Audio-based approaches
In this section, the following approaches are considered: ear-based learning from recordings, practicing improvisation with audio backgrounds, recording with audio backgrounds, and group improvisation with audio backgrounds.
Ear-based learning from recordings
One way to approach the repertoire was to learn pieces from recordings instead of scores, by listening and imitating. This was an approach I tried when learning a piece from Hindemith’s repertoire, the second movement of Sonata for Violincello and Piano:
The best way seemed to be singing along – at first – with the recording, to get a strong aural image of the material I was working with and thereafter moving to the piano keyboard. I didn't transcribe the exact chords from the beginning, but rather an approximation of the tonal shifts. Shortly thereafter I made a free improvisation with some of the material I had gathered, and it struck me how well I managed to maintain a flow of ideas. I also noticed that the transcription exercise seemed to have paid off, in the sense that I felt that I could realize the musical ideas that I heard with relative ease. (Written journal, 2021-10-20)
Similarly, when learning Lili Boulanger’s Cortège, I first picked out the melody and the general harmony from a recording of the piece. Working this way seemed to make it easier to internalize the melody – i.e. making it a part of my inner hearing – as I noticed when I tried improvising variations on it afterwards. I also worked with transposing it to other keys, based on how I heard the melody rather than theoretical approaches.
Learning melodies this way, or segments of melodies, was an approach that I would return to occasionally when getting to know other compositions. However, much like transcribing an improvised solo, it was a time-consuming and demanding process, especially when dealing with complex repertoire such as Hindemith’s music. This meant that I couldn’t expect the participating musicians to go into this way of learning the material, and I generally opted for other approaches. Another reason for not relying on ear-based learning as the standard modus operandi was that it might make our perception of the music based on the interpretation of certain performers, which might inhibit our ability to hear other things in the music.
Practicing improvisation with audio backgrounds
When practicing improvisation over a particular piece, I sometimes used recordings of the music as a background for improvisation. The idea was to base my playing on what I heard rather than what I saw in the score, to avoid getting caught up with the musical notation. For instance, when working with Fugue in Eb from Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis I found this to be a good way of listening and reacting to the music, and try out different ways of adapting to the passages as I perceived them. Also:
I realized that I couldn't do it really keep a chord-based or scale-based approach to improvising over the composition, but rather that I had to find something that was more line-based; “Okay, so in this spot, we have a descending line, and I can follow that with the improvisation"… and after a while, I seemed to find approximate tonal centers. (Audio journal, 2022-02-17)
Since the music contained so much harmonic movement, often with a sense of tonal ambiguity, the approach of listening attentively and trying to find lines based on that seemed to be a good way of getting in touch with what would emanate from my inner hearing. This was often challenging, however; while having a score in front of you gives you a general idea of pitches, harmonic changes and modulations in the music, depending on your ears requires a solid perception of harmonic shifts. Other participants also described working with recordings as fruitful ways of practicing improvisation, sometimes preparing their own backgrounds of the music to practice along with.
Recording with audio backgrounds
At one point in the duo work with David Härenstam, we tried out an approach of adding piano improvisations to an existing audio recording. The starting point was that we wanted to try a new version of Roland Dyens’ Fuoco, a piece that Härenstam had performed and recorded earlier for solo guitar.
The first section that seemed to provide enough space for an added improvised part was in the middle of the piece, where the guitar is playing an intense rhythmic figure in combination with a descending bass line.
One consequence of recording several takes over the same background was that I sometimes found myself struggling with not repeating the same ideas (a common problem with recording). However, there were certain lines that I found myself drawn to, such as a descending line for the opening bars that worked as a harmony part to the bass line in the opening bars. Starting the improvisations this way created a sense of moving between composition and improvisation, like doing a freer interpretation of a line that could have been written into the music. This also provided me with something to return to and explore further, as this section was repeated.
Group improvisation with audio backgrounds
Another example of improvising together with audio recordings was tried out in the first session with en en en. In my introduction to the experiment, I explained that I had created clips based on Takemitsu's orchestral music that we were going to play together with. I also played excerpts from each clip. When doing so, I also suggested that we shouldn't get “caught up” with the melodies in the recordings, but rather try to find sounds and build on what we hear, and then continue to play after the music stops. As we played, I left spaces open for a few minutes between the different audio clips, so that we could keep developing the ideas that we had gotten from our initial impulses.
Recordings 8.11, 8.12. Excerpts from quartet session with Knudsen & en en en at the Department of Music, NTNU, Trondheim, 2022-03-03. Based on clips from Takemitsu's How slow the wind recorded by Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo (Takemitsu, 2001).
