Home · Abstract · Introduction · Artistic Results · Reflections · References · Appendices
Introduction
BACKGROUND
Phrasing is the performer's musical language, strongly linked to how well one masters one's instrument and can communicate musical ideas and interpretations. Mastering an instrument requires years of in-depth study, and according to Anders Ericsson's research, 10,000 hours of intentional practice over a decade is necessary to reach a professional level[1].
Instrumentalists have seen developments and innovations over hundreds of years, leading to the instruments we use today. Modern orchestral instruments are often very different from their historical predecessors, especially evident with woodwind instruments. Bruce Haynes writes about the development of woodwind instruments: "By making one thing easier, another thing gets harder. Keys on woodwinds, for instance, made it easier to play in extreme tonalities by eliminating cross-fingering and making every chromatic note similar in timbre; but this gain was offset by the greater difficulty of scales with few accidentals, thirds, and leading tones that were less well in tune, and the loss in individual character between tonalities"[2].
The woodwind manufacturing industry has experimented with different materials, settling on Dalbergia melanoxylon, commonly known as African Blackwood, Mpingo, or grenadilla, as a standard in professional clarinets starting at the end of the 19th century[3]. Grenadilla’s acoustic qualities have enabled the clarinet to establish itself with a clear function in a modern orchestral set-up[4]. Since 2017, grenadilla has been classified as an endangered species in Appendix 2 of CITES[5], and the industry has been searching for different materials following availability, cost, and sustainability factors. In 2020, the largest manufacturer of clarinets, Buffet Crampon, announced that it would produce a limited edition of their top model Légende in boxwood[6], the wood most frequently used for woodwind instruments in the 17th-19th centuries. In July 2021, they also introduced 85 limited-edition mopane clarinets in four model ranges, expanding to regular production in 2022. Mopane is, like grenadilla, a dense and hard African tonewood, but more sustainable and allegedly less prone to splitting.
The establishment of institutional orchestras and the use of larger ensembles in late romanticism/early modernism[7] corresponded to the construction of several dedicated concert halls for classical music performances[8]. The need to fill larger halls and project through an ever-expanding orchestra has led to the development of the modern instrument to emphasize evenness through the registers, larger volume, and projection [9].
Modern playing methodology is also highly focused on evening out the instrument's idiosyncrasies, aiming to make all notes through the registers have the same shape[10]. These are goals that are important for today's performers, who must master a multitude of styles and be flexible and innovative at the same time. But what happens when everything sounds the same? This begs the question: Has phrasing become a victim of evenness?
PURPOSE
I have worked as a principal clarinetist in two of the most prominent Norwegian orchestras and perform regularly as a guest principal clarinetist with various orchestras across the Nordic countries, Europe, Asia, and Australia, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Having experience performing across all these regions, I identified some of the limitations imposed by modern orchestral instruments. Teaching at the university level for over a decade—supervising young players and reflecting on my own techniques and methods—has led me to contextualize this research project in the following way: as we simultaneously work on mastering the instrument on one hand and mastering music on the other, although they are certainly intertwined, I felt that the former was restricting our ability to shape music.
With the woodwind manufacturing industry searching for alternatives to grenadilla, focusing primarily on mopane in recent years, it was relevant to incorporate modern boxwood and mopane instruments in addition to grenadilla into the research project to investigate the consequences of my field’s direction.
This project addresses (a) how modern instrumentalists have to respond to where the development has taken the instrument, (b)howwe should react to where the woodwind manufacturing industry is heading, and (c) how we want the methodology of teaching to progress.
CONTEXT
Artistic research, which this project is based, connects with Christopher Frayling’s notion of “research through art…”[11] and Henk Borgdoff’s “research for the arts”[12]. As a performer, this research is through the art of music, where the artistic results are at the forefront, together with material documenting artistic reflection.
To give context to this project, the terms phrasing, rephrasing, and affordance need to be addressed. What is phrasing? LINK TO «PHRASING?» REFLECTION My working definition is simply: how a musician shapes music. The (Re)phrasing in the title of my project links to this definition: “to…express (something) in a different way, especially to make the meaning clearer”[13] Thus, reexamining phrasing on modern instruments.
Orchestral musicians shape music using an instrument, bringing us to the importance of affordance. The American psychologist James Jerome Gibson introduced the word «affordance» as a term in the study of cognition. It is widely used in different forms of psychology, design, human-computer interaction, robotics, language education, and artistic research. Gibson defines affordance in his final book from 1979 as such:
“The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. The verb to afford is found in the dictionary, the noun affordance is not. I have made it up. I mean by it something that refers to both the environment and the animal in a way that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment.”[14]
What can affordance tell us about phrasing? Affordance is at the intersection of the performer and the performance. The understanding of these affordances can leeway a clearer conveyance of musical ideas. When examining affordances in the context of musical instruments, this is the relationship between the instrument and the musician. LINK TO «AFFORDANCES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS» REFLECTION A musician’s understanding of the agent of affordances in this relationship determines an instrument's possibilities. I propose that affordances be categorized into two areas: material affordances and co-affordances. Material affordances are the properties that define an instrument’s use. These properties can be influenced by the material (i.e., wood as a variable in this project), make, model, plating, keywork systems, construction methods, etc. Co-affordances are the interactions between the musician and the instrument that influence phrasing, dependent on fingers and keys closing or opening holes to achieve different notes. These interactions form a specific phrase depending on how well the results align with or disrupt the intended musical trajectory and the maneuvering needed to counteract or reinforce them. The term co-affordance has been used in a limited way as a term in human-computer interaction and robotics, but not in music performance.
