I HAVE THE MOON

Collaborative autoethnographic composition in contemporary classical music: a composer-performer band retreat.

Project Details

I HAVE THE MOON is a musical research research project in the context of contemporary classical music in Germany (‘aktuelle-, experiementelle und/oder Neue Musik’), a context evident in its organisatorial encapsulation and final presentation in the aDevantgarde Festival 2019 and financing by Musikfonds e.V., factors which are assumed to have tacitly influenced the project development. It was designed, led (from within), documented, analysed, evaluated/textualised and submitted as a research exposition by the project leader Dr. Samuel Penderbayne (AUS/DE). This framing within an artistic research project was made transparent via email and verbal communication to the additional group members at the the outset of the project, despite them not being experienced or interested artistic researchers, at time of writing: Caio de Azevedo (BR/DE), Genevieve Clarence Murphy (SCT/NL), Claas Krause (DE) and Mischa Tangian (RUS/DE).

The group gathered in two research phases. The first phase was for five days between 21.04.-25.04… At the first session, before any musical activity had taken place, a central research question was posed verbally (the que had already been communicated via email in the initial invitation to participate) and was designed to permeate a priori the musical endeavour:

How can aesthetic innovations of contemporary classical music be made accessible to audiences without specialist education or background via communicative techniques of other music genres?

The verbal discussion lasted approximately 3 hours without break. Subsequently, musical jamming as material development took place until the end of the five-day period, which led to a general aesthetic approach, a Gestalt and Dramaturgie of the final performance and a ‘sound’ for the composer-performer band/ensemble. At the end of this period, each member chose a section of material to then shape into an artistic work in the form of compositions and/or comprovisations.

After developing these artistic works, the group met again between 27.05.-02.06. immediately before the public performance. The pieces were rehearsed and refined according to the scores or improvisation instructions.

This process is reminiscent of a ‘band retreat’ more commonly observede in popular music genres than in contemporary classical music contexts: it thereby seeks to transfer procedural innovations of the popular music industry into the realm of contemporary classical music. The final public performance took place in the festival aDevantgarde on 02.06.2019 at 8pm in Einstein Kultur (Halle 4).

Artistic research as autoethnography: a methodological claim.

Artistic research is often regarded as an inherently pluralistic enterprise, due to the inclusion of inherently-pluralistic artistic practice into its methodology. Art is famously ‘free’, if not subversive or even down-right anarchic in nature. Indeed, giving artists a set of rules almost ensures their endeavour to break them.

A pluralistic nature of artistic research is evident in the editorials of prominent handbooks: 'a unified position is not yet discernible […] the artistic research does not exist any more than the art or the research (Diaphanes Handbook 2015, translation from German by the article author). Or: ‘this volume represents not a single view but a diversity of perspectives on artistic research [… within which] we see different commentators arguing for different positions with greater or lesser degrees of normalising intent’ (SHARE Handbook 2013). One could go further and argue that ‘pluralism and diversity… [are not a] sign of weakness of science nor a shortcoming in its definition, but rather as a tool and goal one strives for’ (Hannula 2014).

In terms of the methods in the following chapter, a pluralistic spirit is fully maintained, since these methods are project-specific. However, this chapter deals with terms of methodology as an overarching philosophical and limiting construct of a research paradigm, under which an infinite set of project-specific methods can exist. Academic enterprise requires limiting methodological paradigms in order to secure an ontology for any given discipline, even if subsequent transdisciplinary pursuits can be desirable and highly fruitful. Insofar as it seeks a place in the academy, artistic research should develop a unique methodology separating itself from extant musicological disciplines. This exposition leaves the terms of methods open to pluralistic interpretations and developmental pathways whilst providing a normative and singular methodology for artistic research on the basis of (collaborative) autoethnogrpahy.

