Research

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    The Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music at Monash is consistently ranked among the best music schools in Australia according to data provided by the Australian Research Council and the ‘Group of Eight’ consortium of research-intensive Australian universities.

    Our research is underpinned by three goals, which are to:

    1. Study a broad range of music, including Western classical and popular music as well as indigenous and contemporary music from Australia, Asia and the Middle East
    2. Compose, perform, record, broadcast and publish new music from Australia and overseas and to bring neglected and forgotten repertory back to life
    3. Interrogate ideas about music and the role that philosophy, aesthetics, criticism and cultural theory have on how we interpret music.

    Our research is undertaken in four specialist areas:

    1. Ethnomusicology, including music of Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Southeast Asia generally as well as Jewish music
    2. Musicology, including music criticism, aesthetics, biography and music from Western and Eastern Europe, particularly Britain and Romania
    3. Practice-based Research: Composition: new commissions; premieres; recordings and broadcasts; publication of scores
    4. Practice-based Research: Performance: recordings, broadcasts, recitals; invited performances (e.g. at festivals and for touring companies) of new works (including new arrangements of existing works)

    Practice-based research explores reflective and critical practice in performance and composition including philosophical, musical and pedagogical applications.

    In addition to the above areas, many staff are involved in studying Australian art music as well as popular music and its social and cultural contents in Australia and overseas.

    The School attracts honours, higher degree students and visiting scholars from all over the world and has an outstanding track record in winning competitive research funding:  more than $1.1 million awarded in external research funding in the last three years alone. We also have a long history of collaborative research and currently work with musicians and scholars from Asia, Europe and North and South America.

    Seminars

    During semester, Research Seminars are given by staff, postgraduate students and visiting scholars. A list of Seminars for Semester 2 2013 will be posted here in July.

    Monash Music Archive

    • The Monash Music Archive contains valuable research materials from Southeast Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines), South Asia (including India and Sri Lanka), East Asia (including China and Japan), Aboriginal/Indigenous Australia (especially the Pitjantjara area) and Jewish Asia and Australia.

      See more information about the Monash Music Archive.

    Research Groups

    • The School’s Research Groups aim to foster individual and collaborative research between our staff, postgraduate students and international colleagues.

      Research outcomes include special issue journals, book chapters, recordings and world premieres of new compositions. Future plans in the Research Groups include various book projects and a Festival-Symposium.