Composing Music

Today
International Conference Proceedings

Edited by Filipa Magalhães, Isabel Pires & Riccardo Wanke

Composing Music Today
International Conference Proceedings
Nova Contemporary Music Journal, Volume 2

© 2022, NOVA Contemporary Music Meeting

Edited by Filipa Magalhães, Isabel Pires & Riccardo Wanke
Design by Isabel Pires

All Rights reserved.

ISSN 2795-4803

Published by NOVA Contemporary Music Meeting, with the support of CESEM — Centre
for the Study of the Sociology and Aesthetics of Music, Faculty of Social Science and
Humanities
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
 Scientific committee
for the International Conference Nova Contemporary Music Meeting
Composing Music Today

António de Sousa Dias (Lisbon University, Portugal)

Benoit Gibson (CESEM, Évora University, Portugal)
Carmen Pardo Salgado (Facultat de Belles Arts, Barcelona University, Spain)
Christian Bienvenuti (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
Eduardo Lopes (CESEM, Évora University, Portugal)
Federica Bressan (IPEM, Ghent University, Netherlands)
Frederic Dufeu (Huddersfield University, UK)
Isabel Pires (CESEM/FCSH, NOVA University, Portugal)
Ivan Moody (CESEM, NOVA University, Portugal)
João Soeiro de Carvalho (INET-Md/FCSH, NOVA University, Portugal)
José Oliveira Martins (CITAR, Catholic University of Portugal)
Laura Zattra (IRCAM/Conservatories of Music of Parma and Rovigo, France/Italy)
Makis Solomos (Paris VIII University, France)
Mário Vieira de Carvalho (CESEM, Nova University, Portugal)
Martin Laliberté (Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée University, Portugal)
Nicolas Donin (IRCAM/CNRS/Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, France)
Paula Gomes Ribeiro (CESEM/FCSH – NOVA University, Portugal)
Paulo Ferreira de Castro (CESEM/FCSH – NOVA University, Portugal)
Pedro Roxo (INET-Md/FCSH – NOVA University, Portugal)
Pierre Couprie (IReMus/CNRS/Sorbonne University, France)
Rui Pereira Jorge (CESEM/FCSH – NOVA University, Portugal)
Sílvio Ferraz (São Paulo University, Brazil)

I
II
 Contents

PREFACE III

CONTEMPORARY PORTUGUESE MUSIC PERFORMANCE AS RESEARCH: INTERTEXTUALITY IN SEDOSO

AND SAUDOSO AS A CASE STUDY 1
ANA CRISTINA BERNARDO

TARRYING WITH THE NEGATIVE? CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AND THE SUBLIME 12

MAURO FOSCO BERTOLA

SIZE DOES MATTER: MICROTONAL HARMONIC DISTANCE AS A STRUCTURAL DETERMINANT IN JUST

INTONATION 21
JAMES DALTON

DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL MOTIVES ON THE DRUMS: A THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL APPROACH

TO THEIR USE IN THE STUDY AND MUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF THE INSTRUMENT. 32
ALEXANDRE DAMASCENO

EXTENDED TECHNIQUES ON THE PIPE ORGAN 42

CLÁUDIO DE PINA

PAWEŁ SZYMAŃSKI’S WORKS REFERRING TO MEDIEVAL MUSIC 52

VIOLETTA KOSTKA

‘YOU WILL GROW TO HATE EMAILS FROM ME’: COMPOSING IN A REMOTE [DIGITAL] COLLABORATION 60
AMY MALLETT

A CODFISH IN THE SKY WITH SALT! THE REPRESENTATIONS OF PORTUGUESE MEDIA ABOUT
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROCK’N’ROLL MUSIC AND DRUG ABUSE (1980-2018) 68
ANA MARTINS AND PAULA GUERRA

