Exploring the Affordances of Musical Practice as Research

This panel draws together work by five current and/or recent graduate students of the Wits School of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, all of which speak to the conference theme of “Performing, Engaging, Knowing.” All five projects, each introduced in concise 10-minute video sequences, entail the application of research by engaging various publics beyond academia, employing practice-based or artistic research methodologies. The musical genres covered range from indigenous vocal and/or choral forms to pre-and postcolonial transnational oceanic circulations, to jazz and contemporary art music. The respective projects explore the affordances of musical practice as research in the context of deep social engagement in the crucibles of cultural encounter and contestation on the seam between the Atlantic and Indian oceanic worlds, Southern Africa.