2.1 Aims

My search began slowly with adopting a mindset. This mindset is to be open to all inspirations and influences, no matter what discipline and field they come from, and to be open to the new sounds that my research and findings give me and the new roles they bring, without being limited within the determined limits of my instrument.

When we become a performer who specializes and concentrates on an instrument, we embrace the limits and roles that the instrument brings. If we are a guitarist, it is inevitable to look at music through chords; if we are a percussionist, it is inevitable to look at music through rhythms, complexity and time. When you become a duduk player, being a makam-based-melody-oriented performer becomes a given to you. The same goes for traditions; a jazz musician, a classical music performer and a folk music artist can have completely different perspectives and approaches. Although I deeply respect all these shirts and roles, my instincts and curiosity forced me to wander into new lands.

My aim as a duduk player, in addition to being a melody-oriented performer, is to find contemporary techniques and expressions, to have new roles, pushing the boundaries of the instrument and to write new compositions.

2.2 Artistic Research Questions

• How to explore the contemporary possibilities of the duduk?
• How to find more expressions on the duduk?
• How to write new compositions?

2.3 Artistic Research

Scholar Darla Crispin advocates for the dual role of the artist-researcher, wherein they function both as an active participant in their artistic endeavors and as a discerning observer of their creative work (Crispin 2015, p 56).

While doing my research, I experimented with extended techniques and electronic treatments through effect pedals and loop pedals. For extended techniques, I had a lot of different influences from different things and different musicians. Besides the several tracks listed below, I had a great chance to open my mind more by having lectures with Jan Bang, Arve Henriksen, Bugge Wesseltoft and Anders Jormin. 

Jan Bang's way of creating a texture through loops and Arve Henriksen's extended techniques on the trumpet on the track Poverty And Its Opposite - Live (Henriksen, 2008) is an important sample.

I was not directly influenced by this piece but I have been listening to this track in the past and I believe that I unconsciously got the inspiration from this extended technique of Arve. After I started to use it in my project, I noticed that Arve already used it in this track. Breathing (Henriksen, 2001)

Another musician I am influenced by is the Norwegian tuba player Daniel Herskedal. I created similar bass sounds by using harmony effects on the duduk. These two tracks of him below have been the most inspiring tracks to me:

The Lighthouse (Herskedal, 2019)

Sea Breeze Front (Herskedal, 2015)

I have received the idea of "Interference" from my mentor Anders Jormin in our lessons at the University of Gothenburg. He gave me the idea of singing while playing the duduk and creating interference. I didn't use singing in my compositions but I used interference by playing two duduks.

My exploration and research into new sounds have provided me with a broad palette of expression, inspiring me to compose new pieces utilizing these sounds. I produced an album featuring these new compositions. I recorded my album "Echoes of Becoming" and released it through Jazzland Recordings on February 23, 2024. I included accomplished musicians whom I had been influenced by while maintaining the solo concept throughout the album.

In addition to serving as both an academic and musical exploration, these compositions collectively form a narrative. They are tales born from my quest for authenticity, and the inclusion of guest musicians in this project serves to harmonize with the narrative by featuring individuals with whom my path crossed during my time in Norway and my close friends, adding depth to the story of my journey.

I recorded these experiments with my professional audio recording equipment. I then listened to the recorded sounds and made observations on the use of new sounds and techniques and their placement in the music. My research method was to record, listen, develop, record and listen. Thereupon, working with the musicians I was influenced by during my master's degree helped all my previous findings to rest on a more solid foundation. I played the recordings I made to my mentors. Based on their feedback, I made changes and made new recordings. When I felt that I had reached the end of my research, I released a solo duduk album containing my new compositions and new findings. As argued by (Borgdorff, 2020) and (Haaland, 2020), the intertwinement of audio and text is a crucial part of this thesis as the audio answers part of my research questions.

"In the context of artistic research, the research catalogue is positioned precisely in the gap between the documentation of the work using texts, images and sound and the publication of the work as research. Something happens here that is crucial: a transposition of the work from the aesthetic realm to the epistemic realm." (Borgdorff, 2019, p.21)

In addition to the album, I publish my works in the Research Catalogue because it offers the opportunity to document all research as visual, video and audio recordings. In the "Expression" section you can see all the extended techniques and digital effects I tried and sounds I found and used in my music.

I bought a lathe to make duduk and designed and built some of the machines myself with the support of my father. After improving my technical skills in duduk making for a while, I wanted to test and see whether it was true, as said that duduk can only be made from apricot wood. Apricot trees are very common in some regions of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. I thought that this claim about apricot trees might have arisen due to the ease of access to apricot trees. I made duduk from ten different types of wood used in instrument making. All the wood types had an okay result but I got the best result on the apricot wood. Then I worked on the dimension and tuning method and developed a dimension that would optimize my playing. This was the first step in me having a unique voice. With the dimension I developed, I not only achieved a homogeneous volume level and a consistent timbre in every note but also had high volume and a wide timbre.

2.6 Instrument Setup

The key of A duduk is a tenor instrument and it has the most characteristic sound of the duduk, that is why I prefer to use a key of A duduk in this project. I used the key of G duduk in two of the tracks in the album. My duduk does not have a brand because I am using the duduk bodies I made and I provide my duduk reeds from different reed makers from Armenia and Turkey.

I am using two setups in this project. The main setup is Setup 1. I use Setup 2 when I want to include a piano in my performance.