CMT’S ARTISTIC-EDUCATIVE CONSTELLATIONS AND ITS MUSIC-MAKING PRACTICE 75

MARIANA MIGUEL,3, PAULO MARIA RODRIGUES1, AND HELENA RODRIGUES1,

COMPOSITION MODELS FOR AUGMENTED INSTRUMENTS: HASGS AS CASE STUDY 89

HENRIQUE PORTOVEDO, PAULO FERREIRA LOPES1 AND RICARDO MENDES

CONTEMPORARY JAZZ: UNDERSTANDING JAZZ COMPOSERS’ CURRENT REALITY 102

JAVIER SUBATIN

SI AMANECE, NOS VAMOS: FROM A GOYA PRINT TO A NEW WAY OF USING GUITAR MULTIPHONICS 116
RITA TORRES

EXPLORING THE MUSICAL IDENTITIES OF CHILDREN IN A COLLABORATIVE CONTEMPORARY

COMPOSITION PROGRAM IN NEW YORK CITY 131
LEONG CHENG KATY HO

I
IV
Preface
What does composing music mean today? What is the role of the composer in today’s musical
world? Can we continue to talk about “composing music” in every situation of musical
creation? Or should we consider recourse to other expressions? What is the composition
process in the case of museum exhibitions, or installations? Can a sound artist be considered a
composer of music? Is the creation of sound art a form of musical composition? Furthermore,
can real-time coding or free improvisation be considered forms of instantaneous musical
composition? In a world where technological means make musical creation accessible to all,
what is the role of the “traditional composer”?
Music is today more diverse than ever before. The range of genres, practices, techniques and
technologies, forms of dissemination and reception have changed the way in which music is
composed. Music is now almost omnipresent in our society spanning concert halls, museums,
digital media, as well as public and private spaces. For each of these listening situations,
someone conceives and composes the music, creating the sound and organizing the musical
discourse through means of a diversity of approaches, knowledge and technologies. All of
these means are crucial given their influences over the final outputs.
The International Conferences NOVA Contemporary Music Meetings (from now on NCMM)
is becoming the definitive form of of the biennial international event inaugurated in 2016 in
Lisbon. The NCMM series focuses on a variety of questions interrelating with the music of
the 20th century and was conceived as a contribution to the development of multidisciplinary
and collaborative research in the field of contemporary music. This event brings together
researchers, musicologists, composers and performers, and other related artists and
professionals. NCMM’s first edition took place in Lisbon in 2018 and count on the
participation of artists and researchers all over the world.
***
The present collection provides a selection of the NCMM18 conference paper proceedings
that seeks to respond to the challenges specified above, which approach current artistic
practices and research in the context of contemporary music. Taken collectively, these papers
address themes that span composition techniques and technologies, including new instruments
and unconventional tools and means; real time composition and interactive music, including
live coding, electronic, interactive and computer music; collaborative composition, free
improvisations and open composition; practice-based research in music, including
composition, performance and collaborative musical activities; the recent challenges of
contemporary music for musical analysis and history; and alongside issues concerning
intertextuality and authenticity within the context of contemporary music.
By exploring intertextuality as a practice-based research tool, Ana Cristina Bernardo
undertakes performance analysis of both the works, Sedoso and Saudoso, composed by
Eurico Carrapatoso, questioning the meanings produced during the analytical process of these
two pieces. While Mauro Fosco Bertola lists issues of contemporary music and the sublime,
examining the concept of the sublime object as proposed by Slavoj !i"ek, thus proposing the
latest developments on the subject. James Dalton enlightens on how some aspects of
microtonality and just intonation, a non-tempered tuning system which was previously seen as
a flaw in the system, can be integrated into the music of the late 20th century. The author

