Composing the Politics of Musical Creation: The Composer as the Mediator of Collaborative Work Interactions by Helga Arias

This dissertation investigates composer-performer collaboration through the lens of artistic research, guided by the development and implementation of the Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC). Designed specifically for this study, the IFMCC offers a framework for shaping interactions between composers and performers, with a focus on iterative decision-making, feedback, and shared authorship. The research addresses how collaborative composition alters creative roles, compositional processes, and performative outcomes. Three case studies form the core of the investigation: a residency with Ensemble Vortex; a remote collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble; and a participatory composition project situated in a pedagogical context at the Heidelberg University of Education. Each case reflects a distinct collaborative environment, ranging from professional ensembles to educational institutions. Grounded theory methods are employed to analyze audiovisual documentation, participant interviews, digital portfolios, and workshop data. The findings highlight the importance of group size, disciplinary diversity, and tacit knowledge in shaping collaborative flow and authorship. They further show how technology, when adapted responsively, can shift the composer’s role from author to facilitator, enabling more distributed creative agency. By comparing the model’s application across varied contexts, the study outlines how the IFMCC supports both compositional openness and structural coherence—distinguishing it from models based on open form or post-hoc feedback. The dissertation concludes with a proposed taxonomy of distributed authorship, a discussion of institutional limitations, and recommendations for implementing collaborative models in artistic and educational frameworks. Keywords: Keywords: Composer–Performer Collaboration, Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC), Collaborative Composition, Grounded Theory, Performative Practices, Participatory Composition, Artistic Research, Institutional Frameworks Abstract (Deutsch) Diese Dissertation untersucht die Zusammenarbeit von Komponist:innen und Interpret:innen aus der Perspektive der künstlerischen Forschung, geleitet durch die Entwicklung und Anwendung des Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC). Das eigens für diese Studie entworfene Modell bietet einen Rahmen zur Gestaltung von Interaktionen zwischen Komponist:innen und Interpret:innen, mit besonderem Fokus auf iterative Entscheidungsprozesse, Rückmeldungen und geteilte Autorschaft. Die Forschung behandelt die Frage, wie kollaboratives Komponieren kreative Rollen, kompositorische Prozesse und performative Ergebnisse verändert. Drei Fallstudien bilden den Kern der Untersuchung: ein Residenzprojekt mit dem Ensemble Vortex; eine Fernzusammenarbeit mit dem International Contemporary Ensemble; sowie ein partizipatives Kompositionsprojekt im pädagogischen Kontext an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Heidelberg. Jede Fallstudie repräsentiert ein unterschiedliches kollaboratives Umfeld, das von professionellen Ensembles bis zu Bildungseinrichtungen reicht. Zur Analyse von audiovisuellem Material, Interviews, digitalen Portfolios und Workshop-Daten wurden Methoden der Grounded Theory herangezogen. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen die Bedeutung von Gruppengröße, disziplinärer Vielfalt und implizitem Wissen für den kollaborativen Prozess und die Autorschaft. Zudem zeigen sie, wie Technologie – bei flexibler Anpassung – die Rolle der Komponist:innen von der Autorenschaft zur Moderation verschieben kann, wodurch kreative Verantwortung stärker verteilt wird. Durch den Vergleich der Anwendung des Modells in verschiedenen Kontexten wird aufgezeigt, wie das IFMCC sowohl kompositorische Offenheit als auch strukturelle Kohärenz unterstützt – und sich dadurch von Modellen des offenen Formdenkens oder nachträglichen Feedbacks unterscheidet. Die Dissertation schließt mit einem Vorschlag für eine Taxonomie verteilter Autorschaft, einer Diskussion institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen sowie Empfehlungen zur Implementierung kollaborativer Modelle in künstlerischen und pädagogischen Strukturen. Schlüsselwörter: Kollaboration Komponist:innen-Interpret:innen, IFMCC, kollaboratives Komponieren, Grounded Theory, performative Praktiken, partizipative Komposition, künstlerische Forschung, institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen Schlüsselwörter: Kollaboration Komponist:innen-Interpret:innen, IFMCC, kollaboratives Komponieren, Grounded Theory, performative Praktiken, partizipative Komposition, künstlerische Forschung, institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen

Chapter 2 — Research Goals and Questions

Chapter 2 elaborates the theoretical, artistic, and methodological intentions underlying this dissertation. Building on the contextual groundwork of Chapter 1, it clarifies why a new framework for understanding collaborative composition is needed and how the Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC) seeks to address this gap. The chapter positions the research not simply as a descriptive study of collaboration, but as a practice-based inquiry into how feedback, co-authorship, and shared agency can be methodologically structured and critically examined.

The chapter begins by articulating the broader goals of the research, highlighting both artistic and scholarly dimensions. Artistically, the dissertation aims to develop compositional approaches that embed collaboration into the material and structural fabric of the work. Methodologically, it seeks to provide tools for analyzing and facilitating collaborative processes in ways that are transparent, reflexive, and repeatable without being prescriptive. These goals situate the IFMCC as a bridge between artistic experimentation and research design.

A central component of this chapter is the formulation of the primary research question, which asks how the IFMCC shapes interactions between composers and performers and how it influences compositional and performative practices. This overarching question is expanded into a set of targeted sub-questions that examine the model’s implications from multiple angles:
– its impact on decision-making across compositional stages;
– how shared control and early performer involvement reshape authorship;
– how performers perceive their agency within iterative processes;
– how institutional, technological, and group-specific factors condition the unfolding of collaboration;
– and how the model compares to existing frameworks for co-creation in contemporary music and allied fields.

These sub-questions structure the analytic lens applied in later chapters and guide the selection of documentation methods, interview prompts, workshop formats, and coding strategies used throughout the project.

The chapter also addresses the scope and limitations of the inquiry. It clarifies that the goal is not to produce a universal theory of collaboration, nor to evaluate the aesthetic success of the works, but to examine how collaborative knowledge is formed, negotiated, and transformed within specific artistic settings. The dissertation therefore foregrounds process—the negotiations, reflections, and adaptations that occur between participants—and treats outcomes as situated products of these interactions.

Finally, Chapter 2 positions the research within an evolving discourse in artistic research, composition studies, and collaborative creativity. It argues that beyond analyzing collaborative practices, the dissertation aims to propose and test a practical model that can support artists, educators, and institutions seeking to work more equitably and reflectively with co-creative processes. In this sense, the chapter articulates the intellectual stakes of the project while providing the conceptual coherence needed for the methodological and empirical chapters that follow.

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Helga Arias - Composing the Politics of Musical Creation: The Composer as the Mediator of Collaborative Work Interactions - 2025