Specialism  

Abstract

The general academic process has been towards an individual specialising in particular fields. Of course, this is a practical consideration as much as anything - especially in some areas, it is practically very difficult to specialise in more than one, often quite restricted, area.

In many music departments this has led to the quite separate developments of composition and technological courses. There is, of course, quite a lot of crossover, and many composers are also technologists and many technologists composers. However, there are many examples where this is not the case, and it is especially the case that those who are particularly technological are often not interested in 'standard' composition. Why is this the case, and what effect does such division have on musical composition? What limits does a lack of knowledge of either area place on a composer and what are the dangers of not specialising in one area or another?