V
examines two works from the composers Ben Johnston and Lou Harrison as case studies
given how they chose to transform the above-mentioned resources into structural and
expressive devices before deploying them to outline the form in their compositions.
On the other side, Alexandro Damasceno discusses the variation of musical motives principle
– as proposed by Terry O’Mahoney in his Motivic Drumset Soloing method – as applied to
the drumset, and considering it a tool for the development of a musical discourse. From his
perspective, the application of such procedures, with special emphasis on the drum, allow for
the creation of coherent structural analysis as well as also benefiting the musical performance.
Violetta Kostka dedicates her paper to the intentionally intertextual music by Polish
composer Pawe# Szyma$ski (b. 1954), who is presented in the light of Ryszard Nycz’s
intertextual theory. Furthermore, the two pieces, Miserere and Three Pieces, by Pawe#
Szyma$ski are here discussed within the scope of capturing their meaning. Amy Mallett
addresses her experience of composing in a remote [digital] collaboration. This describes her
partnership with the Canadian writer Gary Swartz for the composition of Whispers of the
Heart (2014). She envisions demonstrating certain means to de-mystify and develop the
composer’s creative process.
In addition, Ana Martins and Paula Guerra explore the important relation between rock
music and drugs use and abuse through the lens of media. In discussing five case studies, they
investigate how Portuguese media account for this relation, examining both the socio-cultural
panorama and the styles of these news articles. In turn, Marcello Messina and Leonardo
Vieira Feichas examine some presentations of the work of art Ntralllazzu. This cycle of
works stems from live interactive scores that reflect on the multifaceted philosophical
concepts of liveness and interaction. In this article, the authors demonstrate how works
dependent on technological means often continue to reveal their weaknesses and instabilities.
Mariana Miguel, Paulo Maria Rodrigues and Helena Rodrigues present an overview of
Companhia de Música Teatral’s work and its implications for establishing a continuum
between community music and educative practices. They also clarify how the concept of
“artistic-educative constellations” has emerged and how it continues to inspire the company’s
work. Cláudio Pina explores the world of extended techniques in the pipe organ as another
means of producing sound. He argues that several new techniques have been developed in the
repertoire and in the creation of contemporary pipe organs and thus new approaches to
notation and explanation are essential to attending performances and gaining the interest of
future generations.
In their paper, Henrique Portovedo, Paulo Ferreira Lopes and Ricardo Mendes introduce the
concept of HASGS regarding the augmentation procedures applied to an acoustic instrument,
demonstrating how composers applied technology prototyped for the composition of works. The
authors consider their paper establishes a resource featuring composition methods of use to
composers and programmers. Javier Subatin’s paper centers on the observation of the current
reality of contemporary jazz in which composition and written music are acquiring great
importance while intending to understand the issues that contemporary jazz composers today face.
According to the author, the results represent a subject of interest to the educators, students,
musicians, composers and researchers working in the field. Rita Torres presents new methods for
applying guitar multiphonics in the work Si amanece, nos vamos. The author states that despite
the growing interest in this unconventional playing technique, there are still various gaps that need
filling that are described in her paper. Finally, Ieong Cheng Katy Weatherly provides insights into
a contemporary music program that specifically targets young musicians. She argues that
collaborative composition with younger age groups in the field of music is still unusual.
Throughout this paper, she sets out a well-rounded music program of assistance in promoting the

VI
idea that a musician is a composer, a performer, and an improviser to the future generations facing
the ever-changing 21st century.
We would like to thank all the authors who contributed to the present conference proceedings,
and also a final word of appreciation to the members of the Scientific Committee and all the
reviewers who so greatly contributed to this publication.

Lisbon, April 2, 2021

Filipa Magalhães and Riccardo Wanke

VII
VIII
Contemporary Portuguese music performance
as research: intertextuality in Sedoso and
Saudoso as a case study
Ana Cristina Bernardo1

Abstract. Aiming for a contemporary music performance, one parameterizes that the
performer should think in terms of musical results, following the purpose of connecting
performance practice and analytical musicology. The interpretative narrative will be reached
through the performer’s imagery, exploring intertextuality as a practice-based research tool.
Intertextuality is a way of settling a commitment to make available all text levels, on behalf of the
performance analysis, including the semiotic elements inherent to the genesis of a piece, and
the composer’s assumptions. Composed by Eurico Carrapatoso, Espelho da alma, a string trio
with piano, is comprised by seven pieces, including Sedoso and Saudoso. One intends to analyse
the performance impact through the network of meanings generated during the process of
analysis between the two pieces. The enounced analytical strategies become complementary,
given that the contemporary music performer’s specificity tackles the interpreter’s need to
construct his own imagery. It is concluded that collaborative musical activities constitute a
primordial tool for the performer to reach their goals, due to the vast compositional
conception’s diversity generated with 21 century music.
st

Keywords. Contemporary music; Portuguese chamber music; Performance analysis;

Intertextuality.

Introduction

Aesthetical and stylistic pluralism, a core trait of western classical music in the last two
decades of the 20th century, is continued in the first decade of the 21st century, as stated by
Griffiths:
Music’s move into a new century – the first new century that modernism had
encountered – brought no immediate disruption. Indeed, a listener might
have great difficulty in identifying, on internal evidence alone, an unknown
piece as belonging to the first decade of the twenty-first century rather than
the last decade of the twentieth, or even the last decade but one, possible two
(2010: 409).
The fact that composers assume they are no longer associated to a given aesthetical alignment
shows their pluralist attitude. This trend is revealed in the possibility of constantly redefining
the concept of style. The absence of a single musical culture is thus seen as the creation of a
concept of global culture occurs, where several participants defend an eclectic aesthetical
position. This characterization is analysed by Pinho Vargas (2008), who states the “plurality
of simultaneous directions” as a trait of contemporary aesthetics, claiming that “there are no
certainties, there are problems”.