In comparison to a (musico-)ethnographic approach, which would research from an outsider position (see for example the musical field-ethnography of Simha Arom), an auto- ethnographic approach is necessary, if not inherent and indeed essential to the ontology of artistic research as paradigmatically-different to extant genres of musicology: ‘it is the artist’s own experience and insight that are the point of departure for artistic research, unlike research on the arts, which is based on looking in from the outside’ (Malterud 2012). Artistic research epistemology is understood here to focus primarily on the felt and/or embodied knowledge of artistic practice, one which can only be accessed methodologically by an ‘insider’ working from within the practice itself (see: Leavy 2015, Klein 2017, Lüneburg 2023): to the extent that ‘artistic creative processes are inextricably bound up with the creative personality and with the individual, sometimes idiosyncratic gaze of the artist … research like this can best be performed “from within”’ (Borgdorff 2006). Therefore, a distance between object and subject of research simply cannot be maintained and the research paradigm becomes inherently autoethnographic, without apparent exception.

The methodology for artistic research is therefore proposed as artistic research as (collaborative musical) autoethnography. The collaborative autoethnographic approach of this methodology builds primarily on the internationally-recognised work on ‘collaborative autoethnography’ of Heewon Cheng (Cheng 2013) as well as Cheng’s explicit adaption into the realm of musical artistic research by Theodore Parker (Parker et al 2023), alongside more general autoethnographic artistic music research by Brydie-Leigh Bartleet (2009 and 2021), Aydin Celikcan (2020), Dylan Smith( 2023) and Lorenzo Romano (2023).

When taking a longer historical perspective, foundational roots of autoethnography can be found in the work of David Hayano, who, whilst discussing Grounded Theory in the context of ethnographic studies and/or ‘field research’, coined the term ‘autoethnography’ to describe a situation where ‘a full insider’ and/or ‘native’ is found to be studying ‘one’s own people’ in any given field (Hayano 1979, p. 100). Adapting this to artistic research: the ‘field’ of research is defined as the new and extant embodied knowledge in the artistic practice; the perspective of a ‘full insider’ is the artistic involvement of the project-leader-cum-researcher in the very same artistic practice; the study of ‘one’s own people’ is the artistic thoughts and behaviour of the other composer-performers; the adaption of Grounded Theory is found in the design (Gestaltung) and coding of artistic-auto-ethnographic ‘field-research data’ as arising from the artefacts of any specific given project.

Switing now to the specifics of this particular project, the artefacts containing autoethnographic ‘field-research data’ are:

The project-leader-cum-researcher was involed directly artistically in every stage of this research process, guiding all stages from within using both verbal (incl. textual) and artistic languages.

Some of these artefacts, such as the WTAA, are presented in their entirety. The entirety of the field-notes (7 pages), scores (20+ pages) and video documentation (90+ minutes) as ‘raw data’ lie outside the scope of this article. As such, these artefacts appear only in snippets, those which appeared most representative to the relevant and/or representative to the project-leader-cum-researcher(cum-author).

By way of example, a ‘jam-moment’ can be seen with the following clip, which was used (amongst others) for social media posting throughout the jam-stage of the project and served (next to other recordings) throughout the ‘composition phase’ as a reminder to the band/ensemble of the materials, atmospheres, grooves, moods and group-feelings developed whilst jamming:

Fig. 1: Jam-Moment as example of audio-visual field-note.

One example of field-note-taking on verbal discussions as process phenomenology can be seen with the following mind-map style document, in which the project leader (Penderbayne) documented commentary from participant Genevieve ‘Gen’ Murphy. Such mindmaps were kept for every participant apart from the project-leader as note-taker and question-asker. These documents provided ‘raw data’ for coding in the WTAA analysis-table at the end of the exposition:

Fig. 2: Mind-map as example of textual field-note on the verbal ideas of Genevieve 'Gen' Murphy.

To finalise the autoethnographic methodology of this project, two rationales will be provided for the amalgamation of subject and object of research in the form of an authorial artistic-project-leader-cum-researcher.

The first rationale pertains to guiding the process from within. In terms of the verbal discussion on the research question, ocurring at the outset of the project, it was necessary to interact verbally within the discussion so as to constantly steer the conversation towards the research question. An approximate structure was maintained, where each group member was asked to address the question in depth. ‘Field notes’ in the form of ‘mind-maps’ were kept, with one mind-map per group member (see Fig. 2 below). Discussion on the ideas of any given group member were included on their mind-map page, and this includes the own ideas of the project leader/moderator.

