What happens when musicians improvising on acoustic instruments sample and exchange their sound libraries? 

How can such a transgression of sonic territories contribute to an expanded understanding of one’s own sonic identity? 

And could this b/lending of identities point to a more ambiguous yet vibrant field of intra-play? 

Departing from these questions, this project intends to challenge our idea of ‘a personal sound’, which is a widespread conception within acoustic improvised music in particular, and consequently investigate how a radicalized sharing of these ‘personal sounds’ through contemporary sampling technology can contribute to an expansion of improvisational and imaginal horizons. Individual idiomatic approaches to one’s own instrument are thus provoked and questioned as we transgress the habitual boundaries for action possibilities and musical imagination.

And yet, as we touch on these boundaries, we are quickly challenged by the liminalities of our own musical identity, including our physical disposition, instrumental in/capacities, mimetic patterning, aesthetic preferences, and other un/conscious biases.

This exposition attempts to delineate the research practice and its intricate web of sonic processes. Although a sonic process may not be easily depicted in a visual layout where elements occupy specific places, sounds can disturb, interfere with, and influence matters across different locations. Keeping in mind the limitations of a visual medium in illustrating these complex sonic interrelations, we have strived to present the methodological approaches and various stages of research. Our aim is to showcase the project's transformative processes and iterative cycles.

Practice Grounds I - Configurations provides an overview of how the various practice stages (mapping, sampling, sharing, embedding, embodying, and listening) are conceptualized across different iterative configurations.

Practice Ground II - Stages delves deeper into the methodological phases of the practice. However, informed by "Practice Grounds I", readers should understand that while these stages (mapping, sampling, sharing, embedding, embodying, listening) are described sequentially, they become increasingly intertwined as the project progresses.

Practice Grounds III - Diffractions seeks to illustrate, through a series of examples, how processes, approaches, and materials are interrelated and contingent upon one another.

As we engage in this boundary-crossing, further questions arise: How can we develop a critical approach to listening that enables us to hear through the cracks and breaches of these boundaries? And could we engage in this process with others toward a practice of diffractive listening – by attentively listening for insights through one another? 

Concretely, we work from a duo of saxophone and piano, circulating the practice toward external collaborators, where the sharing process involves different approaches to audio sampling and mapping, embedding and embodying, listening and playing on each other’s sonic material to a point where authorship, origin and (sonic) identity is diffracted – b(l)ending the practice into an electro-acoustic field as well, where digital code contributes to and disrupts the acoustic logics and architecture of the instruments. 

Essays comprises four texts delving into various facets of the research practice, ranging from an in-depth exploration of the title's meaning over an auto-ethnographic to a technological account of the coding and programs used.

Timeline offers an overview of the research practice and significant events throughout its duration.

Published Works compiles the published artistic results, including three albums.

Epilogue is a brief text with some openly concluding thoughts on the research endeavors.

Bibliography lists the numerous references, either directly quoted or used as foundational knowledge, that informed and inspired the project.

Lastly, Credits acknowledges the participating individuals, related institutions, and venues.