The Reflective Musician
(2016)
author(s): Håkon Austbø, Darla Crispin, Jonas Howden Sjøvaag
published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
The relationship between performance and reflection is rich and complex. Great performances can sometimes seem the spontaneous products of mysterious inspiration; however, most musicians would agree that, to attain its full potential, a performance must arise from a thorough investigation of the artistic acts of interpretation and expression appropriate to the work.
When this investigation becomes an overt research process, artistic choices begin to be based on conscious critical and self-reflective evaluations and decisions — and the resulting performance to be informed by a wide range of hermeneutic and analytical approaches. But the promise of such a multi-stranded approach is vulnerable, and sometimes compromised, when the performer’s skill and knowledge in the associated disciplines does not measure up to their performative artistry and insight. Since Artistic Research, in particular, often posits a model in which all associated knowledge should reside within the performer, this can be problematic.
So, is there an alternative model that, nonetheless, maintains the skills of artist and scholar in a mutually beneficial configuration?
And, if so, how does such a model uncover the kinds of performing knowledge that may lead to a specific, unique interpretation?
This exposition reveals a constellation of approaches around a central premise, namely that musical interpretation may be read as an inherently creative activity based on its own systems of knowledge which, whether conscious or intuitive, ought to be capable of being articulated in words as well as in practical music-making. In articulating this premise within the project, the process of interpretation is seen as emerging, ideally, as a form of co-creation, as it were, in which the performer ‘composes’ the work anew from inside the act of performance and, in doing so, works in a creative partnership with both composer and audience. Among the possibilities offered by such a model is the prospect that the term ‘performer’ can become a multiple entity of individuals engaged in a creative partnership of their own and articulating in words the impulses and mechanisms at work in this partnership.
Bulletin No. 2 - NARP
(2016)
author(s): Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
The bulletins of the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme aim primarily to disseminate artistic research funded and supported by the programme.
The bulletin is not a reviewed portal and will not contain other than short descriptions of and links to research work, chiefly on the Research Catalogue but not exclusively.
Bulletin No. 2 guides the reader to published by graduated research fellows as well as works in progress by two research fellows still active. Several expositions of expositions in progress in Bulletin No. 1 have later been published, and are thus linked to here.
Mind, the Gap. Synaesthesia and contemporary live art practice.
(2015)
author(s): Amanda Steggell
published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
Misuse can mean the crossing of wires, both literally or figuratively. "Mind, the Gap" (2005-07) is a practice-based research project dedicated to the development of collaborative, interdisciplinary, performative live artworks that are influenced by the notion of synaesthesia - the cross wiring of sensory perceptions. It was conducted within the framework of the Norwegian Artistic Fellowship Programme (previously called the National The Programme for Research Fellowships in the Arts).
The documentation of the project has been reconfigured for the purposes of the Research Catalogue. Apart from some small adjustments, the content remains the same as it was in 2007.
Performer - audience interaction. A potential for dance art?
(2015)
author(s): Karoblis Gediminas, Egil Bakka, Marit Stranden, Sigurd Johan Heide, Siri Mæland
published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
The intention of this project is to search for, test and develop techniques for performer – audience interaction in folk dance – a new field of Norwegian dance art searching for a profile which includes participatory elements.
Beat The Distance - Musictechnological strategies for composition and production
(2015)
author(s): Trond Engum
published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
The aim of this project has been to investigate new strategies for composing and producing music in my genre using digital sound technology.
Through my background as a guitarist in an experimental metal band I have experienced a vast development in music technology during the last 20 years. This development has made a great impact in increasing the efficiency attached to procedures for composing and producing music within my genre without necessarily changing the strategies of how the technology is used. In my field the utilization of digital sound technology to a large degree still follows the same mindset that has been developed through the history of analogue sound technology. It is therefore still a large resource of unrevealed potential in contemporary technology that can be translated and adapted for use within the context of my genre.
By applying methods and techniques known from electroacoustic/computer music, and adapt these to my musical expression, I have tried to expand the existing repertoire within my field in search for new aesthetic approaches.
The voice and the machine- and the voice in the machine - now you see me, now you don’t-
(2015)
author(s): Tone Åse
connected to: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
The basic focus of this project is how the use of live electronics can open up new musical possibilities and roles for the improvising vocalist in the musical interplay. The project is rooted in my background as a vocalist taking part in what could be called the Modern European Jazz Scene, and the musicians I have been cooperating with in this project are all important contributors in this musical field. The project has been carried out as an artistic research, where the artistic result has been presented in the form of recorded music and concerts. Recordings of the music are also presented as sound examples in this critical reflection. The main focus areas in this artistic research project are the following:
• I have explored how the use of live electronic processing can open up for new musical parameters, compared to the sole acoustic voice as instrument in music. These new possibilities are related to the experience of how electronic processing can create distance from and transformation of the natural voice sound.
• Furthermore, I have investigated how the use of these parameters can create new roles for the vocalist in the improvised interplay of my genre.
• As a part of my project I have also explored how an audio tracking system created for the theatre scene can be used as a live electronic tool for an a capella ensemble, and contribute to new strategies in the improvised performance.
• In another part of my research I have studied artistic possibilities through implementing the role of the storyteller in a musical performance with vocal and live electronics. I have wanted to find out more about how this implementation affects the relationship between performer and audience, and the perception of the performance as a whole. This part of my project has been carried out as a solo performance, in research collaboration with musicologist Andreas Bergsland. The research is using audience feedback, both to feed the artistic process, and to generate new knowledge about the perception of the performance.