Experimental Encounters in Music and Beyond

Multidisciplinary analysis of experimentalism in music and the wider arts today
Experimental Encounters in Music and Beyond opens a necessary dialogue on experimental practices in the arts and negotiates their place in contemporary society. Going beyond the music-historical usage of the term “experimental”, this book reimagines experimentation as an open working definition encompassing multiple forms of artistic attitudes and processes. The texts, images, and sounds offer multiple traces, faces, and spaces, revealing what experimentalism in music and the wider arts entails today. With perspectives from a range of disciplines—from choreography through composition to philosophy and beyond—the different experiences and artistic projects documented and discussed explore the complexity of experimentation in a way that is all the richer for being never-ending.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Contributors

Richard Barrett (Institute of Sonology, The Hague), Sebastian Berweck (pianist and performer), Kathleen Coessens (Orpheus Institute, Ghent), Frederik Croene (pianist and composer, Belgium), Chaya Czernowin (Harvard University, Cambridge), Anne Douglas (Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen), Bob Gilmore † (Orpheus Institute, Ghent), Valentin Gloor (Orpheus Institute, Ghent), David Gorton (Royal Academy of Music, University of London), David Horne (Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester), Efva Lilja (Dansehallerne, Copenhagen), Svetlana Maraš (independent music professional, Radio Belgrade, Electronic Studio), Melinda Maxwell (Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester), Christopher Redgate (Royal Academy of Music, University of London), Jan C. Schacher (Royal Conservatoire, Artesis Plantijn University College, Antwerp, and Zurich University of the Arts), Reto Stadelmann (composer and musician, Germany), Steve Tromans (Middlesex University, UK), Penelope Turner (singer, musician, and performer, UK and Belgium)

"Experimental Encounters in Music and Beyond" was written by Kathleen Coessens, Richard Barrett, Sebastian Berweck, Frederik Croene, Chaya Czernowin, Anne Douglas, Bob Gilmore, Valentin Gloor, David Gorton, David Horne, Efva Lilja, Svetlana Maras, Melinda Maxwell, Christopher Redgate, Jan C. Schacher, Reto Stadelmann, Steve Tromans and Penelope Turner.

Kathleen Coessens is director of the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and associate researcher at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent.

Anne Douglas is a professor emerita, Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Scotland, who explores the changing place of the artist in public life. Her research has increasingly focused on art and the environmental crisis from a practice-led perspective. She co-produced the Harrisons’ work ‘On the Deep Wealth of this Nation: Scotland’ (2017) in collaboration with Newton Harrison and the Centre for the Study of the Force Majeure, University of California Santa Cruz.

Bob Gilmore is a Research Fellow at the Orpheus Institute (Belgium) and editor of Tempo: A Quarterly Review of New Music (UK).

David Gorton is a composer, senior postgraduate tutor and associate head of research at the Royal Academy of Music, associate professor at the University of London, and associate researcher at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent.

Yes, "Experimental Encounters in Music and Beyond" is part of the "Orpheus Institute Series" series.

Throughout the Orpheus Institute’s various activities there is a clear focus on the development of a new research discipline in the arts, one that addresses questions and topics that are at the heart of musical practice, building on the unique expertise and perspectives of musicians and in constant dialogue with more established research disciplines.

Within this context, the Orpheus Institute launched an international Research Centre in 2007 that acts as a stable constituent within an ever-growing field of enquiry. The Orpheus Research Centre is a place where musical artists can fruitfully conduct individual and collaborative research on issues that are of concern to all involved in artistic practice. It is important that at the centre of the international Orpheus Institute network is a place, a building, a community. As the concepts and methodologies of artistic research in music have evolved, work at Orpheus Institute has found new structures. Since 2012, research has been consolidated into a number of groups focused on specific areas, each led by a principal investigator of substantial international reputation as a practicing musician. The work of Orpheus Institute is disseminated through events, publications and musical performances, and through its active animation of discussion within the sector.

This series of peer-reviewed publications —launched in 2013— encompasses monographs by Research Fellows and associates of the Orpheus Institute, compilations of lectures, texts, and performances from seminars and study days, and edited volumes on topics arising from work at the institute. Research can be presented in digital media as well as printed texts. As a whole, the series is meant to enhance and advance discourse in the field of artistic research in music and to generate future work in this emerging and vital area of study.

Editorial board

William Brooks (Chair, Series Editor), Peter Dejans, Jonathan Impett, Kathleen Coessens, Paulo de Assis, Heike Vermeire, Ed Crooks, Laura Cull, Aurelie Daems

Proposals

Proposals and enquiries can be sent to the series editor William Brooks.
Please make use of the submission form to present your manuscript or proposal to our board.
Authors interested in Open Access can consult the available funding options.

Links & Resources

Faces, Spaces, and Traces: A Prelude to Experimental Encounters Kathleen Coessens
PART ONE: CONTRASTING FACES Kathleen Coessens
Down With the Experiment! Long Live the Process! or, Dance Doesn’t Exist Efva Lilja
The Art of Risk Taking: Experimentation, Invention, and Discovery Chaya Czernowin
PART TWO: CHALLENGING MATERIAL SPACES Kathleen Coessens
Thingification of Compositional Process: The Emergence and Autonomy of Extramusical Objects in Western Art Music Svetlana Maraš
Roll Over Czerny Frederik Croene
Austerity Measures and Rich Rewards David Gorton and Christopher Redgate
Cooperation and Collaboration between Interpreter and Composer in Electroacoustic Music Sebastian Berweck
Trans-form: Sketches, Experiments, and Concepts in Artistic Creation Jan C. Schacher
PART THREE: EXPERIMENTAL DIALOGUES WITH TRACES Kathleen Coessens
Rational Spaces: The String Quartets of Ben Johnston as Experimental Process Bob Gilmore
The Need for Artistic Experimentation When Preparing Organum Duplum for Performance Léonin and Pérotin and Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Polyphony from L’Ecole de Notre Dame Penelope Turner
“Association”: A Way of Artistic Experimentation That Can Expand Interpretation Possibilities Valentin Gloor
PART FOUR: NEGOTIATING EXPERIMENTAL(LY) SPACES AND FACES Kathleen Coessens
From Experimentation to Construction Richard Barrett Exper-iment, Exper-ience, Exper-tise: Practice-as-Research in Jazz Performance Steve Tromans
Improvisation as Experimentation in Everyday Life and Beyond Anne Douglas and Kathleen Coessens
Composition as Improvisation/Improvisation as Composition David Horne and Melinda Maxwell
The Kunstorchester Kwaggawerk Project: An Original Cultural Education Programme Reto Stadelmann
An Afterthought to Experimental Encounters Kathleen Coessens

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for "Experimental Encounters in Music and Beyond" is 10.11116/9789461662316.