MUSIC AS RESEARCH

USING MUSIC AS RESEARCH

It is increasingly recognised that creating music can be a way of generating knowledge. Rather than only writing about music, you use music—and the creative process itself—as a research methodology.

This can take different forms: reflective approaches (analysing your own creative process to understand decisions, challenges, and outcomes); practice research (using music performance, composition, or production to investigate research questions); and songwriting as method (exploring ideas, experiences, or identities through original songs).

Together, these approaches demonstrate how music can produce valuable insights into creative practice, lived experience, and wider social and cultural contexts.