Communities, vaLues, Conventions and aCtionsthe other hand, the linguistic expression ‘classical music’ facilitates discussion of the
genre without reference to any particular performance.
Certain kinds of form are more effective for the communication of certain kinds
of content. in order to understand the relationship between form and content it is
necessary to step away from any prescribed form and revisit what is trying to be achieved
in the process of research before assuming that this particular form is the best way
of achieving that. The inclusion of creative practice in the academic research model
requires a justification of whether the non- linguistic form is the most effective way of
dealing with the issues at hand in the research. similarly, the academic researcher who
habitually writes a research report should reconsider whether this form has the capacity
to communicate the content of the research. When the content is reconsidered, it is
possible to move away from conventions, particularly ones that are led by stereotypes or
preconceptions about form. The form of traditional academic research both facilitates
and prioritizes transferable outcomes and these are opposite to the creative practice
value of the singularity of the event. in any area, the choice of form already invites and
precludes certain types of content. The distinction between form and content reveals
that in form there is content.
The ability or desire to articulate the content of form is also a matter of rhetoric,
by which we mean ‘constituting things through language’, rather than ‘persuasive
oration’. as such, rhetoric refers to the impact that language has on what one can and
cannot think. how something is said, and indeed saying anything at all, begins to direct
thoughts in a particular way (Chapter 9). This seems to be an objection that many
practitioner- researchers have regarding the academic model, as they feel that speaking
may compromize the potential for description, argumentation and outcome – or their
non- linguistically determined alternatives – in the creative realm. This may be because
these aspects of creation do not share the linear structure of language. in order to
discuss the issue of rhetoric that arises when the creative practice community produces
academic research, it is important to identify and break down stereotypes that are often
hidden and deeply rooted in conventions that communities have adopted. This helps
to steer away from preconceived notions of what research should look like, which is a
consequence of the problem of rhetoric (Biggs 2002).
We can summarize by observing that, when creative practice is academicized, the
originally coherent structure of each community – comprised of values, conventions,
meaningful actions and significant activities – is disrupted and each finds itself
dissatisfied. in particular, the academic community is dissatisfied that its value of
accumulation is not supported by the creative practice conventions of using non-
linguistic communication to encourage the subjective experiences resulting from
direct encounter with the artefact. as a result, the academic research community is
dissatisfied that certain actions, such as performing or exhibiting, are not the ones that
are meaningful towards their value of the accumulation of knowledge. on the other
hand, the creative practice community is dissatisfied that its value of ‘the singularity of
the event’ is not addressed in the academic convention of argument- building because
the latter emphasizes the general rather than the particular. The creative community
is also dissatisfied with actions such as publishing and archiving because these
create problems for the direct encounter with the artefact. ultimately, the academic