Bodies in Resonating Action: Strategies of Initiating Collaborative Creative Work

Faidra Chafta-Douka

Music-making often times based on a system of objectified sound representations delivered into a fixed, precise and descriptive notation, renders the score independent of the composer, while at the same time creating a gap of communication between composer and performer. The research project “Bodies in resonating action” re-examines two fundamental relations of music-making, namely the dynamics between composer and performer, and the relationship of the performer with their own body during performing by extending its materiality towards the body of their instrument. In this context the sense of togetherness is being reinforced throughout the whole creative process of making music. By initiating constant experimentation through improvisation with the performer’s body as a focal point of observation, both composer and instrumentalist—even though from a different perspective—develop a mutual dialogue and tune into physical and mental processes as they manifest during practice. Listening carefully to the performing body, how it behaves and reacts to specific tasks, how it breathes, moves, thinks, feels, while doing so in the unique way of a specific individual, creates a deeper understanding of what musicking actually involves, and in this way gives the composer important insights. The obtained knowledge through that process is individualised depending on the specific research partner, it can however be applied, or even enriched, when put into practice with other musicians. Two strategies are followed in order to achieve that; firstly, devising a methodical process of working with a musician so as to observe and research their own uniqueness, and developing tools that facilitate the (re-)initiation of the creative process. As a composer, that leads this process, one also has to develop strong reflexes to observe and react to whatever may spontaneously occur. Secondly, constructing notations that encapsulate concepts or even processes of research, and can reflect thought, while having the flexibility to expand and include further knowledge gained. The result of this kind of work is a musical idea which is constantly in flux, is being re-shaped, deconstructed and re-constructed. The idea is also being performed on each different stage, incorporating more knowledge along the way, however not striving for a final absolute artwork, but rather attempting to capture and perform the process.

This exposition is published in the Proceedings of the 1^st symposium Forum Artistic Research: listen for beginnings.

Bodies in Resonating Action: Strategies of Initiating Collaborative Creative Work

Faidra Chafta Douka

Beyond the fleeting moment of a concert, the finalised depiction of it on paper, and the immortalising of something that happens in a concrete time and space through documentation, music-making is an extensive, experiential creative process that begins long before the concert starts and reverberates long after it ends. Structuring, preparing and rehearsing for a performance is an equally fundamental part of art-making. Richard Schechner suggests that the ritual of performance extends beyond the time and place of the performance itself, and into the liminal space of rehearsal and training (Schechner 1994). This is a concept that is much better practiced and studied in dance or theatre, but very rarely in the contemporary music world.¹ A key prerequisite for understanding rehearsal and training as a similarly essential part of the process of performing would be that it involves constant human interaction, has creative qualities and generates knowledge that becomes shared; it has to be collaborative. In a collaboration of this nature between a composer and a musician, a common communication language and cognisance of each other’s idiosyncrasy has to be cultivated, while the composer also becomes gradually aware of the musician’s previous training, experiences, physical limitations and aspirations.

An interesting comparison of creative collaboration processes, would be between the books Distributed Creativity: Collaboration and Improvisation in Contemporary Music (Clarke and Doffman 2017) and The Art of Rehearsal (Simonsen 2017), in which the difference in dynamics and the collaborative methods between contemporary music and theatre is demonstrated clearly.

Set-up and methodology

The research project Bodies in resonating action (2020–2025) consists of four individual collaborations with four musicians and instruments of distinct nature and properties (double bass, contraforte, bass drum, voice) to assist exploring a wide range of possibilities in terms of interaction between the human body and the instrument’s body. Each of the four solo projects (Artefact 1-4) has a duration of at least one year of consistent and time-organised work with the performer, which results in a number of performances at different stages of the development. Each case study functions as both a laboratory for experimentation and a site for the gradual crystallisation of material. The concepts developed in each of the solo projects are applied and further researched in every next solo project in order to expand, refine, better understand and articulate the ideas by distributing work and reflection along a wider time span and making use of the different collaborator’s input. Presenting the work in progress in multiple performances as well as bringing two of the solos together in the same time and space,² aims at observing the material in real live-performance time and in a variety of contexts, and also at the same time observing how the performer’s body and perception of themselves in relation to the material changes in these contexts and how their experience is continuously being reshaped.

The working process comprises multiple regular research sessions. All the sessions are documented (video and audio), and precisely transcribed, and specific elements are extracted in audio and/or video lists to better organise the thinking process and share with the collaborative musician to use as a memory and reflection tool. Some of the sessions include making deliberate, selective recordings of certain ideas, sounds or even performances of the whole performance outline or parts of it that have the purpose of identifying combination possibilities that shape the performing experience in terms of physicality. The exchange between composer and performer is initiated by a constantly renewed list of impulses by the composer that is being explored by means of improvisation and experimentation, followed by discussion and mutual observation. The main points of observation during this process are understanding, deconstructing and reconstructing already embodied technique, detecting the ways in which the performer deals with impulses given to them, identifying the physical or mental challenges and limitations as well as attempting to push beyond them, approaching new techniques and ideas. Throughout the experimentation period it is vital to keep track of how the musicians describe and express their experience, and how their perception within and outside of their body transforms through time and practice.

The collaboration with the musician involves a model of dialogue created to facilitate active thinking, critical reflection and mutual contribution. Given the distinct backgrounds and areas of expertise, the nature of each party’s input differs considerably. While the composer shapes the conceptual framework, reframes the focus by shifting the performer’s attention to new directions and devises the experiment to provoke novel interactions and sonic outcomes, the performer provides deep embodied technical knowledge and sensory feedback by articulating the sensations produced by actions. By testing proposed scenarios, they suggest ways of adapting technique and strategies of physical movement to meet the composer’s conceptual aim. The diagram in Fig. 1 shows the feedback loop that takes place in repetitive cycles.

The duos resulting from that method are named Facts and have a duration of ten to twenty minutes each. In performance they appear right after one of the solos (Artefacts) without pause in between.

Figure 1: Feedback loop of interaction during collaboration

An important dimension of the performer’s contribution, beyond their immediate responses and physical adaptations, lies in the personal discoveries that emerge when they are invited to engage with material outside their existing embodied skills or to work towards their physical limits. Such discoveries hold significant value for the development of the project, as they not only inform the refinement and evolution of the material, but also frequently prompt reconsiderations and adjustments in the composer’s line of thinking.

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Faidra Chafta-Douka - Bodies in Resonating Action: Strategies of Initiating Collaborative Creative Work - 2025

Bodies in Resonating Action: Strategies of Initiating Collaborative Creative Work

Set-up and methodology