Research Catalogue

an international database for artistic research

• 0. Ongoing research A look into ongoing projects
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  2020. 2020/21 Research Published in 2020-21
• 1. Advanced Post Diploma Select final projects of our Advanced Diploma Students

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  Charon as Muse - The Ferrying of Voices in Evan Parker’s Solo Saxophone Music to the Double-Bass as Creative Authorship (2020) author(s): Tom Blancarte, Niclas Hundahl published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory Copenhagen
  The transmission and communication of musical concepts and the ways in which they influence or interact with creativity are central to the ontology of music, but this aspect is rarely tackled head-on by musicians themselves. In language, the typical realm of semiotics and semantics, translation theory serves as an interesting and rich field for investigations into the nature of meaning and communication of meanings. In my research, I propose that the application of various translation theories to the field of music opens up new ways of exploring the “meanings” of music, as well as new methodologies for creating musical novelties. To demonstrate this theory in practice, I have chosen to develop and apply translation theories to Evan Parker’s solo soprano saxophone music and translate this music to my own solo double-bass playing, creating new and original solo music on the double-bass.
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  Action vs. Reaction (2020) author(s): Jacob Anderskov published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory Copenhagen
  "Action versus Reaction - Artistic encounters with an aesthetic otherness", was a research project undertaken at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen in 2015-2016. The primary artistic output of the project is the album ”Resonance”, released on Sundance Music in September 2016. My ensemble Resonance (previously known as ” Strings, Percussion & Piano”) consists of 3 string players as well as Peter Bruun on drums and myself on piano. The string players all have a background in European classical music and (composed) new music, whereas Peter and I originally came out of improvised music, jazz and its neighbouring regions. In this ensemble, we have been dealing with artistic encounters between our different aesthetics backgrounds for several years. I have realized that my primary curiosity orbits around the questions: 1) How can all members of a cross-genre ensemble stay true to their own musical intuition, developed through decades of full immersion? 2) How can these confident artists then transcend their notion of themselves and meet anew in an aesthetic field different from their respective origins? In 2018, Jacob Anderskov was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Price for the album Resonance.
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  Habitable Exomusics (2020) author(s): Jacob Anderskov published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory Copenhagen
  PROJECT DESCRIPTION: “The project examines post tonal material structuring principles in improvised music.
 It deals with (searches for) unexploited opportunities or new forms of expressions within improvised music through studies of possible ways to organize the musical material - and with relevant practical and creative ways to find room for them in improvised music.” Original RESEARCH QUESTION: Through my own artistic practice, I will examine -  To which extent it is possible for me to use definable post tonal structuring principles in my improvisations, and 
-  Which of these principles can best be used in my improvisational universe. 