In addition, this process of systematic note-taking and substantial verbal discussion, which was constantly redirected to the research question, communicated to the rest of the group (comprising non-researching artists) a seriousness regarding the role of the research question and project framing as artistic research. It was hoped that this intellectual seriousness and/or academic rigour would be subsequently transported into the musical jamming. Indeed, involvement as a ‘jammer’ allowed the project leader as a professional and experienced artist to feel and experience the knowledge of the artistic practice: the flow of ideas, the reactions, the non-textual and subliminal communications, the ability for each motif to groove and communicate in ways that felt responsive to the central research question. The comparison to the verbal discussion is clear: these non-verbal artistic processes could be tested, questioned and/or reinforced from within, using the musical artistic practice itself.

The second rationale for performing research from within the artistic process is that the results of this process will not only be textualised and medialised in this article as a ‘one-off’ research artefact, but also continued and developed on a long-term trajectory of change and experience as an artistic researcher. In this sense, the research object is not so much the project aesthetics, technical knowledge or discourse on art, but rather the embodied (autoethnographic) artistic development of the project leader as serious long-term artistic researcher (see: Lüneburg 2020). Where it is not assumed that the additional group members will undertake (further) serious artistic research, it can be assumed that the project leader.

Such cross-project research becomes intra-projectual: relating to the growth between projects rather than any particular project to be assessed purely on its own individual terms. This is similar to Middleton’s concept of an ‘aesthetic of a changing same’, where ‘continual paradigmatic transformation, inter- or intratextual, of given material, the repetition and varying of stock elements’ creates a cultural tradition (Middleton 2000) - or in this case, an artistic personality. Where the first rationale may be similar to some ethnomusicological work done ‘in the field’, this second rationale is unique to artistic research as (collaborative) autoethnography due to its inherent embodiment.

The research results are therefore encapsulated both in the musical analysis and media of this article as well as the ‘changing same’ of knowledge embodied within the composer-performers, primarily the project leader as long-term artistic researcher.

Project method: lingocentric intellectualism as artistic research scaffolding in three pillars

Where the methodological paradigm is artistic research as (collaborative musical) autoethnography, the project-specific method is lingocentric intellectualism as artistic research scaffolding in three pillars. The ‘scaffolding in three pillars’ is build on-and-around the artistic practice.

The first pillar is the a priori intellectualisation of artistic goals through the articulation and communication of a central research question, textually by email before the jam-sessions and then verbally again at the outset of the sessions, which indeed began with a substantial verbal discussion (approx. 3 hours), occurring before any musical practice took place. This ensured a clear expectation that the practice would follow this preliminary lingocentric ‘scaffolding’ and it is therefore reasonable to assume that the artists were significantly focussed on addressing this textual question through their artistic practice.

The second pillar in the scaffolding is the textualisation and medialisation of project knowledge in-and-during the creative process in the form of ‘field-notes’ on the verbal discussion (‘mind-maps’), recordings of the jam sessions, the scores and/or comprovisation-instructions and the video documentation of the final performance.

The third and final pillar in the artistic-research-scaffolding is the WTAA codification and analysis of this article, as supplemented by relevant snippets of the second-pillar-artefacts. The relevance of these snippts was assessed by cross-checking their content with the first pillar, in other words: which WTAA results and documentation-snippets seem to answer the research question most closely? Accordingly, the most ‘relevant’ WTAA results are identified in bold-font and the most relevant and/or representative documentation-snippets are included in the WTAA table next to their corresponding textualisation(s).

By way of definition: where the term ‘logocentric’ assumes the existence of a fact derived by logic and articulated through text (see: Derrida 1967, Klages 1981), the term ‘lingocentric’ is used here to refer to the process of giving non-verbal research an intellectual ‘scaffolding’ through verbalisation of the research goals, achieved through discussion and the subsequent a posteriori attempt to codify, analyse and publish gained knowledge in enduring media, the latter of which demonstrates a bias towards textualisation as supplemented by audio-visual media.