1
CESEM – FCSH, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal, [email protected]
This research falls within the scope of performance analysis of the repertoire composed in the
first decade of the 21st century. Its analytical approach shall incorporate this trend of
contemporary music repertoire, which is overwhelmingly characterized by a diversity of
stylistic and aesthetic trends. This fact is understood as creating specific performance
approaches. These specificities intersect with the permanent challenge that performers face
when they are approaching new codes – when it comes to interpreting music from the past of
western classical repertoire, the performer has already acquired a reference, which helps to
decode score. On learning a contemporary composition and assimilation of its specific codes,
pianist Charles Rosen comments:
[i]t takes more effort, more willpower, to arrive at an understanding of its
language. The first time I played any twelve-tone music was in 1952, three
short pieces of Milton Babbit for which I had only five days to prepare in
Paris before performing them on a brief tour of Switzerland […]. I practiced
the first piece, which lasts about three minutes, for four hours on the first
day. The next morning when I returned to the piano, it was as if I had never
seen the piece. I was in despair, full of self-doubt and even in panic. The
third day it clicked and I learned the two other pieces rapidly (2002: 226-
227).
Although Rosen refers to an older piece and not to the one under analysis, this quote
highlights the difficulty that a performer feels when approaching a code with which he is not
familiar: we can thus see that the interpretative specificities of contemporary music are
intertwined with the unfamiliar semiotic registers the performer deals with.
In this paper, one intends to construct a performance analysis, considering Cook’s
conceptualization as paramount, as the musicologist suggests that performers should think
more in terms of musical results, and not so much in the score (1992: 362-363). Cook alludes
to the association between the image a score evokes and its interpretative conception,
mentioning the high number of analyses Stockhausen’s Klavierstück III generated.
Considering the rhythmic complexity, the musicologist proposes resorting to imagery:
But whether they are right or wrong in this sense, none of these analytical
approaches is going to tell us much about the way the music is experienced.
If we want to know more about that, then for all that it matters the music
may be some kind of transcription of the Cologne telephone directory. We
have to think about what the music does to us rather than how it came out.
We need to describe it rather than speculate about it (idem: 356-357).
Continuing with the conceptualization on the relationship between the performer and the
score, it is intended to stress the difference between notation and the musical result through
semiotic contextualization, as Cook states:
[i]n short, (…) notation shapes music in the act of representing it, and so the
relationship between writing and playing or hearing can never be direct and
unmediated. For one thing, while there are elements of the iconic in
conventional notations – elements that map more or less directly from the
score onto actions or sounds – they are both limited and channelled by
symbolic elements, that is, elements whose meaning is contextual and
historically contingent. An icon is after all a sign, and as such part of a
larger semiotic economy (2013: 286).
The enrichment of the interpretation through performance analysis is intertwined with a
concept of connection between performance practice and analytical musicology establishing
the performer as a researcher, which is substantiated in Dogantan-Dack’s formulation (2015:
103). Advocating that methodologies of research and performance are under development