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  Music for the inner ear (2020) author(s): Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory Copenhagen
  Our fantasy has crumbled - yet we must go into utopia to articulate alternative realities that will allow us to escape the current systems we are living in and by. What can we do if we only dream pragmatic and rational dreams that speak into already existing paradigms and systems? When a catastrophic or sudden event occurs we often say that reality exceeds fantasy, this being the exception of the norm, but what if reality exceeding fantasy is in fact the norm - and not vice versa? - what if our fantasy has crumbled in such a degree that we only are capable of imagining realities and solutions which already fit into a dysfunctional system? Are we doomed? - or do we dare to go full on into utopia? In the artistic research project; Music for the inner Ear - Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard looks into the realms of imaginary sound and sonic potentiality unfolded within different artistic domains - raising the questions; Is it possible to create imaginary music only audible for the inner ear of the listener & when does something actually exist? In the project the notion of potentiality is a main driver both in activating the listener but also simply by addressing the potential of potentiality.
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• THE POETICS OF A MULTIPHONIC LANDSCAPE (2019) author(s): Torben Snekkestad connected to: Rhythmic Music Conservatory Copenhagen published in: Research Catalogue
  The project is an artistic research project focusing on the saxophone􏰁s ability to produce multiphonics (multiple sounds on an instrument considered monophonic). It is a personal artistic exploration into the process of unfolding the poetics of these complex sonics and a reflection over the process, methods and the creation of an album trilogy, consisting of acoustic solo music recorded during the research period. The main question I have been asking myself during this project has been: What happens if the raw musical material, in the creation of a set of solo saxophone works, is based on the multiphonics only and what this material in itself suggest – possibly independent of any stylistic affiliation? 
My main objective was to examine why the saxophone’s multiphonics have such a captivating effect on me. How could I possibly explore their intrinsic qualities and unfold the poetic potential in them? By the same token, my ambition was to find a suitable artistic context for this enamored relationship that so heavily has stirred the waves of my imagination. In the reflection text on the project, I disclose how some unexpected paths during this pursuit revealed themselves. From sprouting interest toward underwater soundscapes, to the making of a hybrid instrument called reed-trumpet; and how my personal catalog of multiple sounds found its place, not in a public pdf-document or book release, but in a German wooden archive box. I relay in what way I began to take on the intrinsic qualities of the multiphonics and the reason why an oscillation between artistic intention and action is so pivotal for an improviser. To make sure that the project had this focus at all time I sat up a dogma that contains a list of eight fundamental criteria that manifest the intentions and structure as well as sharpen the working methods.
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• Multi-layeredness in Solo Performance (last edited: 2020) author(s): Søren Kjærgaard, Niclas Hundahl, Gianluca Elia connected to: Rhythmic Music Conservatory Copenhagen This exposition is in progress.
  Multi-layeredness in Solo Performance A B S T R A C T This project focus on solo performance – which especially in improvisational settings is characterized by the creative process of spontaneous music making being limited around one and the same person - the solo performer. I am interested in how I can open a field of possibilities in the relationship between the solo performer as both an 'auteur' and a living media of his/her own expression. Looking into how this narrative can transform from a monological perspective to a dialogical situation where the solo performer unfolds the play dialogically in a simultaneity of multiple processes. I find that there is an uncovered potential in inquiring and mapping, how a solo performer in a creative and performative practice, can work with an expressive multi-layeredness in the development of his/her material, entering into a more dynamic interaction with his/her material as a co-player, counterpart. Taking off from my own practice as a solo pianist, I will investigate through an instrument-topographical approach, the following questions: How can I work with multi-layeredness in the development of my sonic material and my musical ideas? And how can this be unfolded performatively in a field between the compositional and improvisational? In this research project "multi-layeredness” is approached as both a multiplicity of musical characteristics (sonically, dynamically, energetically) and as a differentiality of movements, gestures and speeds. These perspectives make ground for working simultaneously with varying degrees of horizontal and vertical orientations in the musical material, opening up a spatial and sculptural approach (planes, clouds, clusters) in contrast to a more linear polyphony. The research will take off in an instrument-topographical approach, where the multi-layered is articulated through a use of instrument preparations in a sound spectrum spanning from chromatic temperament to non-tempered noise. In this context preparations are understood as a sound manipulating instrument practice, where objects are placed on and inside the piano. However, I will focus on the mobility of the preparations, working toward a more hands-on preparation technique that looks into the interplay between the physical mobility of the preparations and the sonically transformative aspects. I will also research on multi-layeredness in the relations between composition and improvisation, taking off in non-hierachical, relational form persepctives, that consist on varying degrees of planned material and spontaneous musicking. It is my aim that the open frames of these works, can be unfolded differently from performance to performance, without them loosing individual character. The relation between these simultaneous processes also make up a multi-layeredness that is being explored. The purpose is also to create results that will contribute to how solo artists across formats can express themselves more dynamically and with greater flexibility in the interaction between their various materials and artistic ideas. And to contribute with methodological approaches that illustrate how artists can work iteratively with reflective processes in a more verbalised form and finding ways of documenting and mediating these processes in more hybrid and non-textual forms of communication.
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