Dr Kim Burwell
PhD, MA (University of Kent at Canterbury, UK); BMus (University of Durham, UK); FTCL (Trinity College of Music London), DSCM (Newcastle Conservatorium of Music), LMusA (Australian Music Examinations Board).
My interests are related to musical performance skills, knowledge and acquisition.
My monograph, Studio-based instrumental learning, is part of the Psychology of Music series sponsored by the Society for Education and Music Psychology Research (SEMPRE). I have also published research studies investigating teaching and student behaviour in instrumental lessons, and student approaches to individual practice.
Current supervisions include work on music performance anxiety, and jazz pedagogy. I have supervised a range of postgraduate studies, including the life and work of Pierre Sancan, piano memorisation, advanced practice skills, theoretical and professional literature related to the studio, and feminist pedagogy in music.
After completing my first degree in Australia, I studied piano with Ronald Smith, and performed particularly as an accompanist and chamber musician, in UK, Canada and the Middle East. With further degrees in composition and performance, I completed my PhD with a thesis investigating instrumental teaching and learning in Higher Education. As a lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University, I established and led undergraduate and postgraduate courses in music performance and pedagogy, before coming to UNSW to establish the specialist BMus pathway in music studio teaching.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Much of my research has been empirical, investigating studio lesson behaviours and student approaches to practice through filmed observations, interview and questionnaire studies. I have become increasingly interested in more theoretical aspects of studio pedagogy: the 'apprenticeship' model, authoritative discourse in the studio, and the isolation of studio practices. I am currently investigating power relations in music teaching and learning, the nature of authority, and the potential of coaching.
In July 2018 I was Sydney Hub Co-organiser for the 15th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) combined with the 10th triennial conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM), at UNSW. The innovative conference format had live and virtual presentations streamed among hubs in Australia, Austria, Canada and Argentina.
My research publications include papers in the International Journal of Music Education, Arts & Humanities in Higher Education, Musicae Scientiae, British Journal of Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, Psychology of Music, Music Education Research, Orfeu, and Scientia Pedagogica Experimentalis. Most of my papers are available through the institutional repository, here.
My Research Supervision
Theo Bonny (in progress) Jazz pedagogy in raising secondary student classroom engagement. (Joint 1st supervisor, with Dr Sandy Evans]
Isabella Mazzarolo (Scientia scholar; in progress) Music performance anxiety. [Joint 1st supervisor, with Professor Emery Schubert]
My Teaching
The Music pedagogy stream in the Bachelor of Music programme includes Music studio teaching, Becoming a performer, and Educating the musical novice. I also coach Chamber music ensembles, within Performance lab courses.