This method aims to intellectualise the creative process of musical development without restricting musical freedoms; rather, it aims to give this process a non-musical point of reference, intended to function as a constructive creative focus for new musical knowledge. Also, the linguistic ‘How can …?’ proposition of the research question situates the project as practice-based artistic ‘Research ‘‘for’’ Art’ (e.g. Borgdorff 2006). Such lingocentricity does not attempt to provide facts and/or truths, as may be the case with logocentricity, but rather both textual, audio-visual and indeed artistic discourse. What’s more, it attempts a complementary relationship between verbalisation and musical practice: rather than conceiving a dichotomy of intuitive and cognitive, sense-based (sinnlich) and rational, objective and subjective, it conceives synergetic process of a verbally-/textually-articulate intellectual focus and freedom of aesthetic musical expression embodied in the artisic process itself (see the concept of Komplementarität in Badura 2009).

Video documentation as emancipated artistic-academic artefact

A note on the video documentation: the performance was filmed by the documentary filmmaker Lili Pongratz. She was given full artistic licence to capture the performance in whatever way she saw fit, resulting in a film full of flair and originality. The concept, cut, cinematography, camerawork and special effects were applied intuitively by her based on her artistic impression of our rehearsals, in the case of concept and cinematographic planing, including choice of camera, and the performance, in the case of the cut and effects.

Some shots utilise fractions of the screen to create intimacy which mirrors the musical-performative intimacy of the moment:

Others contrast the room of the audience ('concert hall') with those where the performers perform actions outside of the room and/or prepare for reentry ('greenroom'/'wings') into the room of performance:
And many provide two perspectives on the one performative action on the stage, importing multilayered (experimental) filmmaking techniques into the art of interpretive documentation:

A Workflow-Tool-Application Analysis: the analytic method for the results of the discussion and video documentation

At the outset of the project, the research question was posed and the group members were asked to comment on it successively. Notes were taken in a mind-map format which collected ideas organised by which artist had articulated them, even if the conversation was centred around the ideas of another at the time, and despite the intention was to move sequentially from one artist to the other.

A system of codification of the mind-maps (collaborative autoethnographic lingocentric data) was developed to unlock and make accessible to others the knowledge behind the comments. Firstly, a list was made of all comments as arising from the raw mind-map notes. This listed was then coded into categories that are seen in the table (below) with a numbering system, where the title of the category is the text in bold. Where multiple comments are ordered under a single category, they are given alphabetical tiering. Where bold text is included, the raw data is coded to create a category. Where possible, an excerpt of the video documentation of the performance is provided. I believe this system to be self-evident when looking at the table below.

Epistemologically, it is both a process of research on art, in that it discusses the methods, effects and intentions of artistic practice, and research for art, in that it results in tool-like ideas that can be used by other music makers to create new music referencing or learning from the knowledge espoused by the codification and analysis of the discussion and its manifestation in the final musical performance and scores and/or improvisation instructions.

The codification assess each comment based on the workflow stage, tool-type and potential application to which they individually relate. I call this analytic method a Workflow-Tool-Application Analysis.

Workflow-Stage

O = Overall: ideas that influence many stages of the work in a general, conceptual and considered approach but are hard or impossible to pin to a specific point of the workflow;

Ou = Outset: ideas that must be considered at the outset of the workflow;

RM = Gathering of reference materials: inspirational materials that are, above all, weighted towards the beginning of a workflow but can be of recurring use throughout;

M = Generating materials: an idea that helps generate materials, either at the beginning of a piece or for a new section or revision of work through new material;

D = Development: an idea to help develop materials already generated in the workflow;

F = Form or Structure: an idea relating to architectural considerations of a work;

C = Context of reception: this can be the consideration by the composer of how the work will be received, which one could call the ‘workflow of the listener’ or ‘listen-flow’, which can occur either in architectural phases of the music making process (which stretches from the outset to finalisation) or in regards to specific details;

