1.0 Introduction
Through the course of this research, I will document and reflect upon a process of creating music that transfers the aesthetic of electronic dance music to a live band-setting. Together with my band Celium I will attempt to develop a style of interplay that would allow us to play a set of music in a EDM DJ-like manner.
The process I will describe took place between the fall of 2021 and spring of 2023 the result of this process is a 40-minute concert which took place on February 4th at Kick Scene in Kristiansand.
The idea for this research came from my interest in combining acoustic and electronic sounds and the concept of reverse engineering. In a TED Talk titled “Exploring the distance between 0 and 1”, Swiss drummer, Jojo Mayer discusses how the introduction of electronic genres “jungle” and “drum ‘n’ bass” introduced a new drumming vocabulary that surpasses the vocabulary of real drummer.
“I became completely obsessed with the idea to reverse-engineer those electronic drumbeats and play them live on an acoustic instrument. And mainly I did it because I love those beats so much that I was trying to find an opportunity to kind of consume them physically (TEDx Talks, 2011, 8,02).
In the process of learning this new approach to his instrument, he gained not only the technical understanding, but also what he calls a stylistical abstraction, that made it possible for him to create an illusion that he could play like a machine, despite the human limitation, this music would challenge him with.
Mayer is most known for his reverse engineering of genres “jungle” and “drum ‘n’ bass”. These genres are part of electronic dance music, however electronic dance music (or EDM) is an umbrella term which describes a variety of genres. In this research, I focus on what Ragnhild Solberg describes as “four on the floor” genres. These are characterized by the bass drum marking every beat in the 4/4 measure. These are genres such as House and Techno (Solberg, 2018, p.27)
1.1 Research questions
This dissertation is an endeavor in artistic research. Through the course of this research, I will document and reflect upon a process of creating music that transfers the aesthetic of electronic dance music to a live band-setting. In light of this process, I will attempt to answer these three questions;
· How to develop a sound for a band playing music inspired by the “4 on the floor” genres?
· How does my signature playing style adapt to the music of Celium?
· How does this artistic work connect to research and discourses on music experience?
I will reflect upon the artistic process of this research and supplement my reflection with relevant theories. I will also present an overview of my artistic background. Later I will reflect on how my playing style works in Celium and how I adapted it to the context of this research. I will present a theory from the field of EDM-music theory and discuss it in the context of my drumming style. I will also present different concepts and ideas from relevant drummers and reflect on how these reflect in my playing.
To answer the last question “How does this artistic work connect to research and discourses on music experience?”, I will present theories and discourses on music experience. I chose to focus on the concept of pleasure in repetition, and music experience in context of EDM. I will the try to attempt to discuss how the artistic work in this research connects to these theories and discourses.