while also revealing persistent blocks to creativity and the growth of identity. Through this examination the paper suggests alternatives for music education, research and development to be fully recognised as part of any truly national Australian innovation system. In situ Imagine an academic environment where most writing cannot be cited without fear of litigation and that a slim body of 'approved' work is subject to expensive fees, complex restrictions, and a tedious audit trail. Imagine that such material is limited to popular...

On Disintermediated Culture, Education, and Craft

The Art of Record Production

Consumer technologies and web 2.0 networks bring liberating potentials to music-making while simu... more

Reflecting on reflection-in-action: Supervising practice-based doctorates in music

griffith.edu.au

Practice-based doctorates are well established in many creative disciplines, but it is only recen... more Practice-based doctorates are well established in many creative disciplines, but it is only recently that similar music programs have come under scrutiny. While such doctorates are now offered at many Australian universities, some argue that approaches and expectations may vary widely across institutions to the detriment of the discipline. Similarly abroad, there have been reviews within the Bologna Process to establish a coherent framework for 'third cycle studies' in music. In concert with these developments, this paper draws upon the experiences of its authors as supervisors centrally responsible for the direction of an Australian conservatoire's Doctor of Musical Arts, offering practice-based research pathways for music professionals. Emergent themes include: a lack of prior research-training experience; few established research project exemplars; and, the problematic nature of defining and implementing practice-based research exegeses in music. The paper concludes by offering insights which aim to improve the efficacy of the program and contribute to higher degree music education more widely.

ASSESSING RESEARCH IMPACT IN THE RQF: MEASURING KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AT GRIFFITH

Foreign Objects and the Art of Interpretation

This paper reflects upon the practice-based research of its author and collaborators by examining... more This paper reflects upon the practice-based research of its author and collaborators by examining aspects of musical performance and representation in two recording projects. The first of these identifies a research problem in the recorded communication of an 'acousmatic' performance piece. The second project examines the recording of classical piano repertoire in alternate interpretations: one as 'authentic', the other as a highly manipulated work which progresses the investigation of the representation problem through multiple recording techniques and 'DSP orchestration' in post-production. The paper concludes that this then offers a promising route for audiences to experience and reinterpret the music by interrupting their spontaneous assumptions about the recordings.

On Disintermediated Culture, Education, and Craft

Consumer technologies and web 2.0 networks bring liberating potentials to music-making while simu... more Consumer technologies and web 2.0 networks bring liberating potentials to music-making while simultaneously challenging recent conceptions of professional practice. These effects are felt strongly in Western tertiary education institutions, now increasingly held accountable to a central responsibility for an expanded role in the cultural and commercial innovation environment. This article examines this convergence in order to better understand the imperatives for the education of next generation professional musicians. It does so by arguing an interdisciplinary approach to span preconceived assumptions about music genres, technology and specialised curricula. A wider investigation of 'music 2.0' is positioned as an endpoint for the article and as an invitation for further collaborative research in this field.

The 'little r' in Artistic Research

How Music Technology Students Use ICT to Drive Collaborative Learning and Professional Practice

ABSTRACT No Yes

Podcasting: Can the eLearning experience inform eResearch in the digital arts?

*NB this is NOT a text paper. This is an audio & multimedia paper - a one hour, enhanced podcast ... more *NB this is NOT a text paper. This is an audio & multimedia paper - a one hour, enhanced podcast of the multimedia presentation, recording of the conference presentation and Q/A from audience. This presentation examines the ways in which final year undergraduate students are taking a central role in the development of and responsibility for their learning. They do so through the creation of original digital products: musical compositions, concert performances and self-reflective radio-styled broadcasts. Because the work is in the public domain, students are supported by coursework and a range of knowledge transfer opportunities re. Intellectual Property in the digital arts, culminating in academic peer review of their material and subsequent Creative Commons contractual processes not dissimilar to accepted professional standards for academic publication. This interactive session will explore these links. No Yes

Between Practice And Research: The Honours Undergraduate Experience At An Australian Conservatorium

Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundarie... more Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundaries between professional practice, research and its outcomes increasingly take on new forms and meaning. This paper examines artistic research processes in music through the experiences of students, graduates and their academic supervisors at an Australian conservatorium of music. The authors utilise a multiple case study methodology to probe key milestones in the higher degree lifecycle in order to ascertain the efficacy of the pedagogies, processes and outcomes. Overall, the paper offers conclusions as to how these research programmes may continue to evolve in the future.

