The research group Lifelong Learning in Music conducts research into the work of professional musicians in our rapidly changing society. Based on social developments and the results of the research group so far, the third strategic period (2012 – 2016) will focus on three broad research strands. Each research strand comprises various research projects.
1. Innovations in / renewing of the music profession
This research strand continues a research tradition which has characterised the research group from its beginning: largely project-based research into innovative practices. New projects will be defined based on questions from our partners in society, opportunities our own environment offers, and inspiration from our many international partners. Examples are projects in which musicians focus on audiences which are new to them, such as musicians working with prisoners, or asylum seekers, community music projects linked to rural development, collaborative connections between professional musicians and non-professional musicians. Social inclusion is an important theme in all the research.
2. Learning music / learning musicians
This research strand brings together and expands research which is specifically aimed at the questions how musicians (both professional and amateur) learn, and how music can be learnt and taught. Even though the research group has by now established a tradition through its many projects, further development of this research area is required. It chiefly concerns further research into: how professional musicians learn; learning models other than the strictly traditional master-apprentice type; innovation in music education, both inside and outside schools, and research into learning in higher music education itself, both by students and teachers. Lifelong Learning is brought about when musicians are able to adapt the frameworks within which they work, so they know how to reach new audiences with innovative practices. Therefore, the research will be largely aimed at the situations and conditions in which this transformative learning actually takes place.
3. Healthy Ageing through Music & the Arts
In this third research strand the research in the field of Healthy Ageing will be continued. More specifically this concerns the project Music and Dementia II, continuation of the projects in the area of creative workshops, carrying out of the PhD research about aging artists, biographical research into older musicians and a number of new projects.