Connecting this project with the orchestral field was essential. For an international perspective, this project has been presented at 45 leading institutions and festivals on six continents. LINK TO «AFFILIATIONS TO THE FIELD» REFLECTION
THEORETICAL CONTEXT
Mine Doğantan-Dack is at the forefront of artistic research and is a piano and music performance professor at the University of Cambridge. She writes:
«In the context of artistic performance as research, understanding the affordances of different kinds of musical instruments becomes crucial in exploring the means through which new insights and knowledge might emerge»[15]
Researcher and flutist Markus Tullberg at Lund University in Sweden wrote his dissertation on the affordances of musical instruments, focusing on the simple-system flute. This is the closest research paper that connects to my project, although its viewpoint is from a folk music and music education standpoint. Tullberg writes:
“While the concept of affordances has been applied in music research, it has not been satisfyingly developed regarding musical instruments.”[16]
He continues:
“Furthermore, researcher-musicians and educators can contribute by autoethnographies and phenomenological explorations of their craft. Such first-person accounts have the potential to inform our understanding of perceptual and cognitive processes, hard to access from a third-person perspective.”[17]
This project answers Doğantan-Dack and Tullberg’s call to action by exploring affordances from a first-person practice-based artistic research standpoint. LINK TO «CONTEXTUALISATION» REFLECTION
WORKING METHODS
In this project, I use a period boxwood instrument, modern boxwood instruments, modern mopane instruments, and modern grenadilla instruments as tools for research on phrasing. By switching between a period instrument and different modern instruments, I have identified various parameters exploring how the instruments' affordances influence phrasing.
The period instrument I am using is a replica baroque clarinet made by Guntram Wolf. It is tuned to standard baroque pitch, A=415 Hz. It has two keys and is in the key of C. The modern clarinets are made by Buffet Crampon. They are Tradition models with nickel-played keys, tuned to A=442 Hz. They have 19 keys and six rings and are in the keys of Bb and A.
I want to address some limitations in this project. The project's scope does not factor in the different fingering systems and keywork progressions throughout the instrument's history that have led to the modern German (Oehler) and French (Boehm) system clarinets. A factor also not considered is spectral analysis, which is the visualization of frequencies present in sound. This method, although interesting, doesn’t align with the purpose of investigating the relationship between an instrument and a musician. Also important to note is that the research is not devoted to examining how phrasing is to be shaped in accordance with performance practice. The focus is on the affordances' effects on how a certain performer wants to shape their music.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
My project consists of three parts:
1. What is the relationship between phrasing on a period instrument and a modern instrument?
2. How does material influence phrasing?
3. What is the future of phrasing?
1. What is the relationship between phrasing on a period instrument and a modern instrument?
The first part of my project explored the differences between phrasing on a period instrument and modern instruments. At that stage, I did not have the mopane instruments. This part focused on performances where fragments of the same piece are first played on a period instrument and then on a modern instrument (Bb clarinet in both grenadilla and boxwood transposed ½ tone up from A=440 Hz to remove the experience of tonality) to identify differences in phrasing.
[1]Ericsson A., Krampe, R. and Tesch-Römer, C. «The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance» p. 394 (1993)
[2] Haynes B. «The End of Early Music: A Period Performer’s History of Music for the Twenty-First Century» p. 152 (2007)
[3] Cunningham A.B. «More than a Music Tree: 4400 Years of Dalbergia melanoxylon Trade in Africa» South African Journal of Botany 98, p. 167 (2015)
[4] Meyer J. «Acoustics and the Performance of Music» p. 205-208 (2004)
[5] https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php
[6] https://www.buffet-crampon.com/en/instruments/clarinets/legende-boxwood/
[7] Lawson C. and Barclay R. «The Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra» p. 36-41 (2003)
[8] Beranek L. «Concert Halls and Opera Houses» p. 13-15 (1996)
[9] Weinzierl S., Lepa S., Schultz F., Detzner E., Coler H., and Behler G.«Sound power and timbre as cues for the dynamic strength of orchestral instruments» The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 144, p. 1352-1353 (2018)
[10] Colwell R., and Hewitt M. «The Teaching of Instrumental Music» (2011)
[11] Frayling C. «Research in Art and Design» Royal College of Art Research Papers Volume 1. Nr, 1, p. 5 (1993)
[12] Borgdoff H. A. «The Conflicts of the Faculties: Perspectives on Artistic Research and Academia» 2012 p. 38
[13] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rephrase
[14]Gibson J. J. «The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception» p. 127 (1979)
[15] Doğantan-Dack M.«The Role of the Musical Instrument in Performance as Research: The Piano as a Research Tool» p.173 (2021)
[16]Tullberg M. «Affordances of Musical Instruments: Conceptual consideration» p. 1 (2022)
[17]Tullberg M. «Affordances of Musical Instruments: Conceptual consideration» p. 9 (2022)
Excerpt from Research Presentation 2 20/05/23
Christian Stene – baroque/modern clarinets
Bergen Barokk:
Stefan Lindvall – baroque violin
Chien-Yu Chu – baroque violin
Siri Hilmen – baroque cello
Hans Knut Sveen – organ/harpsichord
From a concert in Gunnar Sævigs Sal, The Grieg Academy on Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 18.00
For methods and results of this part of my projects please see the PERIOD VS MODERN reflection. LINK TO «PERIOD VS MODERN» REFLECTION
