Exposition

Rummaging in the curriculum carrier bag: the Unheard Symphony (last edited: 2026)

Alison Isadora
no media files associated
open exposition

About this exposition

Abstract Conservatoire student populations can be incredibly diverse in terms of background. What consequences does this have for the curriculum? Using Ursula K. Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction as an inspiration, this research bundles together theories on pedagogy, decolonialism, reacculturation, and the hidden curriculum within a speculative carrier bag where they may inform each other. What emerges are potential points of attention, activated in a workshop. Questions are asked about how we situate a conservatorium ecologically, socially and epistemically, leading to a discussion on the ontology of the work and an understanding of what situated knowledge might encompass. This connects to an exploration of the historical formation of the canon which is at the heart of many conservatoire curricula and reflections on what decanonisation might encompass. Theories in this paper were practically explored within a workshop environment which could potentially serve as a blueprint for critically engaging first year students with their studies, the curriculum, and also with their personal musical ‘pre-history’. The students applied notions of representation and nourishing space for the unheard in the creation of the Unheard Symphony, a 30-minute work inspired by Gilius van Bergeijk’s Symfonie der Duizend (alfabetisch). This article proposes imagining the conservatoire as a ‘carrier bag’ of musical knowledge, a place where historic knowledge, embodied knowledge, and new insights intra-act and furthermore where the process of active dialogue between these elements will invite responsiveness and response-ability from both students and institution alike.
typeresearch exposition
date08/01/2026
last modified23/01/2026
statusin progress
share statuspublic
copyrightAlison Isadora
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/4100197/4100198


Copyrights

namedouble-slit experiment ch 3
copyrightmit.edu
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameconserves ch 4
copyrightAS
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameCons and university symbols ch 4
copyrightAlison Isadora
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
namesituated knowledge ch 6
copyrightPamela Moore Dionne
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameFreire_s banking model ch 7
copyrightPaulo Freire
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameFreires problem-posing model ch 7
copyrightInsuwan, Chatuporn & Thongrin, Saneh
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
namehidden currciulum_ ch 8
copyrightUnsplash
licenseCC BY-ND
usagespicture
namedecolonisation ch 9
copyrightImage: Arjan Martins, Atlântico, 2016. Photo: Pepê Schettino
licenseCC BY-ND
usagespicture
nameLouis XIV ch 9
copyrightCMBV
licensePublic domain
usagespicture
nameUnheard Symphony all
copyrightAS
licenseAll rights reserved
usagesvideo
nameWorkshop_students_ch10
copyrightAS
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameskills students brought to the workshop ch 10
copyrightAS
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
namelist in process of works for the Unheard Symphony ch 10
copyrightAS
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture

Comments are only available for registered users.