There are many things to celebrate in this research, but it has been a mixture of successes and frustrations. I will briefly mention my most prominent points of reflection regarding the main subjects of this research, being: 1. Interdisciplinary collaboration, 2. (Visualization of ) Classical Music and 3. The final audiovisual performance. In the Appendix, I have added a more generous list of tips for future performances, which could be of use to those who are interested in organizing such a project themselves.
The first chapter of this research stated the following definition of interdisciplinary collaboration: “a process of working with and a synthetic attempt at mutual interaction with people from other disciplines to create a collaborative outcome that could not have been achieved individually”. Hereby keeping in mind the four key qualities of interdisciplinary collaboration: Common Ground, Shared Creative Vision, Shared Ownership, and Mutually Beneficial Transformation (Scopa, 2003). The interdisciplinary collaboration with Sebastiaan has succeeded in three out of these four, with Shared Ownership being excluded. This is about an equal sense of shared authorship, control, and responsibility, which I have failed to provide in this research, mainly because it was my master's research, starting from my own (musical) interests and me being the final person in charge. A future interdisciplinary collaboration would start from a common interest, instead of an ‘assignment’. If I aim for another interdisciplinary collaboration again in the future, the most important thing I would change is to debate and negotiate the collaborator’s contributions and roles better before starting a project. This would help to prevent disappointment or taking things for granted that I should not have done. We did achieve an inspiring brainstorming and visually developing phase, in which we talked about our views on things and learned from each other’s disciplines.
Another important learning aspect regarding collaboration is to collaborate with professionals, who, most importantly, have a certain record that can prove their capabilities. For this research, this was an issue when it came to mounting the LEDs correctly. In this case, I did not manage to find someone who was able to confirm his capabilities. This was also the result of a small budget, as there was not enough money to hire a real professional. In a future project, I would keep in mind that a certain budget is needed to consult experts to let such a project succeed. Sebastiaan has been a tremendous support through this entire project. He has generously shared his time and his knowledge of creative processes involving audiovisual art and performance with me. This has shown the importance of finding an experienced person of the other art form and working with someone more experienced in managing collaborations with an interdisciplinary approach. I have learned how to and how not to work as a project leader and how to deal with a project involving multiple disciplines. When I start a new project in the future, I will however consider working with someone who can also read scores and who has more affinity with classical music. As for this project, we have been working in a more general approach with the lights, so it was not necessary. But if it will be in a more detailed manner, this is the main issue I would consider adapting.
The last important thing that I learned from this interdisciplinary collaboration is that every discipline has its own working process. Theatre, for instance, is created mainly through doing (together). In (classical) music, it is often the case that everyone prepares their part at home and puts it together at the rehearsal. With light installations or audiovisual art, part of the development is dealing with a slow creative process of not being able to see your creative ideas right away or to know very clearly what you want to try out later. When working with light, I had to wait for the software to be programmed before I was able to see my ideas. Therefore, I had to think carefully about all my creative proposals.
When I started this research, the goal was not necessarily to explore a way of attracting (new) audiences to classical music but taking into consideration that the general public is not always able and ready to enjoy music by just listening. I am glad this aspect has been a possible side effect of this research. As concluded in the audiovisual chapter, adding something visual to an aural experience gains the satisfaction of the public, so it can attract them to musical performances that they would otherwise not have visited themselves. Audience members of my audiovisual performance have shared that the visual aspects of the lights have helped them connect more to the abstract music and that the visual aspects have positively stimulated their concentration. Having explored for the first time how to visualize (classical) music, and what possible ways of visualization there are, gave me tools for future performances. As I mentioned in my motivation, I was interested in a certain quality of interdisciplinary collaboration, and, regarding this research, a certain quality of audiovisual performance and music visualization. I am glad I have done this research, as one of my so far unmentioned goals is contributing to keeping classical music alive. Exploring the genre of audiovisual performances has added to this goal and has given me new insights and inspiration for future projects.
