Ethno Research

Millie

Findings presented at Guildhall ResearchWorks

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On 4th October 2021 Principle Investigator, Professor Lee Higgins, presented ‘Ethno Research: Understanding Youth Music Gatherings’, at an online seminar held as part of the Guildhall School ResearchWorks series.  

In his presentation Professor Higgins discussed some of the recent findings of the three-year project exploring Ethno’s 30-year history. Three lines of enquiry helped shape the investigation: (1) pedagogy and professional development, (2) participant experience, and (3) reverberations (impact on people beyond the gatherings). As a collaborative team, Ethno Research has focused on the experiences people have had, with the belief that it is within the ‘stories’ of those that have engaged with Ethno, either as a participant, artistic mentor, or organizer, that the meaning of Ethno will reveal itself.

This seminar was presented in association with the Institute for Social Impact Research in the Performing Arts at Guildhall School. The Guildhall School’s ResearchWorks is a programme of events centred around the School’s research activity, bringing together staff, students and guests of international standing.

Final months of data collection

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Over the last few months our researchers have had the opportunity to hear from a huge range of people key to the Ethno programme, in individual interviews as well as focus group meetings, all conducted online.

In June, Professor Lee Higgins and Dr Sarah-Jane Gibson facilitated two focus group meetings, each attended by a select group of past and current Ethno organizers with knowledge and experience to share on the focus topic. The first focus group explored the development of the Ethno programme over the last 30 years, while the second was themed around Ethno pedagogy and professional development, taking a closer look at the pedagogical concepts associated with Ethno.

As well as a fantastic response to the Pedagogy and Professional Development survey, developed by Professor Andrea Creech and her team, 35 one-to-one interviews have taken place over recent months, across all projects, bringing the total number of interviews to just under 300. Dr Dave Camlin also led a special session with Ethno organizers in April, which invited them to capture their stories and experiences of Ethno in the SenseMaker research tool.

Our History team are continuing to add to the historical timeline, and have now moved onto an exciting new phase, with descriptive quotes from interviews being woven through the timeline, bringing it to life with real accounts of Ethno experiences. This layer of the timeline will become available to the public later in the year.

With much of the data collection now coming to a close across the Ethno Research teams, the focus of the research now turns to analysis, and our researchers are also taking opportunities to share their findings. Dr Sarah-Jane Gibson was published in Music Education Research journal, while Dr Roger Mantie and the Arts & Culture team gave a panel at the virtual North Atlantic Fiddle Convention conference on 23 June 2021.

Ethno Research at NAFCo Conference, Ireland

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National Melodies, Global Harmony? Identity, Agency, and Youth Cultural Production at Ethno World camps

Researchers from Ethno Research’s Arts & Culture team, based at University of Toronto Scarborough, presented a panel at the virtual North Atlantic Fiddle Convention on 23rd June 2021, titled National Melodies, Global Harmony? Identity, Agency, and Youth Cultural Production at Ethno World camps.

The three presentations explored the ways in which Ethno World gatherings use traditional musics to produce a public-facing vision of nation-to-nation global harmony while celebrating a post-nationalist vision of global youth culture. The panelists argued for increased attention to the role of voluntary associations and non-governmental organizations, such as music camps, in shaping present-day transmission of traditional repertoires.

The presentations were followed by a discussion with delegates, some of them past participants of Ethno, touching on themes of dance and movement; a top-down musical approach; and commonalities and diversity in the “Ethno sound”. The abstracts for the panel presentations are in the NAFCo conference programme, and their titles are below.

Laura Risk
Discourses of Personal and National Authenticity at Ethno-World Youth Music Camps

Keegan Manson-Curry
Sound Mapping and the Production of Place-Based Identities at Ethno-World

Roger Mantie and Pedro Tironi
Moral Accountability in Cultural Production

Take part in our newest survey!

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The Ethno Research team is now inviting people to contribute to the research by taking part in a new survey.

A significant part of Ethno Research is concerned with Ethno Pedagogy and Professional Development, with this part of the research being carried out by a team led by Professor Andrea Creech at McGill University, Canada.

If you have ever been involved with an Ethno gathering – as an organizer, artistic mentor or as a participant – you are invited to contribute to the Ethno Pedagogy and Professional Development research, by taking part in an anonymous survey. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

By taking part you will help us to understand the learning and teaching process in Ethno music gatherings and the ways in which Ethno contributes to participants’ professional lives.

You can follow this link to access further information and the survey itself.

Deadline to complete the survey: 14 May 2021.

Article published in Music Education Research journal

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We’re delighted that our Postdoctoral Researcher, Sarah-Jane Gibson, has been published in Music Education Research journal. Her article, sharing the findings from her study into the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on Ethno World, can be found on the publisher’s website.

Sarah-Jane’s study investigates how music teaching and learning has been impacted by the shift to online musical practice, through an investigation of ‘The Hope sessions’, online tune learning workshops, and the ‘Exchange sessions’, online folk music collaborations. Her findings provide timely insight into how pedagogical approaches change when they shift from an offline to online context.

The article can be accessed online at the link below:

Shifting from offline to online collaborative music-making, teaching and learning: perceptions of Ethno artistic mentors – Sarah-Jane Gibson

You can hear more about this study in Sarah-Jane’s presentation video about the Sustainability/Covid-19 project.

Latest opportunities to engage with Ethno Research

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Video series: Meet the researchers

The Ethno Research team comprises a number of smaller teams each with a different research focus. In a series of videos on our website, the teams introduce themselves and share insights into their research. Since they’re unable to meet with people face-to-face in current circumstances, this is your chance to meet the researchers and find out what they’ve been working on over the past year.

The videos introduce the Arts and Culture Team; Ethno on the Road; the Ethno Organizers (SenseMaker®) project; the History Team; Sustainability/Covid-19 project; and the Trauma-informed and consent-based practice project.

Sound map

The Arts and Culture team are building an online sound map that showcases as many different Ethno experiences as possible, through sound recordings. If you have a recording of a tune you learned, a performance you were a part of, or a conversation you had at an Ethno about music and life, then we’d love to hear from you!

Recordings can be in the form of an audio track, a video, or even a simple voice memo. You can find out more information, including how to contribute, on the Ethno Research website.

Historical timeline

The History team has been gathering information for a digital timeline with the aim of showcasing each Ethno since 1990. The timeline is now online for anybody to browse, so do take a look! It contains information, photos and videos from many past Ethno gatherings. There are some gaps in the timeline, and if you think you can add any information, photos or other contributions, feel free to contact us.

Pedagogy survey

In another strand of the research, a new survey concerned with pedagogy and professional development will soon be circulated to the Ethno community, and we are hoping to see as many organizers, artistic mentors and participants as possible taking part. The survey will provide the research with vital perspectives on how and why Ethno pedagogy is described as ‘magic’. If you have participated in our research in the past, watch your e-mails for a link to the survey, and please do take part when it arrives!

SenseMaker survey

The call is still open for Ethno organziers to participate in our SenseMaker survey. Dr Dave Camlin, leading this part of the research, has produced a how-to video explaining step-by-step how organizers can download the app; share their story; and then interpret their story using the tools in the app. Organizer or not, if you are interested in the SenseMaker project or the research tool itself, you can find out more, and watch a video about it, on the project page.

Publication: Ethno on the Road

Our most recent publication investigates Ethno on the Road and Världens Band, particularly looking at the influence of Ethno in three areas: practice within the band; performance and outreach; and professional and personal development. The report can be downloaded in full, and as an executive summary, and you can hear Dr Sarah-Jane Gibson presenting about the research findings in this video, too.