Tool-Type

T = Technical: includes concrete compositional techniques that can be applied directly without further explanation to the creative musical process;

A = Approach: a general thought, working on levels of philosophy, thought experiments, esotericism or overarching concept, that needs significant further original thought to become technical;

M = Mixed: a thought more general than a specific technique and with the potential to become specific without significant further thought, although it could result in diverse technical final forms;

Applicatory-Concreteness

3: the idea refers to a ‘how to’ answer the question that can be directly employed in the jamming phase and/or transplanted into the workflow, and may also directly relate to key terms in the research question;

2: a compositional aspect is referenced which could be easily thought further into transplantation into the workflow and/or directly relate to the research question, although this may result in diverse ‘how-to’ final-form answers;

1: indirect thought is required to transplant the non-compositional idea into the workflow;

A Workflow-Tool-Application analysis as response to the central research question

Notes:

Idea # Idea name (+/- description) Workflow-Stage 'Tool-Type' Applicatory-Concreteness
1 Create bridges to listening (see: 4, 4b, 11) O 3 M
2 use visuals O 2 T
3 consider pop music (as relating to your own goals) O 3 A
3a music which transcends social barriers (esp. rich and poor) and what of this could you use to do the same thing? O, RM 3 T
3b trace the roots of the pop music in question back to folk music O, RM 3 T
4 Create naive melody: something common knowledge, unquestionable M 3 M
4a evocation of a mother’s song M 3 T
4b

can combine a naive melody with unexpected material

combinatoric: either through contrast or an attempt to ‘enunciate’ via hybridity (see Penderbayne 2020)

