This model is a fundamental way of illustrating the connection. between the diverse music styles in my background. In reality, the arrows have a more complex mapping. Improvisation is part of the composing process. How I perform and practice on jazz drums affects my practice in the contemporary/classical field and visa versa. Jazz and improvisation are inseparably connected, but I like to think of improvisation as the process of creating unique melodies and rhythms (including shapes, structures, colors) and the spontaneous interaction with fellow musicians in the performance of the specific music style presented.
The incorporation of gamelan and its instruments and ideas into my compositional and musical concepts constitutes my artistic research. Gamelan instruments have a unique timbre, and my excitement for this world of sounds is what I will try to cultivate in these various projects.
If I add inspiration from gamelan to the model, it will look like this:
Answer: The fundamental conceptualization of my research project is related to inspiration. How can inspiration, together with my expression as a musician and composer, lead to new music? What are the processes behind incorporating inspiration into musical products? Over the years, when working with music, one’s musical expression takes a path and forms something that is one’s own. Besides the primary goal of creating new music, can my work with these new inspirational surroundings and sources affect my musical aesthetic?
Eastern Rebellion—with Gamelan as Inspiration for New Musical Expression focuses on a meeting point where I have searched for inspiration in gamelan music. With this inspiration from gamelan music, instruments, and concepts, my goal is to create new music. I have broad practice as a performer and composer/musician−creator with a professional career in both the jazz and classical contemporary direction. This background, in collaboration with inspiration and instruments from gamelans, will be illuminated in different musical expressions and contexts.
The background of my application to PKU, the Norwegian artistic research program, was based on my desire to develop myself as a musician and composer through the context of research. The artistic context of my research can be divided into two main artistic elements.
These elements are:
- Me as a musician and composer
- Gamelan and its instruments, music, and concepts
My focus has been to make artistic results with the highest-possible quality in the context I have set. My artistic goal is not to make gamelan music, but my outcome is musical products inspired by this music. Therefore, I will not call my music gamelan music. Conversely, one might say that making music for gamelan instruments is gamelan music. Why would I not call my music gamelan music? All my musical products in my research are a mixture of gamelan, and the musical styles represented in my background. For me, it feels more natural to use Western terms in my music, because Western music has been a big part of my life. To use gamelan as an inspiration is a way of adding colors to my music and aesthetics.
I studied gamelan in Bali for six months, when my family and I lived on the island during the spring of 2012. How could this inspiration, both in the form of new instruments and new compositional techniques and principles, affect me and my work as a musician and composer?
Throughout my career, I have had a great interest in other cultures’ music, both as a classical percussionist and as a jazz drummer. I have always cherished music that had this more spiritual awareness inspired by different cultures' music. Examples of music with this spiritual aura may be found in jazz by John Coltrane’s works in the mid-sixties, Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek’s work in the seventies, and classical contemporary music by composers like John Cage and Steve Reich. My inspiration from these artists and their inspiration has influenced the musical projects I have initiated and been part of. A natural development of my interest in other cultures’ music was to conduct an in-depth study of gamelan when I had the opportunity in 2012.
I have divided my artistic research into different projects, and this points directly to my broad experience as a music performer and composer. For me, it is essential to, through this research, add something new to my knowledge and, in many ways, my already developed aesthetics. However, will my aesthetics be influenced by the context of adding gamelan inspiration? Answering this question is complicated and requires a thorough comparison of my practice before and after the research period.
To further look at gamelan as my source of inspiration, I have highlighted specific elements of this music as inspiration in the different projects. For example, one project focuses on gamelan instruments, another project has a focus on the rhythmical concept of Kotekan, and a third has a focus on duality. I will explain this more thoroughly in the reflection on each part of the project. I have not used this dogmatic, as I, to a certain degree, mix the various elements from gamelan in every project. Nonetheless, there are certain focus areas. A detailed description of the specific gamelan element is written within the project, where this element is most frequently used. When using the same component in a different project, I will refer to the text in which this element had the focus. I do this to avoid a "gamelan encyclopedia" feeling as I strive for the total inclusion of inspiration from gamelan into my expression.
To address this problem, I divided the research into musical projects. Through these projects, I will try to highlight the following:
- The improviser
- The jazz musician
- The composer
- The contemporary musician
Through my artistic research, I have designed different musical starting points where the focus has been my background and its interaction with sonic elements and compositional concepts from gamelan music. This process led to four individual musical projects that point back to my musical experience.
I can separate my work into two categories: jazz musician and classical/contemporary musician. In light of contemporary music, I have composed and performed solo repertoire and ensemble music, and I have performed and recorded a commissioned work by Ellen Lindquist written for me and Trondheim Sinfonietta. In light of the jazz musician, I have done two different projects: “The Bali Tapes” with modal jazz as a starting point and “Espen Aalberg / En En En,” with a more open improvisational/contemporary approach.
I have separated inspiration from gamelans into three focus areas.
- The overall mood of the gamelan, emphasized in "The Bali Tapes" and “Espen Aalberg / En En En”
- My gamelan instruments—emphasized in "Mantra.", “Own Compositions” and “Espen Aalberg / En En En”
- Compositional concepts from gamelan—emphasized in "Own Compositions” and "The Bali Tapes"
In summary, the subprojects are, thus, the following four projects:
1. "The Bali Tapes" - The musical goal was a further development of how Eastern music influenced the modal jazz of the sixties. The research question was: Can I create fusion music between gamelan and sixties modal jazz? The process was to find common elements, such as scales and rhythmic systems, and to compose music for the Western instrument and the gamelan instrument included. My goal was, through this process and composition, to create a musical framework in which both styles are present in this new expression.
2. “Mantra” - A collaboration with composer Ellen Lindquist, where the focus was a meeting between gamelan, contemporary music, and Western instruments. Various musical attempts that include improvisation affected and inspired Ellen’s compositional work.
3. "Own Compositions"
- Gamelan set into a framework of contemporary music.
- Compositions for vibraphone and marimba based on concepts from gamelan music.
4. “Espen Aalberg / En En En” - an open improvisation meeting between gamelan and Western instruments, where improvisation, in a free-jazz/contemporary-music context, is the core of the project.
