“The very effort to work together, to risk an undertaking that is so different from the norm, is a creative act.” 1
Starting from my personal experience, I repeatedly felt the need for joint work between composers and performers: contemporary composers I have worked with often had something in mind but could not successfully notate it, or asked me for impossible effects on the instrument or even acoustically incongruent.
This project stems from the urge to contribute to conceive a culture of exchange, where composers and performers unite to create high-quality new repertoire: the search of a socio-cultural change is intrinsic in the present study. However, it does not represent the final point of my research process, as I plan to continue collaborating with composers and other musicians – but with artists in general – in the future.
This research is a further small step in my creative journey: I teach myself to grow through interaction and craft through "mutual appropriation", an exchange of skills and knowledge where partners learn by reciprocally teaching to each other2. The path is never straight, but neither is art: this research will follow the evolution of two different collaborations I was involved in, in order to deduce insight for future projects.
About the importance of collaborating
Collaboration makes art work. That can be true for any artistic craft: a movie, a sculpture, a multimedia performance, or a piece of music. Some artists may perform or create their works in a solitary environment. Still, I am convinced that their artistic work would not be possible without their interactions with the world and, looking at it from a further perspective, without an external eye or ear that can access the artwork or performance.
Narrowing this idea down to music, and more specifically to Western "art" music3, collaboration can take place at many levels: the planning of a concert, a chamber music rehearsal, a lesson where knowledge is orally transmitted, and any moment of orchestra playing. To me, one of the most insightful collaborations in the entire chain of music creation is the one that can take place between a composer and an instrumentalist.
The main focus of this research is the collaboration process between composer and performer in the composition of a piece for flute(s). The investigated topics include the different shapes and directions such a process can take by changing any of the parameters involved in the context of a collaboration (collaborator; collaborator's role, skills, knowledge, background; chosen collaborative methodology, among many others). This analysis applies to two specific case studies where I was involved not only as an observer and researcher but also as an active participant, with the starting role of performer and later exploring composition. One of the collaborations that constitute this research took place with Gaspar Polo Baader, a historical flutes master student, who graduated during this research; the other one with a composition bachelor student, Jasper de Bock.
Context and topic
Research in the context of collaboration between performer and composer has produced numerous thought-provoking outcomes, which I took as a reference and often reinforced the validity of the chosen methodology. Most sources took a different approach from this study, which compares similarly structured collaborations conducted with two composers. The main divergence in the processes is related to the composers' particular backgrounds, one being a "traditional" composition student (Jasper de Bock) and the other being a modern and historical flute player and composer (Gaspar Polo Baader).
The different degrees of initial knowledge about flute between the two collaborators lead to two deeply diverging processes, each bringing new perspectives on collaboration in general. I will analyse in detail the consequences of this divergence in Chapter 4.
Furthermore, many of the sources I accessed had a linear methodology, considering as the main topic the outcome of the collaboration or specific techniques4. I chose to focus mainly on partnership and creative development, applying a methodology I had encountered during my experience as a scout leader in an Italian Scout association, C.N.G.E.I.
This association uses an articulated methodology to plan and organise the educational activities for the scout groups, and I thought it would perfectly fit this project, with some due modifications. I will dive deeper into this topic in the Methodology section of Chapter 1.
The periodic feedback I included in the methodology was not present in any of the sources I accessed before the beginning of the project. However, it was a suitable choice to include it in the methodology since it was one of the most meaningful tools to improve some aspects of the processes and adapt to changing needs once the collaborations had started. I also took its results as a starting point for the compared analysis in Chapter 4.
The chosen approach is typical of the Action Research methodology, which I discovered halfway through the project but represented a confirmation that my methodology was consistent with the aim of this research.
Collaborations in flute repertoire
Important collaborations between composer and interpreter that happened in the past “attest that, especially in moments of renewal of musical language, it is necessary a sort of passage of the baton from the composer to the performer, thanks to which can be inaugurated an executive tradition”5. This research is about the experience of such interaction, investigating not only the transfer of knowledge and ideas from the composer to the performer but also the other way around. I try to create an environment where the performer too could become an active participant in the shared composition of a piece.
