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This work, summarised in published form, has reshaped the history, musicology and sociology of the bagpipe as a high profile, popular and international musical instrument, enlarging understanding of a misunderstood and stereotyped phenomenon of the nation's culture. Outcomes of the work are changing the intellectual environment for research, teaching and the performer communities. Based on a collection held in the public domain and forensic evidence in database and CD form, `cultural capital' has been created for the nation and the knowledge is safeguarded for future generations and effectively propagated for research. Impact is also evident in international recognition of the work.
Learning from the Past is a priority in the RCM's research strategy, building on the College's reputation for bringing music's context to life, whether through concerts, recordings or text-based outputs. The rich RCM Collections provide a stimulating environment for advancing dialogue across the theory and practice of music. RCM Director Colin Lawson, an internationally recognised clarinettist, takes a lead in working from historical sources (often from within the RCM) to invigorate and illuminate performance. His multifaceted research and his leadership across the institution and beyond have radically advanced the understanding of music across a wide range of national and international beneficiaries, including the general public, the business community and the public sector. He challenges the cultural values and sociological assumptions of performance practice in ways which enrich the lives, imaginations and sensibilities of a broad cross-section of society.
Research on the making and use of precision instruments and automatic machinery on a global scale in the period of the European Enlightenment has been used to develop museum displays and the interpretation of material culture from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in public collections. The research has contributed directly to a range of broadcast materials in rendering accessible lessons from the history of science and technology. In a series of interviews and broadcasts, the research has been used to deliver new approaches to the public understanding of the past of the sciences at a period of key transformation in their history and policy.