2
regarding their instrumental capacities, on the mastery of multiple theoretical contexts and the
analysis of the available documentation, the researcher claims:
[t]here are various kinds of processes involved in developing a performance
interpretation. Whether a musician’s approach is mainly analytical holistic
or intuitive serialist – or a mixture of these (Hallam, 1995) – and whether
one’s aesthetic goal is faithfulness to the composer’s intentions or not,
interpreting by definition involves personal decision making (Dogantan-
Dack, 2015: 189).
The construction of an interpretative script based on a personal narrative created through the
performance analysis is thus intended. This perspective shall be based in two main axes: the
composition assumptions and interpreter’s imagery.
In order to build an interpretative imagery, and considering that there is a fundamental
connection between songs of the Portuguese traditional songbook and the two pieces in this
case study, the use of intertextuality is viewed as a practice-based research tool.
Intertextuality was widely developed in literary research, and afterwards spilled over to other
knowledge and artistic fields. Reis’ vision clarifies this:
[t]he concept of intertextuality arises from a dynamic conception of the
literary text, an entity within the wide textual universe (which encompasses
both literary and non-literary texts) functioning as a space for dialogue,
exchange and constant interpenetration of texts in other texts. The term
“logosphere”, proposed by Roland Barthes, very suggestively conveys the
sense in which this intertextual world of languages can be thought, where
the literary text is activated (2008: 185, author’s translation).
The author highlights the “dynamic, interactive and multiple discourse dimension inherent to
intertextuality”. Calling on the premise of the construction of a personal narrative, a
connection is found with Panagiotidou’s thought (2011: 175), on the assertion of
intertextuality interpretation as an individual’s act:
[t]he text, on the other hand, is a static entity, a constant to which all
individuals have access alike. Its elements remain the same regardless of
who approaches it. Its existence is a precondition for the emergence of
intertextual frames, since they cannot surface without textual cues. However,
what changes in the case of intertextuality is the different words or phrases
will attract the attention of different readers and act as triggers for different
types of intertextual knowledge. Consequently, one can suggest that, despite
its importance, text assumes a secondary role allowing the individual to
occupy the prominent position. It is the background knowledge of
individuals that determines the possible intertextual connections (Reis,
2008: 188).
The analytical approach to intertextuality proposed for this case study, which shall intertwin
several perceptual levels of the interpreter, the text of each original song to the piece in
question, the suggestive coordinates present in the composer’s programme notes, the analysis
of the musical construction of each piece within the interpreter’s individual perspective,
identifies the analogy as a fundamental in this interpretative process. Zbikowski frames the
analogy as a fundamental element in creating meaning within musical thought:
As such, analogy is an essential part of the substrate of cognitive processes
that are fundamental to the kind of meaning construction that is associated
with metaphor (and, for that matter, metonymy and synecdoche). Perhaps
most important for the perspective on musical grammar developed in this
volume, analogy provides an ideal framework for understanding how

3
 sequences of patterned sound can, independent from language, create
meaning and thus shape humans’ cultural interactions (2017: 55).
We propose to consider this premise on a broader perspective, suggesting the sound analogy
is not restricted to the identification of specific musical cells, but rather considering the
possibility of identifying other compositional resources as contributory to the same cognitive
procedure, namely through the use of semiotic content and its association to the sound.

Performance Analysis: Sedoso and Saudoso as a case study

Both works Sedoso and Saudoso are presented as case studies. The two pieces belong to
Eurico Carrapatoso’s 2007 composition Espelho de Alma (Mirror of the Soul), written for
string trio and piano. This work is a set of harmonisations of songs from a Portuguese
traditional songbook, it is an inspiration source recurrent in his work. As described by
Carrapatoso:
[i]t’s about identity. It’s thus about soul. It’s about everything that is
essential, presented under the guise of a polipthyc on a symmetrical
centrepiece, as if it was a mirror. And, just as images projected on a mirror,
not only are the most hidden senses revealed, those in bas-relief, but also the
embossing of the traditions, the mountains of affection, the barometer of
emotions, the orography of feelings. Yes, the soul is the orography of life,
with its highs and lows. The soul is that ellipsis going from Eterno to
Materno, from Pírrico to Pícaro, from Sedoso to Saudoso, anchored in
Careto, the mask, that two-headed pillar which is our own projection in the
crudest, most instinctive drives, those drives the great Francis Bacon (1909-
1992) so often and so brilliantly vaunted in his paintings. (2007: 52).
Carrapatoso establishes a semantic connection between the composition title and a mirror
construction and a portrait of his cultural roots, which defines the work’s whole structure, as
seen in Figure 1:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Eterno Pírrico Sedoso Careto Saudoso Pícaro M aterno

Figure 1. Correspondence between the pieces.

Espelho da Alma has as starting point the Portuguese collective imagery, based on songs from
the popular culture, as well as a metaphoric content structure patent in the title. In the case of
the two songs under analysis, Sedoso comes from the song Olhos pretos (Carrapatoso, 2007:
4) and Saudoso from the song Terra do bravo.
It is not intended to present an exhaustive analysis of the pieces, but to emphasize the
analytical elements deemed necessary to recall the stated principles, anchored in

2
Author’s translation.

4
intertextuality and thus in analogy. A brief structural analysis was included, aiming to
promote a better understanding of the analytical thought used.
Sedoso3

Olhos pretos [Black eyes]