Thinking about the flute repertoire, it is evident that a change of language started occurring in the second half of the 20th century. From a "traditional" way of employing the instrument, the palette of sounds obtained by using the instrument increased and got more and more varied, with a more open-minded approach towards flute playing. The so-called "extended techniques", considered for the first time a literal "extension" of the technical possibilities of the flute, are nowadays considered simply as part of the sounds that can be obtained on the flute. This process was certainly enhanced by interactions and collaborations between renowned composers and flutists.
Outstanding collaborations in the flute solo repertoire include the one of Severino Gazzelloni with Luciano Berio, resulting in Sequenza I per flauto solo (1958), and with Kazuo Fukushima, from which stemmed Mei for solo flute (1962). The composition of pieces like Ryoanji for flute (1983-85) and Scrivo in Vento (1991) for solo flute was enhanced by the interactions of Robert Aitken with John Cage and Elliot Carter respectively. Other flutists inspired the composition of works: Mario Caroli and Roberto Fabbriciani were dedicatees of many pieces by Salvatore Sciarrino as Kathinka Pasveer was of works by Karlheinz Stockhausen; Kaija Saariaho worked often with the flutist Camilla Hoitenga6; 7. More recently, not limiting the collaborations to the solo flute repertoire, Dai Fujikura was largely inspired by Claire Chase8, and Michael Jarrell wrote … Un temps de silence … Concerto pour flûte (2017) for Emmanuel Pahud: "Emmanuel Pahud came to see me, and we worked together on what it was possible to make the flute do", says the composer. "The score was made to measure, taking account of Emmanuel's capabilities”9. Collaborative processes and works inspired by such great flutists allow for extremely challenging results because their technical and expressive tools on the instruments are on such a high level that they succeed in making the repertoire grow in unforeseen directions.
I believe that the evolution of the flute possibilities was a result of the challenges to the mechanical structure of the flute on the one hand, which led to improvements or experiments in flute creation (the micro-tonal flute by Eva Kingma10, the glissando headjoint by Robert Dick11, but also the previous historical evolution of the flute to reach its modern version), and to the technical possibilities on the other hand, involving both composers and performers in a gradual increase of the musical demand on the instrument. The composer is likely to come up with "crazy" ideas, bringing new perspectives on the flute and its playing possibilities as an external observer and creative mind; the performer is the one who best knows the instrument, spending a great part of their life exploring and refining the craft of sound from a metal tube with some keys, daily challenging the boundaries of what it is possible to obtain with it.
The joint work of these two entities is one of the most powerful tools to broaden the musical language of an instrument, bringing freshness and widening the horizon to the musical languages.
Relevance of this research and methodology
I am aware that composers and instrumentalists often engage in collaborations, and this research aims to provide further case studies that can widen the corpus of literature about this topic and serve as sources for similar projects, hoping to contribute to enhancing future practices and research in this field. In his article Composer-Performer Collaborations in the Long Twentieth Century12, Arnold Whittall wisely differentiates collaborations where the performer gives some inputs after the composition is complete and the ones where the performer is more involved in the composition process. He stresses the lack in modern music of long-term collaborations where the performer's role influences the composer's creative process outcome. He also highlights the difficulty of discerning how much a composition originated by this kind of collaboration is affected by the interaction between the two roles.
"The documentary case study of a collaborative process while this is actually in progress is the best way of achieving some degree of certainty in this respect"13.
The focus of this research is not the musical outcome of the collaborations but the collaborative processes that originated it; for this reason, I consider what could seem a problem or failure – intrinsic to empirical studies – as enriching sources of understanding for future attempts and projects.
Difficulties in role balancing, unsatisfactory methods or outcomes, static “traditional” roles, negative feedback, and other “unsuccessful” attempts at horizontal collaboration do not represent a downside of this study but serve as fundamental learning moments from which I learned essential tools for my own and other artists' future collaborations.