What I have experienced by thinking visually about a piece of music, is that it has an impact on my interpretation. This is the result of diving deeper than usual into the narrative of a piece and deciding which of these elements resonates best with me, and also with the music. Before I started this research, I already had quite a clear idea about the story, the lines, the voicings, and how I would phrase them. However, listening back and comparing the two recordings, it feels like these ideas have matured in the second recording with the lights. The first performance remained more true to the score and provided a more defined recapitulation of the whole sonata, whereas the newer performance turned out more free. Considering that working longer on a piece results in a more free and thought-out interpretation most of the time and that every recording or performance is different. Especially when comparing the playing on different harps, in different settings, at different times, and by using different ways of recording.
I suppose that this clear, musical idea that I developed, could come from a few different aspects. Probably the primary reason is that the images that I imagined, mainly in terms of atmosphere, were now not just something I visualized but something that also surrounded me. As I always have this gloomy, but soothing feeling while playing and listening to the third movement of Hindemith’s harp sonata, playing it combined with the lights immediately emphasized this feeling. Creating a dark atmosphere, but still using light, especially in the places with orange lights, helped me project this gloomy feeling better instead of only having to ‘think’ about it. I was able to let myself be affected and surrounded by the well-thought-out atmosphere Sebastiaan and I created. This brought me into a near-contemplative state. Citing my freely translated Dutch version of Lied before performing, shaped my imagination even further. Especially as it literally put words to the music. Having the atmosphere of the music already established in the lighting gave me more freedom to let the music emerge through this creation. This atmospherical feeling, together with the visualization of the music, and the extensive dive into the context of the piece has resulted in a few changes in terms of my interpretation. Some of these changes include having a clearer idea of musical structure, including awareness of harmonic movement and melodic development, taking more time for phrasing, exaggerating dynamics, and taking time to let the harp resonate.
The only part where I am not satisfied with the interpretative choice in the final performance is the interactivity in the first sentence of the music. Looking back on it I would have done this differently as it breaks up the music too much, especially as I played it way slower, to let the interactivity work better. Next to that, when I play this music without the lights, I also approach this phrase more horizontally. On the other hand, when having the software and hardware correctly programmed, the interactivity makes you see your playing and your resonance, which results in a certain interplay and dialogue between the music and the light. If I wanted the lights to go out, I would dampen the strings or take longer breaks between phrases. If I did not want the lights to dim, I would phrase more quickly. Having the right equipment and software can provide room for experimentation with the speed of the fading and the reaction of the light on the music. Even these choices about the light influence the music, which is also the case with color choice, light intensity, reaction or loop speed, and the use of darkness.
When diving deeply into the narrative parts of a classical piece, it can supply inspiration and thought for interpretation. I have experienced a lot of joy and excitement when finding new sources providing information on Hindemith’s intentions or any other information on the harp sonata. Even when there is no aim to create an audiovisual performance, looking thoroughly into the program, emotional or structural narrative, and background information, adds another dimension to your creativity and the musicality of interpretation.
When looking into the theoretical framework created and the artistic choices that were made, there are a few learning points. Before writing this research, I had the goal of finding the ‘correct’ colors with the music, but now I will take the freedom in whatever colors in the light feel right in combination with the emotions I want to convey with the music. As art historian Judith Zilezer mentions in her article about “color music”: “If we are to have color symphonies, the best are not likely to be those based on a literal translation of some musical masterpiece into color according to this or any theory, but those created by persons who are emotionally reactive to this medium, able to imagine in color, and to treat it imaginatively” (Zilezer, 1987). As I do not have synesthesia, I would not be able to truly imagine in color, but I can treat it imaginatively, as I do react emotionally to music. Other things I learned were the power of synchronization and the different approaches to looking for musical narratives to inspire visualization.
In terms of audience, I have learned that experiences can truly differ drastically from each other: some people like to get inside information on the music, and some would prefer not to. Some enjoyed the interactivity, some did not. It also really differs how people experience this audiovisual performance depending on their age, occupation, how much experience they have with similar performances, or if they come from an aural or visual art discipline. For a future project, I would keep this in mind when making decisions in certain aspects of the development of the project.
