Malaysian Music Research

It was a pleasant surprise to be invited by two different universities this Autumn to serve as a PhD examiner for students from Malaysia who have completed quite interesting doctoral dissertations.

One dissertation is a mixed methods empirical research study at the Royal College of Music, London, that examines how musical expressiveness is learned among Malaysian college students, with particular attention to non-western understandings of expressiveness in music performance.

Another doctoral dissertation is performance-based, an artistic research study at Malaysia’s leading private university (UCSI University) that examines the characters and vocal characteristics of soprano roles in opera.

I look forward to learning from this innovative research, and to posing some useful questions, and will report in detail here when the process is completed with new music Doctors from an exciting part of the world.  

Indeed, Malaysia is a quite interesting country, with a megadiverse tropical environment, and over 34 million people in a rapidly developing economy. It is notable that Malaysia invests heavily in education and has over 20 universities. There is an array of traditional music genres Malaysia, from the Nobat court music to genres associated with dance drama traditions, as well as regional and minority folk music styles, and even lovely children’s songs. 

Also, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, along with a new generation of singers and other world-class performers, have become known in the global field of western classical art music.

We can surely expect Malaysia to continue becoming an even more globally-impactful place for music and education in the coming years.