General approach:
In his essay "Between process and product: Music and/as performance", Nicholas Cook investigates the gap between the artwork – which, in Western "art" music tradition is represented by the score – and the cultural practice of music, its performative form. Cook identifies different balances between the score, the "product", and the performance. For him, the performance "of" something can be a misleading verbalization: it makes us think of the composed piece as the only "real" art, rather than stressing the importance of its performance as the key moment to create social meaning through music14.
I agree with most of the problems raised by Nicholas Cook, and in some way, I try to take them as a point of departure and apply some of his considerations to other elements involved in music creation. In particular, I try to subvert the idea of music as a product by bringing attention to it as a process, or as a plurality of processes, from its embryonal idea, its conceptual content, and its composition to its performance. By taking part in a collaborative composition process, my goal is not to be included in the traditional concept of "composer" or, in this case, "co-composer", but to explore possible ways to find a participative way of making music. Is it possible in the Western classical music context to create social meaning through collaboration in composition? Can collaboration serve and enhance art creation through interaction, diversity, and exchange of ideas? Paul Roe and Vera John-Steiner affirm that:
“[I]ndividualism is being replaced by social interdependence and […] separate lives in the twenty-first century are becoming increasingly interconnected. The concept of ‘biodiversity’, from the environmental movement, represents this connectedness and can also be considered in relation to culture, where eclecticism and dialogue assist in framing new artistic discourses15. ‘It is through joint activities and partnerships that we confront our shifting realities and search for new solutions’16”.
I believe that the world of classical music would immensely benefit from more participative working, as it is evident in chamber music groups where everyone is equally involved - I have had the chance to experience this during my master’s studies. I am also convinced that mutual listening in collaborative creation is a skill we should apply not only to performance but also to the processes that bring us there: more rehearsals, sharing more about individual practice, more freedom to talk about taboo topics like mental health in our environment – luckily more and more openly discussed.
I am strongly convinced that with the same care and passion we have in our practice room or while performing, we can also cultivate interaction within and outside the musical contexts. To grow artistically, we need to grow personally, and collaboration is one of the best ways to grow and improve. As Vera John-Steiner puts it, ”humans come into being and mature in relation to others”17.
Objectives and questions
This project explores possibilities and different role balances to conduct a fruitful collaborative compositional process. To do so, it attempts to challenge the disjunction between the role of composer and performer – prevailing in most Western "art" music – by producing a creative environment where roles can still exist and maintain their traditional attributes, but they can also mix and blend, making their boundaries labile.
This research stems from a main question:
“How can I, as a performer, engage in a collaboration with a composer to co-create a piece for flute(s)?”
Some sub-questions are:
- What has been done in the field of composer-performer collaboration?
- Which kind of collaboration am I creating with each composer?
- How can the two roles of composer and interpreter, traditionally strictly separated, become flexible and fluid?
- What can be my role as performer in a collaborative composition context?
- How do the two collaborations I am involved in differ? What can be the main factors that generate such differences?
- Which tools and suggestions can be useful for the creation of future projects of this kind?
Structure overview:
This research will discuss the process of collaboration that I have experienced with two different composers, Gaspar Polo Baader and Jasper de Bock, and the findings related to it.
In Chapter 1, the reader will be introduced to the topic by a theoretical framework based on previous research in the field of collaboration in the arts.
In Chapter 2, the methodology adopted for this research will be explained, specifically understanding why action research fits this project and which are the chosen tools to document and get data from the process of collaboration.
In Chapter 3, the reader will find an overview of the collaborative processes I undertook with Gaspar Polo Baader and Jasper de Bock, looking through the timeline of my collaboration with each of them, the main topics we discussed and experiments we did for an increasingly fruitful collaboration, and some of the outcomes of the processes: the sketches and preparatory pieces and the final piece. Chapter 3 will present part of the collected data for this research, which will serve as a starting point for the analysis of them which will conducted in Chapter 4.
In Chapter 4, a comparative analysis between the two collaborative processes will be presented. The analysis will depart from the collected feedback and my personal experience and perception of the processes, with a focus on understanding some of the differences in the role balances reached during each partnership.
Limitations of this research and Conclusions will follow.
