Robert Jarvis works with music in many different settings, as an animateur, composer and performer, and is involved in a wide range of music making. He is a keen collaborator and enjoys combining his musical interests with other disciplines. Past projects have included work with physical theatre, dance, film and installation artists.

His projects have at their centre the creation and performance of new work and normally involve him engaging with local people as part of the creative process leading to some form of presentation. This may take many forms, from conventional music performance through to interactive multi-speaker sonic environments. More often than not, the results of these projects have an extended life in the professional domain, where they are recorded, performed and toured. To date Robert has released seven CDs of such project-inspired compositions and has attained acclaim from a wide range of sources including the national media as well as central government.

In addition to his composition and education work, Robert is chair of Sound Sense, the national community music development agency, and been the recipient of various awards, including the Performing Right Society's Composer in Education Award and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Artist in the Community Award. In 2003 his Europhonix project – a travelling sound installation underneath the sea between Calais and Folkestone –was nominated for the British Composer Awards as one of three finalists in the Community/Educational Project category.