Dr Mark Thorley1
1Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
Music production is international – practitioners collaborate globally (Watson 2014), working with others in keeping with Tapscott and Williams’ (2006) concept of ‘peer-production’. Whilst emerging technology facilitates this, it draws on the prevalence of collaboration in music (Negus 1992, Kealey 1979). Educational institutions have the responsibility and opportunity to reflect this in teaching and learning by facilitating international student collaboration. This is the case because of the nature of music production, the proven potential in collaborative learning (Bruffree 1999, Gaunt et al 2013) and the need for education to address international and intercultural learning. Despite this, organisational and cultural barriers often make it difficult to implement. This paper shares the practice of ‘Global Patchbay’ (see www.globalpatchbay.com), an initiative aimed to bring together Universities and practitioners around the world and exploit the potential of international collaborative learning in music. At the time of writing, the project has involved students, academics and industrial collaborators from the UK, US, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Canada. International participants collaborated on recording projects, mixing projects, acoustic design projects and sound design projects using cutting edge participatory technologies as well as common audio production technologies. In addressing the overall conference theme and sub-themes, the presentation will also feature audio and video examples.
References
Bruffree, Kenneth (1999) Collaborative Learning. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
Gaunt, Helena and Westerlund, Heidi (2013) Collaborative Learning in Higher Music Education. Farnham: Ashgate.
Kealey, Edward (1979), ‘From Craft to Art: The Case of Sound Mixers and Popular Music’. Sociology of Work and Occupations 6 (1), 3-29.
Negus, Keith (1992) Producing Pop – Culture and Conflict in the Popular Music Industry. London: Arnold.
Tapscott, Don and Williams, Anthony D. (2006) Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. London: Penguin.
Watson, Allan (2014) Cultural Production beyond the Recording Studio. New York: Routledge.
Biography:
Mark Thorley’s research addresses the relationship between technology and the creative industries, particularly music. He is published in a wide variety of publications from Oxford University Press and Bloomsbury through to Journal of Popular Music and Society, and Thinking Skills and Creativity. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and past Director of the Music Producers’ Guild.