Journal on the Art of Record Production Toward A Musical Monograph: Working With Fragments From Within The Improvisation-composition Nexus

This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of ins... more This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of insights into a single recording endeavour have been published along the way (Draper & Emmerson, 2009; Draper, 2010). The music itself dates from 1908, regarded by many as a landmark in the history of European Modernism, with some of the 20th century’s most remarkable composers finding their distinctive voice via seminal works for solo piano. These include Alban Berg’s ‘Sonata Op.1’, Arnold Schoenberg’s 3 ‘Piano Pieces Op.11’, and Béla Bartók’s ‘Bagatelles Op.6’. The works were performed as a centennial celebration in 2008, followed later by studio recordings involving a close collaboration between the authors – one a classical pianist and musicologist, the other a sound producer and electric guitarist. As such, this represents the meeting of two different paradigms in pursuit of a shared understanding of ‘artistic practice as research’ (QCRC, 2010). The recordings were recently released as...

Practice based research training at the Queensland Conservatorium

This chapter explores the characteristics of research training at an Australian conservatoire. To... more This chapter explores the characteristics of research training at an Australian conservatoire. To do so, we examine a number of student experiences drawn from recent dialogue alongside our earlier publications which track similar data over time. As a backdrop to this, while an Australian higher education reform agenda may have broadly mirrored that of the UK and the EU, we also believe that a number of important differences have emerged due to local conditions. It is these features that we illuminate here. The Australian Context Policy environment Following the so-called 'Dawkins reforms' of the Australian government (DEET, 1998), vocational institutions were amalgamated with universities during the late1980s. This included the implication that research was produced via processes including experimental design, defence by proof, and written exegetical outcomes. This proved to be not quite the case in the creative arts and so an ongoing round of 'equivalency' exercises...

A musicianship for the recording studio

On Critical Listening, Musicianship And The Art Of Record Production

This article examines the idea of a record producer in a practice-based contemporary context. To ... more This article examines the idea of a record producer in a practice-based contemporary context. To do so, it firstly provides a review of critical listening schema employed across musical sub-disciplines including engineering, acousmatics, musicology and composition. Secondly, a philosophy of experimental systems is briefly examined where epistemological questions may be directed to outcomes but are often intertwined with evolving processes and skills. Finally, the paper turns to in-studio project extracts which reveal some of the interrelationships between listening schema, musical pre-conceptions, and the refinement and operation of an array of technical devices as expanded musicianship, as ‘producer’.

Dreaming, doing, knowing

Artistic Research Training In Music: Perspectives On Pedagogy, Higher Degrees And Professional Practice

Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundarie... more Creative artists are enrolling in research programmes in ever-greater numbers where the boundaries between professional practice, research and its outcomes increasingly take on new forms and meaning. This paper examines artistic research processes in music through the experiences of students, graduates and their academic supervisors at an Australian conservatorium of music. The authors utilise a multiple case study methodology to probe key milestones in the higher degree lifecycle in order to ascertain the efficacy of the pedagogies, processes and outcomes. Overall, the paper offers conclusions as to how these research programmes may continue to evolve in the future.

Preparing for portfolio careers in Australian music: setting a research agenda

by Ruth Bridgstock, Dawn Bennett, Paul Draper, Huib Schippers, Brydie-Leigh Bartleet FAHA, and Huib Schippers

Australian Journal of Music Education, Nov 18, 2012

In the twenty-first century, Australian musicians increasingly maintain 'portfolio'care... more In the twenty-first century, Australian musicians increasingly maintain 'portfolio'careers, in which they combine diverse employment arrangements and activities. Often, these incorporate industry sectors outside of music. This career pattern is widespread but not well understood, largely because of the limitations of existing research. The lack of knowledge about musicians' work and careers means that Australia currently may not provide appropriate and effective policy, funding, initial training and continuing career support ...

The ‘little r’ in Artistic Research Training

by Paul Draper and Kim The Con Cunio

Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, 2013

ABSTRACT The idea of ‘artistic research’ is increasingly gaining acceptance in the academy, one o... more ABSTRACT The idea of ‘artistic research’ is increasingly gaining acceptance in the academy, one of its characteristics being that it accepts subjectivity (aka ‘little r’ research) as opposed to traditional scientific or statistical methods (‘big R’ research). Artists investigate, test and question their work, where the personal insights gained are placed in a context aiming to enhance knowledge both for themselves and within their own disciplines. This chapter details a number of interwoven components which present both familiar and unfamiliar thinking about musical practices in order to explore the following questions: How may musical thinking and its artistic outcomes be considered ‘research’? And, in what ways may its artefacts best serve to exemplify this?

