Assoc Prof Kimi Coaldrake
Associate Professor Kimi Coaldrake of the Elder Conservatorium of Music has won the University of Adelaide Award for Higher Degree by Research Supervision for 2009. Kimi specialises in ethnomusicology, with a focus on Japan. She is a master instrumentalist on the Japanese koto (13 string zither), and has had bestowed upon her by a Japanese Living National Treasure in this musical tradition the title of Reiku Hirowakyo (meaning Enduring Grace, Centre of Peace and Esteem) in recognition of her training and achievements in traditional Japanese performance art. Kimi was a Fulbright Scholar, and studied at many international institutions, including Harvard and Michigan University. She was a visiting researcher at Oxford.
For nearly 20 years, Kimi has proved herself to be a remarkable supervisor, with a completion rate unmatched in her Faculty. More than those statistical results, however, Kimi is much loved and respected by her students, who appreciate Kimi’s dictum:
Simultaneously hold in mind the hypothesis that external clarity co-exists with an internal tolerance for ambiguity.
Meaning that attempts to achieve clarity, either in terms of music knowledge or research administrative policy, must not lead to didatic, authoritarian teaching, but that learning takes place when supervisors know the ‘rules’, but are willing to be creative and sensitive when working to facilitate student learning and overcome the many problems encountered during the course of a higher degree by research. Students write that the best things about having Kimi for a supervisor are, in fact:
Her understanding and humanity. Her interest in knowledge outcomes are not lost in administrative necessity; your commitment, dedication, intellect, support and your exceptional teaching; you certainly brought clarity and focus into my life. Many thanks for your guidance; you have been truly inspirational and so kind to me. I could never have done this without you! I have been honoured to watch a mind such as yours at work.
Kimi performing in Japan on the koto. Sitting in the centre, she is leading the music.
