Bridging the Gap: A Study of Artistic Research in Composition in Flanders

In this article an exploratory study of artistic research in music composition in Flanders (Belgium) is presented. More specifically, the interaction between artistic practice and research in master and doctoral research projects is examined. The results indicate that there are three gaps, one between the discourses on artistic research and results of artistic researchers on the other, another between the artistic practice and the research part and a last one between master and postmaster research. Next the author makes proposals to tackle these problems, improve the dissemination of research outputs and suggests to focus on a shared environment for composition research and the expression of an explicit design and method, in dialogue with existing knowledge fields in music composition.