LINK TO «AFFORDANCES IN DOODLING» REFLECTION
2. How does material influence phrasing?
The second part of my project explored how the various modern material instruments influenced how I phrase. This was when I got the mopane set.
For methods and results of this part of my projects please see the WOOD reflection. LINK TO «WOOD» REFLECTION
Although all the modern instruments are similar in resistance, the choices I have made with selecting an appropriate reed might vary depending on which instrument I choose them on. LINK TO «REEDS» REFLECTION
Although not a part of this research project, plating is a material affordance that also effects phrasing. LINK TO «PLATING» REFLECTION
3. What is the future of phrasing?
The third part of my project addressed how material and methodological properties influenced my awareness of the clarinet’s qualities and my musical phrasing. The key parameter of interest was that mopane and boxwood respond quicker to dynamic impulses than grenadilla. This material affordance can impact the ease of shaping a phrase.
Are my experiences as a performer the same as how an audience perceives them? Two blind tests were performed to find out—one in February 2025 at the Grieg Academy and one in July at the Crusell Music Festival. I played nine short excerpts on different material clarinets, and the participating audience members had a multiple-choice survey to fill out with their impressions during the test. The survey was anonymous, with just a field to state which instrument group they belonged to. LINK TO «BLIND TEST» REFLECTION
Co-affordance is the fundamental factor that needs to be addressed, as most clarinet players still use grenadilla instruments. Even though other materials can facilitate certain aspects of phrasing, the interaction between musician and instrument needs to be addressed. This is especially relevant when auditioning. LINK TO «AUDITIONS» REFLECTION To enter an orchestra, understanding the audition preparation process is a key aspect of the modern orchestral performer.
NAVIGATING THE EXPOSITION
This Research Catalogue exposition aims to be simple in presentation and easy to navigate for my field of orchestral musicians. Therefore, I have designed it so that after the abstract and this introduction, the artistic results and reflections can be viewed as parts, with each section standing independently but linked together. I suggest starting at the top of each section and working down. After the introductory reflections, I have grouped the reflections into categories of material affordances and co-affordances.
The case studies use excerpt material from the artistic results. In the co-affordances case study, I compare a recording from 2012 where I performed Mozart’s clarinet concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra to how I play Mozart after three years of exploring and understanding more of affordances and co-affordances. LINK TO «CASE STUDY: MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO» REFLECTION I used Artificial Intelligence with an app called Lalal.ai to separate the melodic line from the orchestral accompaniment to better hear phrasing nuances. I also examine Mozart’s exposition on the three different material instruments in Material Affordances. LINK TO «CASE STUDY: MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO EXPOSITION» REFLECTION In the second Material Affordance case study, I compare my performances with the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra of Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte on different modern instruments. LINK TO «CASE STUDY: MOZART COSÌ FAN TUTTE» REFLECTION I played half the performances on the grenadilla and the other half on the boxwood instruments. The third Material Affordances case study compares Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie on different material instruments. LINK TO «CASE STUDY: DEBUSSY PREMIÈRE RHAPSODIE» REFLECTION The fourth Material Afforances case study compares Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen on the modern boxwood instrument with a fortepiano and then on the modern grenadilla instrument with a modern Steinway piano. LINK TO «CASE STUDY: SCHUBERT DER HIRT AUF DEM FELSEN» REFLECTION The interesting outcome of this collaboration was how the different instruments not only affected how I phrased but also influenced my co-musicians’ musical expressions noticeably.
At the end of the reflections, is the conclusion LINK TO «CONCLUSION» REFLECTION and the combined references for project. LINK TO «REFERENCES» REFLECTION
LISTENING INSTRUCTIONS
Half the case studies use material from the artistic results to examine how affordances influence phrasing. These are the Mozart exposition, Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie and Schubert Der Hirt auf dem Felsen. Here fragments from the artistic results depict phrasing differences of the different materials where it is easy to go back and forth between the examples. I would advise to start with the case studies, then hear the complete passages after you have picked up on the nuances between the materials.
The other half of the case studies use fragments from recorded material to depict phrasing differences as a soloist and in orchestra. These are the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, Mozart Cosi fan tutte and Stravinsky Oedipus Rex. These stand as independent reflections.