The initial reaction was positive; that it felt fresh, rewarding and that we could keep building on the material after the clips had faded out. Haugerud commented that it was a new experience, but that we managed to find a good blend with the orchestra:
TH: The orchestra there blended in quite well with our orchestra... They did well (laughs). But I don't think I've ever done that before, playing to such a big symphony orchestra. (Conversation with Haugered, Hegdal & Duch, 2022-03-03)
[TH: Orkesteret der smeltet ganske bra inn i orkesteret vårt... De klarte seg bra (laughs). Men det tror jeg aldri jeg har gjort før, å spille til en sån svær symfoniorkester.]
I raised a potential problem that I experienced every time that I was about to start a new clip, that the character from that passage might not be compatible with where we were going in the improvisation:
PK: It's not certain that the music will fit in exactly where we are...
EH: No, maybe you have to know the music better then.... I don't think we have to get hung up on that, necessarily. If we're in the middle of something, and it kicks in... Then we just keep going, there are two layers, which is nice...
PK: Exactly, and sometimes that's what you want, that there is some kind of contrast. (Conversation with Haugered, Hegdal & Duch, 2022-03-03)
[PK: Det är ju inte säkert att musiken kommer passa in precis där vi är...
EH: Nei, kanskje man må kjenne musikken bedre da.... Jeg tror ikke vi må henge oss opp på det, nødvendigvis. Hvis vi er i gang med en greie, og det setter inn ... Da er det bare å fortsette, så er det to lag, og det er bare artig ...
PK: Ja, exakt, och ibland är det det man vill ha, att det kommer någon kontrast.]
We also reacted to the length of the clips I had prepared, around 20-30 seconds, which seemed too short to get into the character of the music. Possible solutions that we discussed involved looping the clips, and perhaps to involve someone else to control the audio in realtime. A similar approach was also tried out with Halse and Åse, based on orchestral clips from La Mer, but was abandoned as it didn’t quite match the approach that we developed for the piece.
When interviewing Joakim Milder, he described a similar exercise that he had occasionally done with jazz students at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH):
JM: We have a jazz ensemble with students, and let's say we listen to The Rite of Spring. And we listen for three or four minutes, and then you turn it off. And then you continue, having entered that world, then you continue to create freely, characterized by what we have just heard. And I think that’s where I see a potential, where I see an opportunity to simply let yourself become impregnated by the music, but create something completely different in the long run. …
PK: Can you see that this brings out something new in these musicians?
JM: It undoubtedly does, it is inevitable. And I also think it's an effective way of realizing the limitations of your language. Because if you listen to a few minutes of Rite of Spring and then it's my turn, there's really nothing that I've burdened my language with that's valid anymore, or that's useful. But there's so much in that character, that sort of very sharply chiseled, fresh, slightly folkloric touch too, that allows you to start from scratch. You can be completely empty and take on that character, that language. And it helps you to wash away everything that is there, that is mechanical in our playing. So when I've done that, I find that you've really got a very exciting result. And students who are like, “Where did that come from?” It was – you met Igor! (Interview with Milder, 2022-01-18)
[JM: Vi har en jazzensemble med studenter, och nu lyssnar vi på Våroffer säger vi. Och vi lyssnar en tre, fyra minuter, och sen stänger man av. Och sen fortsätter man, att ha tagit sig in i den världen, sen fortsätter man skapa fritt, präglat av det vi precis har hört. Och det tycker jag, där ser jag potential, där ser jag en möjlighet att helt enkelt låta sig impregneras av musiken, men skapa något helt annat i förlängningen.…
PK: Kan du se att det här tar fram något nytt i de här musikernas skapande?
JM: Det gör det tveklöst, det går inte att undvika. Och det tycker jag också, det är ett effektivt sätt att bli varse sitt språks begränsningar. Därför att om man lyssnar några minuter med Våroffer och sen är det min tur, då finns det egentligen inget av det där som jag har belastat mitt språk med som är giltigt längre, eller som är användbart. Utan det finns så mycket i den där karaktären, den där väldigt skarpt utmejslade, friska, lite lätt folkloristiska prägeln också, som gör att man kan starta från noll. Man kan vara helt tom och ta till sig den karaktären, det språket. Och få hjälp med att tvätta bort allt som finns som är mekaniskt i det vi spelar. Så att, när jag har gjort det så tycker jag att man verkligen har fått ett väldigt spännande resultat. Och studenter som blir så där, "var kom det där ifrån"? Nä, det var – du mötte Igor!]