 M 3 M
4b1 for example, with ‘crazy’ harmonies or CCM ‘horror’ sounds (5b) M 3 T
5 address daily common questions O 3 A
5a e.g. human relationships O 3 A
5b e.g. pain, horror, agonies, joys and pleasures of human experience O 3 A
6 consider originality O 3 A
6a originality begs explanation O 3 A
6a1 explanation through verbal or textual discourse M 3 M
6a2 explanation through a pedagogical way of composing and presenting the material, i.e. step-by-step via decreasing clarity and/or increasing complexity D 3 M
7 consider the symbolic world of your musical language as your ‘nature’ (naturalistic environment) O 2 A
7b hear a voice saying ‘you come from here and belong here’ O 1 A
7c when you can easily, quickly and effectively communicate with your symbols, this may transfer to the auience O 2 A
7d create the ‘folk music’ of your symbolic natural environment O 2 A
7e consider pushing what’s ‘natural’ O 1 A
8 consider rhythm O 2 A
8a rhythm as relating to animality O 2 A
8b rhythm as relating to concepts of sacrality and profanity O 2 A
9 work with humour O 2 A
9a e.g. set up and break an expectation (i.e. 0 2 4 8 21) M 3 T
9b e.g. contrasts FM 2 M
9c e.g. absurdity OM 2 M
10 geography of culture O 2 A
10a e.g. consider where one makes the music, what other music the audience would be hearing (can be broken, as in 9a) O 2 A
10b e.g. consider where one was born, how that place has changed O 1 A
10c e.g. consider that the internet is changing georgraphy, in that it ‘hits’ one with intense and wildly contrasting influences O 1 A
10d e.g. consider that CCM has formed an international network with a generic canon of key works and an emphasis on their approaches O 2 A
11 mixture O 3 A
11a of high and low art-styles O, M 3 M
11b in collage O, M 2 M
12 subverting the production line O 1 A
12a e.g. create a score after composing the piece O 1 A
12b therefore have higher awareness of that which one can’t notate O 1 A
12c e.g. notate rhythms which underline a groove but not the details of decoration M 1 T
13 move away from a focus on notating extended technique to one of sound in a performance context O 2 A
14 consider that composition is under institutional control to the extent that audiences relevant to acquiring professional work are exclusively specialist: popularity amongst non-specialist audiences plays little to no role in awarding commissions O 2 A
14b this results in intellectual rather than intuitive ‘gatekeeping’: non-specialist audiences are not going to be able to connect with the intellectual side but would with the intuitive O 3 A
15 start a process of popular outreach with your own personal preferences O 3 A
15a be motivated to compose, this may transfer to the audience (see 7c) O 2 A
15b get in your own boy and avoid being in the thoughts of others, i.e. through a ‘school’, tradition or genre O 1 A
15c reference point: Radiohead, a band that is both accessible and brave RM 3 M
16 consider the limits of ‘headiness’ (over-intellectualism) O 2 A
16a headiness doesn’t help with the difficulties and joys of life, which are not purely intellectual (see 5) O 3 A
16b non-specialist audiences can’t follow technical games or virtuosity, therefore gain no awe, humour or joy from them. O 3 A
16c see ‘bodiness’ as the alternative and explore what this may be in musical materials O, M 3 M
17 imagine the audience and their reactions O 3 A
17a e.g. create material which may have the audience reaction ‘I can’t believe that happened to my ears’ M 3 A
18 technical innovation as a primary or solitary goal is a materialistic and capitalistic one O 1 A
19 incomprehension is a pathway to fear O 3 A
19a therefore: comprehension increases accessibility and one can consider ways of creating comprehension (see 6a1, 6a2) O 3 A
19b it is perceived by the CCM ‘gatekeepers’ that the non-application of canonised compositional techniques is an ignorance of them O 1 A
20 technical restriction can open pathways to innovation and be understood easily O 2 A
20a e.g. a piece which consists of just one tone may open up exploration of space M 2 T
21 consider how and if at all to use program notes C 3 T
21a they create expectations which need to be fulfilled in order to satisfy the audience, which is compositionally constrictive and potentially unsatisfying and/or confusing C 2 A
21b people read them in the concert, which subtracts from presence in the room and focus C 2 T
21c the focus on words - textual concepts - may make the experience more heady. If undesirable, consider making them absurd or abstract, which counteracts by highlighting the inexplicability of some art C 2 T
22 create a relationship as a performer to the audience M 3 A
22a e.g. by addressing them directly (including via 6a2) M 3 T
22b e.g. by the composer being present on stage M 3 T
22c e.g. via singing - also through the instrument - to communicate in another way about one’s personal self. Amateur singers can often be more personal when they sing, since their limits, fragilities and imperfections are more clear.
23 work on stage presence and ‘create’ it O 3 A
23a e.g. how to hold one’s self: body language and staging (comment referring to concert settings rather than music theatre) O 3 T
23b e.g. consider that musicians be important to look at: their appearance should not be unconsidered O 3 A
23c e.g. putting one’s whole energies into a musical moment to show their human limits - this creates presence as with 22c M 3 T
24 consider that which can’t be notated, at least not traditionally O 3 A
24a i.e. ‘let go of the score’ O 3 A
24b i.e. consider graphic scores or ‘maps’ where the focus shifts from material to performance aspects, groove, improvisation and more. O 3 A
25 as a composer, work intensely with musicians one on one, so that they feel connected to the music and personalise it. They also can bring in another perspective, perhaps a natural one closer to the audience. O 3 A
25a e.g. not conceptualise too much of the piece before workshops (relates to concept of jamming with sketches, ideas etc.) Ou 3 A
26 children tend to be more open, so compose for children or the ‘inner child’ O 1 A
27 create references O, M 3 M
27a i.e. to familiar languages, creates understandability O, M 3 M
27b i.e. 60/70% of the compositional language is familiar, 30/40% innovative O, M 3 M
28 achieve authenticity by writing music you freely listen to at home O 3 A
28a i.e. recognise yourself in your music O 3 A
28b i.e. not for institutional recognition and employment O 2 A
29 begin a piece with an effect M, F 2 T
30 consider the performance space C 2 A
30a i.e. its expectations C 2 A
30b i.e. ways to work with it uniquely, enjoy it C 2 M
30c i.e. a concert hall is designed for listening - play with this. Other venues are designed for other things and present other opportunities. C 2 M
30d i.e. when going along with expectations of a venue, as well as writing for its best qualities, the sense of ‘nature’ is increased: that the piece belongs there. C 2 M
30e this flexibility may only be possible when scores leave significant elements to the performers O 2 A
31 prioritise the rhythmic side of music O, M 3 M
32 discuss philosophic, esoteric and self-actualising topics whilst learning about and developing music O 1 A
33 search for community in music O 3 A
33a i.e. a sustainable, organic community like in hip hop: diverse, significant and engaged O 3 A
33b on the other hand, the community CCM is comparatively small, homogenous (especially regarding privilege, education and gender), dispassionate (focussed significantly on professional development rather than care-free consumption) O 3 A
33c socialisation, which happens via community, can teach emotionality in music, which is very powerful O 3 A
33d consider whom the music is being made more accessible, including which languages they’re familiar with (see 27) O 3 A
33d2 consider making music for and with people you like - there is inherent socialisation in this and can build community O 3 A
34 ask: what you could like CCM to be? O 1 A
35 work with non-musical elements that are familiar O 3 A
35a e.g. text and projection O 2 A
35b e.g. midi triggering of elements, like in 35a and visuals and sound O 2 A
36 consider setting the goal to sell tickets O 2 A
37 create epic and immersive music O, M 3 M
37a i.e. create accessibility without constraining vocabulary O, M 3 A
37b i.e. conceive the performances as gradios and eventised O, C, F 3 M
37c i.e. create extremely huge effect with small (i.e. easily understood) tools or materials M, D 3 T
37c2 i.e. create extremely fragile sounds that are also epic and immersive O, M 3 M
37c3 i.e. create extreme contrasts between fragile (small) and huge sections (this is something intuitive and universal) M, F, D 3 T
38 consider bridging styles O 3 A
38a i.e. those you want to hear together but are not being done how you want O, M 3 M
38b i.e. bridging performance contexts, as in dance club and concert hall C 3 A
38c i.e. bridging performance aspects, as in stage diving, bashing instruments, moshing, lack of self-restraint as a performer M, D 3 M

