Creative practice research, a methodology for exploring the composition of pedagogical piano music

This paper presents an overview of the methodology and research design devised to investigate the creative process of composing original piano repertoire for the adolescent beginner’s first year of learning. Research related to the creative practice of music composition has predominately focused on music written as pure artistic expression, while literature exploring the compositional processes of music designed for pedagogy is limited. Furthermore, there appears to be no research examining the compositional process involved in writing pedagogical piano repertoire, specifically designed for adolescent beginners. In this research, pedagogical piano repertoire is defined as piano compositions, exercises and performance pieces designed and systematically arranged to enhance the learning of beginning pianists. This gap in the research, in combination with the reduced repertoire options for the beginning adolescent pianist, evident in extant literature, provided the catalyst for this research using creative practice research methodology. Creative practice research (CPR) methodology facilitates the multi-faceted nature of artistic research. Characterised by the creation of an original artefact as an integral part of the research and written documentation in the form of an exegesis, CPR provides a framework for this research into investigating the ways in which a composer/teacher/researcher, synthesises artistic practice, pedagogical knowledge, and extant research to create pedagogical piano repertoire. This paper provides an overview of CPR methodology, and its application as a scaffold for exploring the nexus of creativity, pedagogy and research; details an individualised research design, adapted from the iterative cyclic web proposed by Smith and Dean and contributes deeper understanding of CPR in music education research.