Research Catalogue

A journey between art object and performance where the mirror of water reflects us in various different ways to give us access to different facets of our self. Looking at oneself immersed in the space of nature, fragmenting one's anthropised ego into a multitude of cyborg possibilities, fluidifies the petrified conception of the Narcissus who only looks at himself, making him in fact a healed Narcissus, a plant that blossoms and grows instead of perishing. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

DESENHO E PERFORMATIVIDADE (WORKSHOP#3)

In progress Dorsal Practices — Murky Back Thinking is a collaboration between choreographer Katrina Brown and writer-artist Emma Cocker, for exploring the notion of dorsality in relation to how we as moving bodies orientate to self, others, world. How does cultivation of a back-oriented awareness and attitude shape and inform our experience of being-in-the-world? The dorsal orientation foregrounds active letting go, releasing, even de-privileging, of predominant social habits of uprightness and frontality — the head-oriented, sight-oriented, forward-facing, future-leaning tendencies of a culture intent on grasping a sense of the world through naming and control. Rather than a mode of withdrawal, of turning one’s back, how might a backwards-leaning orientation support an open and receptive ethics of relation? How are experiences of listening, voicing, thinking, shaped differently through this tilt of awareness and attention towards the back?

Name: Isabelle Roelofs Main subject: Master Natural Horn Research supervisor: Daniel Salbert Title: How (not) to write a Bb French Horn beginners method book Research question: How (not) to write a Bb French Horn beginners method book Summary of the results: As a horn teacher, I realize that the existing Dutch method books seem not to be written from the perspective of a beginning, young horn player. They show little consideration for the specific physical abilities of children at a young age when learning to play the horn, probably because those methods are mostly not written by a horn player. Therefore, I have researched the do's and don'ts behind writing a method book. If playing the exercises in a method is not physically feasible, it can lead to frustration for the student, which, in my opinion, is detrimental to the learning process. I have always learned that moments of success are crucial for the development and maintenance of motivation. I find these moments of success lacking in existing Dutch-language horn methods. I also believe that they progress too quickly to emphasize reading notation. I notice that my own students often prioritize correctness over musicality. I have critically examined and compared the available Dutch horn method books. Additionally, I interviewed fellow horn teachers to gather their perspectives. Furthermore, I attended a lesson for young horn players at BASIS (Royal Conservatory of the Hague) where auditory learning takes precedence. I am not the first to consider writing my own method. Other horn teachers have embarked on this journey, each with their unique motivations. My research has revealed that I am not the only one who has critical thoughts about the existing horn method books. A significant part of the interviewed teachers also emphasized this same point. Based on the obtained results, I have outlined the initial steps that, in my opinion, are necessary for a starting young horn player, along with the corresponding range of tones. Biography: Isabelle Roelofs, an accomplished horn player and dedicated music teacher, earned degrees in French Horn and Music Education from Codarts University. Graduating with honors from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, she is currently pursuing a Master's in Natural Horn at The Hague Conservatory with Teunis van der Zwart. Isabelle is the founder of Belle Musique (2018), where she imparts her musical knowledge through personalized horn lessons, shaping the future of horn players step by step.

This research explores the concept of authenticity in transcription. It is applied to Béla Bartók's Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, movements one, two and five. By prioritising different aspects, the overall look of the transcription is shaped. Examples of these aspects are the sonic possibilities of the chosen or original instrumentation, the general style of the composer and the piece, one's own musical context, the technical abilities of the players... All these aspects could be considered as a form of authenticity. The first chapter elaborates on the concept and discusses methods of transcription. The second chapter analyses the history of the classical guitar, including its transcriptions. The guitar's search for a place in the classical mainstream has encouraged guitarists throughout the centuries to write transcriptions. Throughout history, the concept of authenticity in these transcriptions has changed. The final chapter discusses the entire process of transcribing, from the intentions behind selecting the piece to the obstacles and dilemmas that arose during the process. It shows that the transcribing part is as important as the individual practice and rehearsals. They alternate and influence each other. The Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm were of great importance to Bartók. Today they are not as popular as his Six Romanian Folk Dances but given their historical context they deserve to be heard more in today's classical music scene. Finally, it becomes clear that the abstract musical idea of the composer should be kept clear from the beginning to the end of the transcription process.

The research entitled "Augmented Feedback", is focused on developing a compositional practice, centered around acoustic feedback processing in digital spaces. I wish to explore acoustic feedback that occurs in virtual spaces, including the hybrid world of physical and digital space and physical phenomena that occurs from the excitation of feedback through microphones and loudspeakers. I will focus on experiments, reflections, developing techniques and functions that I have discovered while composing and experimenting with pieces that have used processed acoustic feedback as sonic material, microphones and loudspeakers as instruments. The outcome will have brief background and development reflections about my approach to feedback around my personal compositional practice, the historical side of feedback and how it relates to the works of other composers and artists, technical and philosophical content of feedback in compositional situations, and how my compositional approach led me to the term “augmented feedback”. “What if the sonority of feedback was not the center focus point of a piece? What else can we develop by using feedback and imagining it in different sonic landscapes? What is the mystique of its nonlinearity? How can we deal with microphones and loudspeakers as a musical instrument through using software environments?” are the main questions that drove me into researching feedback. Dividing these questions into subcategories: conceptual and compositional.