Research Catalogue

an international database for artistic research

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  The ‘elsewhereness’ of post-genre: utilising playfulness of cross-genre references as a compositional device (2020) author(s): Joe Cutler published in: Research Catalogue, Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
  This set of three works individually and collectively examine the ‘elsewhereness’ of post-genre composition. Through this research, I seek to develop a hybrid compositional aesthetic through the absorption, integration and referencing of a highly personal set of ‘influences’, many from outside the sphere of classical music. A fundamental concern is the examination of the role of ‘compositional play’ or ‘playfulness’ in unifying a multi-faceted compositional language. This is often manifested through intertextuality and the juxtaposition of diverse elements that are made to function at a structural or conceptual level. Through practice-based research, I obfuscate notions of genre, performance practice and content. Using the referencing of other musics as a compositional tool, I identify playfulness as a filter through which models of influence are transformed into something personal in an attempt to define what post-genre means to a 21st century composer. On a meta-structural level, reference becomes a parameter in its own right.
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  She plays angel music (where people might die) (2020) author(s): Michael Wolters, Paul Norman published in: Research Catalogue, Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
  She plays angel music (where people might die) Post-Internet Music as a comment on the absorption of knowledge This exposition articulates the research within the artistic work She Plays Angel Music (where people might die), a 60-minute concert-installation for 5-25 female harpists. The research was triggered by highly questionable and incomplete information on the history of harp composition found on Wikipedia. While it is generally accepted that Wikipedia is not a reliable source in academia, it still a powerful source of knowledge amongst the general public. Thus, the incomplete display on the site promotes a) the historic and continuing discrimination of women from music composition in the classical music world and b) the continuing rejection of contemporary music in favour of music by dead composers in the classical music world. This exposition takes the reader through the compositional steps that were performed in order to create a post-internet work that attempts to highlight political situations by gathering publicly available information into a controversial context.
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  Reconstructing Verses by Henry Loosemore and John Coprario (2020) author(s): Helen Roberts published in: Research Catalogue, Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
  This exposition comprises a package of outputs from practice-led research around two unique pieces of instrumental music with winds from early seventeenth-century England. Along with the first critical performance edition and a world premiere recording of these two pieces, I present a detailed discussion of the investigation which informed the editorial process, focussing on three historical artefacts: MS Drexel 5469, the fragmentary source of the music in question; the Christ Church cornetts, two original instruments that may historically have been associated with performance of this type of repertoire; and the St Teilo organ, an instrument reconstructed after Tudor archaeological evidence and representative of the style of instrument in use when MS Drexel 5469 was compiled. I examine each artefact in turn, establishing the wider historical context of each and assessing the connections between all three. This process has not only shed new light on two pieces overlooked by historical performers until now, but raised important questions surrounding the performance of early-seventeenth century liturgical music in general.
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  Performing the compositional act with bouncy castles, soap and shh (2020) author(s): Andy Ingamells published in: Research Catalogue, Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
  The three creative works presented in this exposition are practical examples of ways in which notation can be reframed to become an integral part of the physical theatre of a musical performance. This act of reframing is presented as part of a process of reimagining relationships within musical performances through an interpreatation of a diagram by Fluxus composer George Brecht (1926–2008). In these three works the act of reading is integral to the theatre of musical performance.
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  Up Down Left Right (2020) author(s): Andy Ingamells published in: Research Catalogue, Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
  On Saturday 11th March 2017, forty people responded to an open invitation to conduct the Salvation Army brass band at the Ashley Road citadel in St Paul's, Bristol. No prior musical experience was necessary. Together, over the course of the day, a new piece of music was created. The aim of this research was to explore alternative ways of being a composer by: -collaborating with a performing ensemble that is tied to a specific locality; -engaging with the history and traditions of the organisation associated with the ensemble; -including the wider community of that locality as participants in the creative process. The project culminated in the creation of the 3-minute video and 42-page printed publication through an extensive process of selection, re-presentation and re-performance.
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  Notions of Queerness as compositional building blocks in "There are more of them than us - a Queer Concerto for 9 Saxophones and Orchestra" (2020) author(s): Michael Wolters published in: Research Catalogue, Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
  This exposition examines how notions of queerness can be built into the construction of a 15-minute long concerto for 9 saxophones and orchestra. I am presenting the full orchestral score, a video of the premiere performance and a commentary on the research process.
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