Collaboration

 I'm a bit late to posting this, but before the bank holiday the Module 2 group had a really interesting discussion group hosted by Dr. Sam Murray, Middlesex' lecturer in Music Business and Arts Management.

Sam introduced his songwriting partner as well as the producer of their band 'Me and My Friends', to discuss some of the ways the two have worked successfully together, to produce their art. 

One of the factors that came up was use of language. In Sam's case, he highlighted the importance of clarity of communication when working with others, providing the example of working alongside another producer, and finding it difficult to understand the way in which the producer wanted him to play his instrument. 'Whispy', was the choice of language used, which admittedly is quite ambiguous. 

This example sparked a train of thoughts relating to the different teaching methods I use in order to communicate my own expectations to children and young adults when teaching. Throughout state education in the UK, the theory of 'different learning methods' are common knowledge, with a large portion of theory being dedicated to how teachers communicate information to students. Additionally, I felt that the age of students is another factor to consider when thinking about appropriate language use. 

For me, dance itself is a form of communication. Taking physical 'language' out of the picture, movement has allowed us to express emotion, feelings, thoughts and stories for thousands of years. A fantastic example of the combination of use of language with dance as a language can be seen in most dance studios, specifically within the likes of a Workshop. My experience of creating contemporary work, often starts with a group of individuals, in a studio, creating random movements, and collectively deciding what looked or felt 'good', and what didn't. 

I thought this was an interesting observation because as of yet, I'm yet to experience anything quite like a workshop in my professional or teaching work. However, the art created through this process has always been positive or perhaps more importantly 'impactful'. I hope to perhaps use the basis of a contemporary workshop in a class once COVID allows, but for now I will be concentrating on trialing various language uses in the questions I plan to put to participants that partake in my research project. This exploration of language will hopefully provide the opportunity to see what sort of questions create reactions or certain answers, but also ensure that I am offering as much clarity I can as a researcher to avoid any confusion that could affect data collection and analysis.