Interdisciplinary
collaboration
The
Conferences on Interdisciplinary Musicology are not only about interdisciplinarity
- they are also about human collaboration. All submissions
must have at least two authors representing contrasting relevant disciplines.
The reasons for this policy are as follows:
- Conference
profile. Interdisciplinary collaboration is main focus of the CIM
series and gives it a clear profile. In recent years, it has become fashionable
to call conferences, books and journals "interdisciplinary" even
if their interdisciplinarity is not always strong, evident or consistent.
CIM's requirement of joint authorship is part of a series of measures to ensure
that CIM really is and remains "interdisciplinary".
- Modern
roles and status of research teams.
Today, a large proportion of research is produced by teams, suggesting that
collaboration has become a research skill in its own right that can be as
important for a researcher as knowledge of methods and content. This is true
both within musicology and generally, and may be a consequence of the massive
expansion of the research literature in recent decades. It is hard enough
for one person to remain abreast of the literature in one discipline, let
alone in two disciplines at once.
- Avoidance
and resolution of academic conflicts.
Conflicts between academics are common in all disciplines. Such conflicts
often involve an interdisciplinary component. There are profound differences
in ways of thinking between the arts (e.g. music performance), the humanities,
and the (natural and social) sciences, which can lead to conflict when academics
from contrasting disciplines work together to solve common problems. Such
conflicts can be avoided if academics are aware in advance of the kind of
interpersonal problems that typically arise in interdisciplinary work and
develop strategies to address them. If the next generation of academics receives
better training in the art of interdisciplinary collaboration, research will
become more efficient and creative.
- Outstanding
examples. Some
of the most important interdisciplinary contributions to scholarship in general,
and musicology in particular, have been made by individual researchers. But
in every case, it appears that that researcher could have benefited from collaboration
from an expert in a specific relevant area (and usually did, even if that
researcher did not have the status of co-author). Thus, the following teams
have made outstanding contributions to research that would presumably not
have been possible - or at least not as good - if they had worked alone:
- Nicholas
Cook (music theory and analysis) and Eric Clarke (music psychology)
- Fred
Lerdahl (music theory) and Ray Jackendoff (linguistics)
- Stephen
McAdams (music psychology) and Roger Reynolds (composer)
- Carol
Krumhansl (music psychology) and Fred Lerdahl (music theory)
- Richard
Parncutt (music psychology) and Gary McPherson (music education)
- Hans
Gunter Bastian (music education) and Gunter Kreutz (music psychology)
- Literature
on interdisciplinary collaboration. The following sources continue
the discussion of issues surrounding interdisciplinarity:
- Derry,
S. J., & Schunn, C. D., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (Eds.), Interdisciplinary
Collaboration: An Emerging Cognitive Science. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Laudel,
G. (2001). Collaboration,
creativity and rewards: Why and how scientists collaborate. International
Journal of Technology Management, 22, 762-781.