Dr Kirsty Devaney

Dr Kirsty Devaney is a lecturer in music education. As a composer and music education researcher, her practice centres on breaking down myths and barriers to composing; empowering people to redefine what composing is, who composers are, and how they create new music. She has been active in creating pathways for young composers for over 10 years, including founding and running the Young Composers Project at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire since 2013. 

Upon graduating and receiving the Principal’s Award from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, she completed her doctorate in 2018 with Martin Fautley and Janet Hoskyns at Birmingham City University, exploring composing in upper secondary school examinations. Results from her doctorate were reported by national newspapers and she won the prestigious Anna Craft Award for Creativities in Education from the British Educational Research Association (BERA). In 2019 she was awarded an honorary membership of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and recently she co-edited the Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools (2024). 

In more recent years, her research has focused on inequality within music education, being invited to take part in several working groups including Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Music Studies (EDIMS), and the Alternative Conservatoire advisory board. In 2021 she was supported by the Society of Research into Higher Education (SRHE) to investigate how socio-economic background influences undergraduate music students’ experiences and career aspirations within UK conservatoires, and she has been invited to present these findings at the Conservatoires UK conference in 2024. 

As a composer, Kirsty specialises in composing music with and for young and non-professional musicians. Her music has been shortlisted for a British Composer Award and aired on BBC Radio 3. 

She welcomes enquiries from potential doctoral students working in the areas of: composing and creativity in music education; equality, diversity, inclusion and access to music education; and collaborative/community-led composing practices.

Selected publications

Devaney K (forthcoming), Pedagogies in composing, in C Philpott & G Spruce (eds.), Debates in Music Teaching (2nd edition), Routledge. 

Devaney K, Fautley M, Grow J, & Ziegenmeyer A (eds.) (2024), The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives, Routledge [DOI].

Devaney K (2024), “How much are you willing to give up?” Investigating how socio-economic background influences undergraduate music students’ experiences and career aspirations within UK conservatoires, Research Report, Society for Research into Higher Education [LINK]. 

Partti H & Devaney K (2023), Addressing gender inequality in and through music composing studies, Nordic Research in Music Education, 4, 48–66 [DOI].

Devaney K (2023), Investigating how composing teaching and assessment in English secondary school classrooms reinforce myths about composers and their creative practices, British Journal of Music Education, 40 (1), 3-19. [DOI].

Devaney K & Hughes N (2023), Bridging the gap: gender equality in music technology, Music Teacher Magazine [LINK].

Devaney K (2022), Heads of composition perspectives on the role of composition teaching in UK music conservatoires composition department, Music Education Research, 24 (5), 611-624 [DOI].

Faculties / departments: Research, Academic staff

Research

Research areas

Composition

Music Education

 

Latest Publications

Pitts, S. E. and Peters, P. F. and Burland, K. and Devaney, K. and Dons, K. and Doolittle, E. and Hogg, L. and Molina, K. and Porton, J. J. and Price, S. and Wimmer, C. (2024) Networked innovation in classical music: collaborative ecologies for classical music. Project Report. Sheffield Performer & Audience Research Centre.

Devaney, K. (2024) “How much are you willing to give up?” Investigating how socio-economic background influences undergraduate music students’ experiences and career aspirations within UK conservatoires. Project Report. Society for Research into Higher Education.

Devaney, K. (2024) Distant friends. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2024) Pedagogies in composing. In: Debates in Music Teaching (2nd edition). Routledge. (In Press)

Devaney, K. (2024) SPINE. [Composition]

Partti, H. and Devaney, K. (2023) Addressing gender inequality in and through music composing studies. Nordic Research in Music Education, 4 pp. 48-66. ISSN 2703-8041 (online)

Devaney, K. (2023) Teaching and assessing composing in English secondary schools: an investigation into music teacher confidence. In: The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives. Routledge Music Companions . Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032026268 (hardback) 9781003184317 (e-book)

Devaney, K. and Evans, N. and Fautley, M. and Ziegenmeyer, A. (2023) Chapter interlude IV: ways to teach composing. In: The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives. Routledge Music Companions . Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032026268 (hardback) 9781003184317 (e-book)

Devaney, K. and Fautley, M. and Grow, J. and Ziegenmeyer, A. (2023) Conclusion. In: The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives. Routledge Music Companions . Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032026268 (hardback) 9781003184317 (e-book)

Devaney, K. and Fautley, M. and Grow, J. and Ziegenmeyer, A. (2023) Introduction. In: The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives. Routledge Music Companions . Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032026268 (hardback) 9781003184317 (e-book)

Devaney, K. and Grow, J. (2023) Chapter interlude V: considering gender, equality, diversity, and inclusion in teaching composing. In: The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives. Routledge Music Companions . Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032026268 (hardback) 9781003184317 (e-book)

Devaney, K. and Ziegenmeyer, A. and Hughes, N. (2023) Chapter interlude VII: the role of digital technology in classroom composing. In: The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives. Routledge Music Companions . Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032026268 (hardback) 9781003184317 (e-book)

Ziegenmeyer, A. and Devaney, K. (2023) Chapter interlude I: what is composing? In: The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives. Routledge Music Companions . Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032026268 (hardback) 9781003184317 (e-book)

Devaney, K. and Hughes, N. (2023) Bridging the gap: gender equality in music technology. Music Teacher, 102 (4) ISSN 0027-4461 (print) 2632-8658 (online)

Devaney, K. (2023) Investigating how composing teaching and assessment in English secondary school classrooms reinforce myths about composers and their creative practices. British Journal of Music Education, 40 (1) pp. 3-19. ISSN 0265-0517 (print) 1469-2104 (online)

Devaney, K. (2023) Soar. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2022) Heads of composition perspectives on the role of composition teaching in UK music conservatoires composition department. Music Education Research, 24 (5) pp. 611-624. ISSN 1461-3808 (print) 1469-9893 (online)

Fautley, M. and Anderson, A. and Kinsella, V. and Devaney, K. and Whittaker, A. (2021) Sound and Music Go Compose project 2020: research report. Project Report. Birmingham City University.

Devaney, K. (2021) False start. [Composition]

Devaney, K. and Lansdown, L. and Galbreath, D. (2021) ARCO South Africa: research report. Project Report. Birmingham City University.

Devaney, K. (2019) ‘Waiting for the wow factor’: perspectives on computer technology in classroom composing. Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 12 (2) pp. 121-139. ISSN 1752-7066 (print) 1752-7074 (online)

Devaney, K. and Nenadic, E. (2019) Music teaching provision in primary schools: key findings 2019. Project Report. Birmingham City University.

Devaney, K. (2018) Urban nature. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2016) Fanfare for Gosport. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2016) Star cluster. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2016) [as if on a pivot]. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2016) The craft. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2015) Gore Point. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2015) Root. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2015) Seven short songs. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2015) Sixteen tower blocks. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2014) Cities, stars & haze. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2014) Nocturne. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2014) Tiny creatures in long grass. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2014) A bright sound. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2013) Hadal zone. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2013) Inkocosmos. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2013) Letters. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2013) Nebula and pulsar. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2012) Death over a guess. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2012) How normal is your sex life? [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2012) In memory. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2012) Submerge. [Composition]

Devaney, K. (2011) Moons of Jupiter. [Composition]

Contact

For enquiries please contact:

Dr Kirsty Devaney

Lecturer in Music Education

research@rcm.ac.uk

Kirsty.Devaney@rcm.ac.uk

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