Olhos pretos são gentios [Black eyes are gentile]
São gentios, são gentios da Guiné (bis) [They are gentile, are gentile from Guinea
(bis)]
Ai da Guiné, por serem negros [Oh from Guinea, as they are black]
Por serem negros, gentios por não ter fé! (bis) [As they are black, gentile as they
don’t have faith! (bis)]
Os teus olhos cheios de ardor [Your gaze filled with passion]
Ai quanto amor diz à gente com o olhar (bis) [Oh how much love is bared in the
gaze (bis)]
Ai olhos pretos do meu encanto [Oh black eyes that charm me]
Ai quanto pranto tu fizeste derramar! (bis) [Oh the tears you have had shed! (bis)]

The instrumental constitution of the piece Sedoso excludes the cello, and it includes violin,
viola and piano. As one can see in Figure 2, it is structured in three sections, where the
melodic strategy corresponds to a strophic structure with the 1st and 2nd sections
corresponding to two stanzas, and the 3rd section is a repetition of the 1st stanza, without
resorting to repeating verses. From the 2nd tempo of bar 45, the coda is composed by a citation
of the theme of Debussy’s prelude La fille aux cheveux de lin, mentioned on bars 47 and 48.
This citation is twice announced before, on bars 5 and 6 and on bars 10 and 11, by the viola
and by the piano, and omitted in its corresponding 3rd section, bar 41, only to be highlighted
from the second tempo of bar 45.

1 st section 2 nd section 3 rd section

1 st stanza 2 nd stanza 1 st stanza
(bar 1 through 3 rd tempo of (4 th tempo of bar 19 through (wihtout bis)
bar 19) 3 rd tempo of 37) (4 th tempo of bar 37 to bar 48)

m elody m elody m elody

vl - vla: 1 s t v. vla - vl: 1 s t v. vla: 1 s t v.
vl - vla: 2 n d v. vla - vl: 2 n d v. vl: 2 n d v.

pn pn pn
arpeggios (semiquavers): 1 s t v. arpeggios (sextuplets) = to 1 s t stanza
vertical texture: 2 n d v. + coda
descending basso ostinato (3 rd tempo of bar 45 to bar 48)

Figure 2. Sedoso’s structure4.

3
Idem.
4
Abbreviations. vn – Violin; vla – Viola; vl – Cello; pn – Piano.

5
In the 1st section, the harmony, always performed by the piano, has a rhythmic configuration
of semiquavers at the right hand and of quavers at the left hand, modified on the 2nd verse,
which is associated to a texture option: the piano a web of voices based on the main theme.
The piano part corresponding to the 1st verse, done in a constant rhythmic movement and in
upward and downward arpeggio motions, was performatively thought as a gesture similar to
that of the barcarolle, in which the arpeggios are done in a circular and expressive motion, in
a well worked expressive tone kept within a secondary sound plan, over which the violin and
the viola weave a performative idea of declamation.
In the 2nd section (Example 1), the piano follows a downward line, cyclically repeated, with a
staggered movement between both hands, and a harmonious development in sextuplets is
added. This movement of the downward lines with half-notes figuration was performatively
determined as a passacaglia. The musical enhancement of this switch between high and low
register and it is an enriching interpretative element, but also a critical rhythmic support for
the group, as in the transition between sections, one detected the possibility of generating
some instability which would compromise the cohesion of the pulse.

Example 1. The beginning of section 2.

Sedoso has many notes leading to the exploration of an intense expression: dolce, at the short
piano introduction, changes in tempo (ritenuto immediately followed by a tempo), as well as

6
several suspensions, as for example in bars 4, 9 and 14. These expressive resources lead to an
idea of rubato, exemplified on bars 2 through 4, and 7 through 9. The 2nd section is filled with
indications of small crescendos and diminuendos, which also suggest the need for special care
when conducting the expressivity. The dynamic indication is quite intimate in the 2nd section
than in the other two, with a difference between the 1st and the 3rd sections: the latter is more
sweeping, maybe to highlight the lower register of the viola.
According to the composer, this play recalls the story of King Pedro and Inês de Castro:5
[…] this love melody from the Azores, both ingratiating and lyrical, full of
inner desire, evokes one of our identity icons, chiselled in the love between
Pedro and Inês de Castro. This tempo is smooth as Inês. That love became a
myth in our collective memory. It is a memento of the Portuguese identity
(Carrapatoso, 2007, author’s translation).
The association between the reference to Inês and Sedoso may be the basis for the piece’s
performative plan, as well as the use of the citation made by Carrapatoso to the theme of
Debussy’s prelude La fille aux cheveux de lin in order to establish a musical environment
analogy. This piano prelude occurs in an ethereal expressive environment that may be evoked
on the environment created in Sedoso, namely in the small coda, in which it is mentioned
three times, and is executed within a fading sonority, which is actually clear in the referred
dynamic succession: f (bar 45), p (bar 47) and pp (bar 48).
Saudoso

