Co-creative elements in the composition of community opera projects

Broadly, ‘co-creation’ refers to the creation of art by professionals in combination with non- professionals (or community participants). Although community opera projects containing co- creative activities are a common practice undertaken by opera houses and other community and arts organisations across the UK and beyond, and the development of this practice has been referenced and evaluated in recent research, there are no systematic studies that attempt to capture and analyse the musical details of how operas are developed in these projects.

The primary purpose of this practice-led PhD in musical composition is to reveal in notated and recorded form this process in action, with the researcher also acting as composer so that details that might be missed or inaccurately relayed in second-hand accounts (or unrecordable without being present at the moment of co-creation) could be captured and made the focus of study for the first time. This is undertaken through a series of detailed research projects with three community groups (a school music class, a brass band, and a male voice choir) that consider the impacts of the musical experience and social and cultural backgrounds of participants on the co-creative elements developed in a workshop context.

The results of these three studies gave rise to, and are interpreted, using a new framework for co-creativity that considers active/inactive and direct/indirect forms of musical participation and creative involvement to enable consideration of how the co-creative processes shaped the composition of an original community opera. They also formed the basis for the composition of two acts of a new community opera alongside an account of how the workshops influenced the musical, dramatic and philosophical features of the ensuing score.