CTImusic
News
Winter 1998
Professional Integration Project
Royal College of Music
Jennifer Barnes
This project sets out to make explicit the attributes which help those studying music in Higher Education to integrate themselves into the profession. Much work in the arts is undertaken on a freelance or self-employed basis, and the ability to 'make work' (rather than simply to 'get jobs') is frequently the key to sustained professional success. Although this is generally accepted, no material has yet been widely shared which delineates - through course design, content, delivery and assessment - specific strategies for developing the personal attributes necessary for professional integration. We are a consortium of eight institutions, each with a distinctive approach to music in higher education - two 'traditional' universities and two new universities, each offering music as a specialism, two institutions where music forms a part of a performing arts course, and two conservatoires. All are known for curriculum innovation. All have former students who now occupy key roles in music and the arts.
The Project will present eight course units which demonstrate how to combine a musical syllabus with teaching methods that will enable students to develop qualities such as self-reliance, a high degree of personal motivation, problem-solving techniques and communication skills. The project works from the premise that such course units will be of value and relevance irrespective of the particular orientation of a course and its students.
Each course unit will be accompanied by a Strategy Study. Intended as a more discursive and provocative document, the essays comprising the Strategy Study will document the central issues involved in the education and training of musicians at the beginning of the 21st century.
The third element of the Project involves collating documents that reflect on methods of producing music in the community and in education. Beginning with projects dating from 1975, this database will be constantly updated and available on the Internet from April 1998.
The materials produced, while specific to music, will have potential for wider use within the HE sector, and much of the project's innovative nature lies in the way it not only attempts to encourage a spirit of collaboration, but also to delineate and disseminate successful teaching materials.
Additional information
Further information on the Professional Integration Project is available on the Web at: http://www.rcm.ac.uk/prointeg/index.html
Contacts
Project Director/Co-ordinator
Dr Jennifer Barnes, Tel: +44 (0) 171 591 4372, e-mail: piproject@rcm.ac.uk
Participating Institutions
Anglia Polytechnic
Birmingham Conservatoire
Dartington College of Performing Arts
Huddersfield University
Leeds University
Royal College of Music
Trinity College of Music
York University
CTImusic News is © 1998 CTImusic, Jennifer Barnes, Simon Baines, Cliona Doris, Marianne Hall, Michael Pengelly, Harriet Richmond, Claire Taylor-Jay, Lisa Whistlecroft. All rights reserved
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