Remixing Modernism

This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of ins... more This paper presents the final stages of a two-year action research project, where a number of insights into a single recording endeavour have been published along the way (Draper & Emmerson, 2009; Draper, 2010). The music itself dates from 1908, regarded by many as a landmark in the history of European Modernism, with some of the 20th century’s most remarkable composers finding their distinctive voice via seminal works for solo piano. These include Alban Berg’s ‘Sonata Op.1’, Arnold Schoenberg’s 3 ‘Piano Pieces Op.11’, and Béla Bartók’s ‘Bagatelles Op.6’. The works were performed as a centennial celebration in 2008, followed later by studio recordings involving a close collaboration between the authors – one a classical pianist and musicologist, the other a sound producer and electric guitarist. As such, this represents the meeting of two different paradigms in pursuit of a shared understanding of ‘artistic practice as research’ (QCRC, 2010). The recordings were recently released as...

Evolving an Artistic Research Culture in Music: An Analysis of an Australian Study in an International Context

Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, 2013

ABSTRACT This chapter investigates the ways in which an Australian conservatorium has established... more ABSTRACT This chapter investigates the ways in which an Australian conservatorium has established and maintained an artistic research culture over the last decade. In doing so, the authors firstly review the international literature in terms of the current thinking about practice-centred environments, both in terms of academic research and research training as a sub-set of this. The chapter then examines the authors’ local conservatorium context as a case study to focus on staff research activity together with a review of higher degree research programs and resources. The data gathered incorporates materials drawn from the Australian federal government’s Excellence in Research for Australia exercise together with data from local research students, graduates, academic supervisors and administrators. Arising insights offer implications for this evolving artistic research culture and the on-going interplay between staff, student and federal government agendas.

Who's really doing the stealing? How the music industry's pathological pursuit of profit and power robs us of innovation

Open access to knowledge is the foundation of learning and discovery in higher education. Yet in ... more Open access to knowledge is the foundation of learning and discovery in higher education. Yet in Australian music faculties, the use of essential material is regulated and commercialized by record companies and music publishing houses. This paper details the impact of this framework through the eyes of music academics and students by making equity parallels with traditional academic arrangements. It outlines aspects of originality at the coalface while also revealing persistent blocks to creativity and the growth of identity. Through this examination the paper suggests alternatives for music education, research and development to be fully recognised as part of any truly national Australian innovation system. In situ Imagine an academic environment where most writing cannot be cited without fear of litigation and that a slim body of 'approved' work is subject to expensive fees, complex restrictions, and a tedious audit trail. Imagine that such material is limited to popular...

On Disintermediated Culture, Education, and Craft

The Art of Record Production

Consumer technologies and web 2.0 networks bring liberating potentials to music-making while simu... more

Reflecting on reflection-in-action: Supervising practice-based doctorates in music

griffith.edu.au

Practice-based doctorates are well established in many creative disciplines, but it is only recen... more Practice-based doctorates are well established in many creative disciplines, but it is only recently that similar music programs have come under scrutiny. While such doctorates are now offered at many Australian universities, some argue that approaches and expectations may vary widely across institutions to the detriment of the discipline. Similarly abroad, there have been reviews within the Bologna Process to establish a coherent framework for 'third cycle studies' in music. In concert with these developments, this paper draws upon the experiences of its authors as supervisors centrally responsible for the direction of an Australian conservatoire's Doctor of Musical Arts, offering practice-based research pathways for music professionals. Emergent themes include: a lack of prior research-training experience; few established research project exemplars; and, the problematic nature of defining and implementing practice-based research exegeses in music. The paper concludes by offering insights which aim to improve the efficacy of the program and contribute to higher degree music education more widely.

ASSESSING RESEARCH IMPACT IN THE RQF: MEASURING KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AT GRIFFITH

Foreign Objects and the Art of Interpretation

This paper reflects upon the practice-based research of its author and collaborators by examining... more This paper reflects upon the practice-based research of its author and collaborators by examining aspects of musical performance and representation in two recording projects. The first of these identifies a research problem in the recorded communication of an 'acousmatic' performance piece. The second project examines the recording of classical piano repertoire in alternate interpretations: one as 'authentic', the other as a highly manipulated work which progresses the investigation of the representation problem through multiple recording techniques and 'DSP orchestration' in post-production. The paper concludes that this then offers a promising route for audiences to experience and reinterpret the music by interrupting their spontaneous assumptions about the recordings.

Music in Perpetual Beta: Composition, Remediation, and “Closure” -Paul Draper and Frank Millward

by Paul Draper, Frank Millward, and Shara Rambarran