Research Catalogue

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• Beyond Borders. Broadening the Artistic Palette of (Composing) Improvisers in Jazz. (2017) author(s): Dick de Graaf published in: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
  In this on-line dissertation, jazz saxophonist Dick de Graaf investigates a variety of compositional and improvisational models and techniques in contemporary jazz and Western art music, and discusses possible applications of these materials in current jazz practices. The study includes examinations of educational publications by five selected jazz artists (Dave Liebman, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Walt Weiskopf, and John O’Gallagher), and the analysis of compositional techniques by two composers of the 20th century: Peter Schat's Tone Clock and Olivier Messiaen's modes of limited transposition. In addition, these theories and techniques are illustrated by selected examples (transcriptions and audio excerpts) and by examples of applications by various musicians, including the author. All examples are thoroughly analyzed and evaluated in order to determine their potential use in contemporary jazz practices. The research results provide comprehensive insights into compositional and improvisational processes in jazz, and offer materials that can be useful for the personal artistic development of jazz practitioners, including musicians, composers, and educators.
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  Tactile Paths: on and through Notation for Improvisers (2017) author(s): Christopher Williams connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts published in: Research Catalogue
  Tactile Paths is a native digital, media-rich PhD dissertation. It aims to articulate and expand the nexus of notation and improvisation in contemporary and experimental music. The project interweaves direct artistic experience with insights from improvisation studies, the social sciences, philosophy, and various scholarship in the arts to reveal methodological connections among diverse artists such as Richard Barrett, Cornelius Cardew, Malcolm Goldstein, Lawrence Halprin, Bob Ostertag, Ben Patterson, and the author. By focusing on how notation is used, rather than on what it represents in an abstract sense, the author shows how written scores emerge from and feed back into ongoing improvisational processes. Thus, it is argued, they are not fixed texts whose primary purpose is to prescribe and preserve, but rather tactile paths in the improviser’s ever-crescent musical and social environment. This practice-based approach aims to lay the conceptual groundwork for theorizing and broadening the creative relevance of work whose importance to practitioners belies its marginal presence in academia and institutions.
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• Mulitple Paths: Towards a Performance Practice in Computer Music (2015) author(s): Juan Parra published in: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
  This research project proposes multiple paths towards the development of a performance practice in computer music. It starts with the author’s transition from traditional instrumentalist to electronic musician, assessing the roles of composer, performer and instrument builder as integrated in computer music practice. Three of the case studies presented in this thesis suggest approaches to understand the notion of interpretation with electronic instruments, introducing the methods of reconstruction, reinterpretation and re-appropriation as applied to the performance of music by Cage, Feldman and Nono. The remaining five case studies deal with the author’s own creations, developed on the basis of concepts such as mapping, sonification, historical contextualisation and spatialisation, and informed by the multithreaded role of the computer music practitioner. The situation of the performer of electronic instruments in relation to traditional instrumentalists is a topic of consideration throughout this thesis, informing the final conclusions as well as refuelling the questioning for future work. ---- Thesis information (in Dutch): Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof. mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op dinsdag 2 december 2014 klokke 16.15 uur door Juan Parra Cancino geboren te Osorno (CL) in 1979 Promotiecommissie Prof. Frans de Ruiter 1e promotor Prof. Richard Barrett 2e promotor Dr. Marcel Cobussen co-promotor Prof. Clarence Barlow Prof. Dr. Nicolas Collins School of the Art Institute of Chicago Prof. Dr. Simon Emmerson Leicester Media School, De Montfort University Dr. Vincent Meelberg Prof. Dr. Larry Polansky University of California, Santa Cruz Dit proefschrift is geschreven als een gedeeltelijke vervulling van de vereisten voor het doctoraatsprogramma docARTES. De overblijvende vereiste bestaat uit een demonstratie van de onderzoeksresultaten in de vorm van een artistieke presentatie. Het docARTES programma is georganiseerd door het Orpheus Instituut te Gent. In samenwerking met de Universiteit Leiden, de Hogeschool der Kunsten Den Haag, het Conservatorium van Amsterdam, de Katholieke Universiteit Leuven en het Lemmensinstituut.
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  Playing Schumann Again for the First Time (last edited: 2018) author(s): Bobby Mitchell connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts This exposition is in progress.
  This exposition exposes my attempts to layer musical materials from the core of the classical piano repertoire - in this case, materials from scores and sketches of Robert Schumann - to create ever increasingly larger spaces in which improvisatory practice at the piano can take place. Step 1: Choose strands of musical materials such as melodies, harmonies, patterns, elements of timing and rhythm, etc. Step 2: Layer these materials in unforeseen ways and realize the resulst through pianistic practice and notation. Step 3: Evaluate the sounding results and repeat the process with a conscious awareness of processing musical materials in a way that increasingly bears my own sonic signature.
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• The Field of Musical Improvisation (last edited: 2014) author(s): Marcel Cobussen This exposition is in review.
  [1] Central in my thinking on improvisation are two concepts: complexity and singularity. [2] Improvisation is, in my opinion, a complex event in which many actants (the term is coined by Bruno Latour), many actors, factors, and vectors, both human and non-human, converge and interact. It is this interaction which will take center stage in my research. Examining improvisation as a complex system shifts the focus from an overriding concern with isolated actants to changing relationships between these actants. Besides human-human interactions, improvisation also implies interactions with or between audience, instruments, the performance space, technology, acoustics, aesthetic and cultural backgrounds, etc. Taking into account all these levels of musical, social, historical, acoustical, and technological engagement gives a more complete picture of the practice of improvisation. [3] Although it is my point of departure that improvisation takes place in all musicking, not all of the actants mentioned above determine every improvisation to the same extent; in certain situations (periods, styles, cultures as well as more singular circumstances), some are more prominent and active than others. Therefore, I don’t want to deal with improvisation “in general”. Instead I emphasize singularity: each improvisation will yield a different network of actants and interactions. In other words, I would like to present a radical empiricism, a focus on particular and individual cases.
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