(end)

Conclusion

The artistic research project I HAVE THE MOON attempted to enrich the work of five composer-performers of the contemporary classical music scene via mutual group-learning based around a central research question and make this gained knowledge accessible to broader circles via publication. A scaffolding of lingo-centric intellectualism was applied, leading to codification of the group’s verbal discussions in a project-bespoke analysis with an original method, where the embodied and felt knowledge of the project is found in the ‘changing same’ of the artists themselves. Further medialisation of the project outcomes was ensured by publication (alongside the analysis of the verbal discussion and the corresponding raw notes) of the scores and/or improvisation instructions and a video documentation in the vein of research in art, which should provide a substantial but necessarily limited reconstruction of the artistic experience. The video documentation applied expressive devices of filmmaking that are external to the musical process and employed based on the impressions and sensibilities of the filmmaker herself.

The analysis and codification of the verbal discussion on its own right has led to a series of aesthetic, technical and social approaches to the creative process of music making that can be applied in further works: third party artists and the five project artists themselves can (re-)visit the publication, including performing potential linguistic-artistic cross-checking of the ideas to the artistic results, in order to gain insights for future artistic work and/or artistic research. A re-visiting of the publication by the artists themselves would help reinforce a process of transformative embodiment of this knowledge in their artistic work, whereby a visitation and subsequent adoption or adaptation of the ideas by third-parties would create a sort of artistic-academic citation ‘within’ the embodiment of the third parties and their work.

In further research the system of codification could be retested and/or expanded by new analytic methods. The results of this codification of verbal discussions, as well their application in synergetic artistic practice, would produce knowledge, textualisations and medialisations compatible to subsequent comparative analyses in a process perhaps similar to that of traditional ‘validation’.

As the embodiment of artistic research is seen here as a process of development, an intra- oder cross-validation of the ideas extending into future projects would be ideal. Further projects with these musicians regarding the same or similar question(s) would be an obvious and promising avenue for deepening the knowledge and methods, as are projects of other designs relating to the question with a similar lingocentric intellectual scaffolding.

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