Another important point of reflection lies in the budget. For future projects with a small budget, I would consider an easier, more manageable plan, instead of creating an entirely new LED installation. On the other hand, it would help to have a clearer project plan at the beginning of the project, so I would have more time to write detailed subsidy applications. To finalize this reflection, I would like to say that I have developed a preference for being an artistic director for such a project, rather than being the overall manager, as I found great pleasure in creating and researching possible inspiration. With that in mind, I would gladly take up this role again and I look forward to a next project exploring other ways of music visualization.
This research, Creating an Audiovisual Performance through Interdisciplinary Collaboration used the following question: How can a classical musician create an audiovisual performance with the use of lights through interdisciplinary collaboration?
This question is addressed in this exposition by first looking into the topic of interdisciplinary collaboration. In this chapter, my conclusion was that throughout history there has not always been a clear distinction between different art disciplines. The fact that there are more interdisciplinary collaborations nowadays is the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. In the case of interdisciplinary collaboration, there is a need for a synthetic attempt at mutual connection where people from various disciplines work together to create a collaborative outcome, which could not have been achieved individually. Multidisciplinary collaboration is about coexistence. When aiming for an interdisciplinary collaboration it is important to prioritize having a mutually beneficial transformation, having a sense of shared ownership of the artistic product, sharing a creative vision, and sharing a common ground as far as understanding and values are concerned. From the practical side of this research, it is concluded that it is important to be conscious of the different working processes from the different disciplines. For instance, working with lights asks for a slower creative process than that occurring in a chamber music rehearsal, as it is not possible to see and try out your creative ideas right away. Other conclusions concern the importance of working with the right collaborators and having enough money to hire professionals when needed.
On the topic of the audiovisual, this research focused on different subjects. First, multiple reasons for a declining audience for classical music were presented. These range from the classical concert ritual and the social experience such a concert implies to marketing and the expectations of the audience. One possible solution to attract (new) audiences might be to make classical music concerts visually attractive, as nowadays people are in general habituated to a more visual experience. Also, professional musicians are open to thinking beyond interpretation and the score. It is then concluded that music visualization is a topic appearing in different forms throughout history: from composers inspired by painters, and painters inspired by music, to visual music and program music. Visualization can be a good way of showing musical structure or enhancing the music’s narrative, but it was also observed that classical music, especially absolute music, can be difficult to visualize, as musical narratives tend to be complex. When visualizing a classical music piece, there are different ways of looking into the musical narrative, such as a programmatic narrative, an emotional narrative, or a structural narrative. Using crossmodal correspondences as a way to synchronize the visual and the aural might be a powerful way to make an audiovisual work appealing to an audience. This could be done by looking at correlations between sound and image, taking into consideration that visual information also has musical qualities. Lastly, a conclusion on color was presented: combining sound with color has inspired many researchers, composers, and scientists, who all concluded that there is a relationship between color and sound/music. This relationship might be an idiosyncratic one, through for example synesthesia; or an emotional one, shared by the majority of people with the same associations.
The practical side of music visualization entailed visual development through design thinking, a process of evaluating every step of the process and comparing it to the initial idea by keeping in mind the conducted theoretical framework on visualization of music and crossmodal correspondences. The research done on the harp sonata is also used, including shaping a historical and narrative context, looking into background information on the poem, and doing a concise technical and narrative analysis. Then, different ways of visualizing the harp sonata were explored using mood boards, renders, and thought experiments on practicality. Due to technical implications with the light structure, the final performance and the experimentation going into this performance turned out differently than intended. My own learning process turned out to be more on the productional side, than on the artistic one. This research managed to use the theoretical framework created, but not in the detailed, elaborate, and thought-out way that was originally intended. The goal was to have more room for experimentation as far as the correlations between the music and the lights were concerned. It was concluded that playing with light, or something visual, or even thinking about the visualization of the music, affects its interpretation. In this case, it resulted in taking more time for phrasing and exaggerating dynamics. Especially having the atmosphere of the music established in the lighting gave more freedom and ease for musical interpretation. The execution of the performance has taught me that the audience’s experiences can truly differ drastically from each other, which gives even more value to the artist's intentions: apart from the theoretical framework and the audience’s opinions, it is the artist (or in the case of collaboration, the team) who must stand behind their creative ideas, and execute them as convincingly as possible.