Poiesis and the Performance Practice of Physically Polyphonic Notations by Kevin Toksöz Fairbairn

This dissertation commences from the concept of poiesis, informed chiefly by Hannah Arendt’s use of the term in The Human Condition (1958) to indicate a form of creativity married to craftsmanship. This poietic framework will then be used throughout the dissertation to inform a practice-based analysis of the learning process involved with physically polyphonic notations (herein defined as notations of dissynchronous physical actions within a single performative body). Despite polyphonic asynchrony, the unifying performative demands of these pieces are the learning strategies necessary to accomplish this eventual reassembly of instrumental practice within a single, performing body. The following essays will explore the physically polyphonic repertoire of the trombone specifically as a laboratory for problematizing this poietic approach to the learning process.

This dissertation was originally designed as an ebook with embedded audio and video examples. However, for those readers who prefer to read the dissertation in a different format, a PDF is also supplied here, with all of the audio and video examples available in this repository for reference, presented below by chapter.

Abstract extract:

This dissertation commences from the concept of poiesis, informed chiefly by Hannah Arendt’s use of the term in The Human Condition (1958) to indicate a form of creativity married to craftsmanship. This poietic framework will then be used throughout the dissertation to inform a practice-based analysis of the learning process involved with physically polyphonic notations (herein defined as notations of dissynchronous physical actions within a single performative body). Despite polyphonic asynchrony, the unifying performative demands of these pieces are the learning strategies necessary to accomplish this eventual reassembly of instrumental practice within a single, performing body. The following essays will explore the physically polyphonic repertoire of the trombone specifically as a laboratory for problematizing this poietic approach to the learning process.

Full desertation in the Leiden repository:
Poiesis and the Performance Practice of Physically Polyphonic Notations

Kevin Toksöz Fairbairn performs regularly throughout central Europe and the eastern United States, and specializes in the performance, improvisation, and composition of experimental music. His commitment to exploring sound has led to many unique projects both within notated music and beyond. He collaborates frequently with young and emerging composers, and advocates extensively to develop new and experimental chamber music for the trombone.

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