Terra do Bravo [Land of the Brave]

Eu fui à terra do bravo [I went to the land of the brave]
Bravo meu bem [Brave my darling]
Para ver se embravecia [To see if I became braver]
Cada vez fiquei mais manso [I became more and more tame]
Bravo meu bem [Brave my darling]
Para a tua companhia [For your company]
E eu fui à terra do bravo [And I went to the land of the brave]
Bravo meu bem [Brave my darling]
Com o meu vestido Vermelho [With my red dress]
O que eu vi de lá mais bravo [The bravest I saw over there]
Bravo meu bem [Brave my darling]
Foi um mansinho coelho [Was a tame bunny]
As ondas do mar são brancas [The waves on the ocean are white]
Bravo meu bem [Brave my darling]
E no meio amarelas [And yellow in the middle]
Coitadinho de quem nasce [Poor of who is born]
Bravo meu bem [Brave my darling]
P’ra morrer no meio delas [To die in their midst]

5
Inês de Castro was a Galician lady who fell in love with King Pedro I, who reciprocated that love. As he was married, and
also for political reasons regarding the succession to the Portuguese throne, this relationship was not welcomed by King
Afonso IV, and Inês was tragically assassinated. This story is part of the Portuguese historic and cultural heritage, and a
major theme for poets and playwrights, such as António Ferreira and Luís Vaz de Camões.

7
This is a play for piano and cello, an instrument which Carrapatoso (2007) claims to
symbolize Pedro, just as Sedoso had claimed Inês as the main character: […] the time has
now come for Inês to bear witness to Pedro’s theme, and all the longing (saudade) that the
cello evokes (author’s translation).
As shown in Figure 3, Saudoso is divided in three sections, bounded by the double bar on bars
18 and 27, to which corresponds a change of key signature from F minor in the 1st section to
C minor in the 2nd section and a return to F minor in the 3rd section. The 2nd section is a
variation of the 1st, and the 3rd section resumes the initial disposition, ending the piece with a
small coda (bar 36).

1 st section 2 nd section 3 rd section

(bars 1 through 18) (bars 19 through 27) (bars 28 through 39)
Fm Cm Fm

introduction - pn vcl m elody 1 st v. 1 st v. 1 st x pn

1 st v. (2x) - pn + vcl (2x) variation 2 nd x pn + vcl
pn - harmony

2 nd and 3 rd vs. (2x) 2 nd and 3 rd vs. (2x) 2 nd and 3 rd vs. (2x)

pn + vcl pn harmony pn + vcl
coda

4 th v. (2x)
pn + ecco vlc

5 th and 6 th vs. (2x)

vcl + pn

Figure 3. Saudoso’s structure

The melody flows between the right hand of the piano and the cello in varied forms,
sometimes melting in unison sharing the highlights, sometimes intertwining the phrases, and
other times an instrument speaks and the other replies. On the small introduction of the piece
(bars 1 and 2) the piano plays a melodic motive belonging to the original song, immediately
repeated in unison with the cello (bars 3 and 4), as seen in Example 2:

8
 Example 2. the integration of the melody between the piano and the cello.

In some moments, the piano begins and the cello joins it (bars 6 to 19). At other times, the
piano has a melodic prominence with a brief comment from the cello (3rd tempo of bar 12),
signalled in the score come eco, and then the cello resumes the phrase (3rd tempo of bar 14),
with comments and phrase excerpts interpreted by the piano. On the 2nd section, the cello has
the melodic lead, lasting until bar 28, when the previously described melodic intertwining is
resumed.
The coda (bars 36 to 39) is based on a descending interval of major third belonging to the end
of the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th verses of each stanza (e.g. on the 1st and 2nd tempos of bar 8 on the
piano and cello, and on the 1st and 2nd tempos of bar 10 on the piano). The interpretative
recognition of this melodic script fulfils the performative goals of Saudoso as an essential tool
for sharing expressivity. It’s up to performers to create and highlight the convergence and the
divergence between piano and cello as a means to score the intended musical speech,
considering that the piano’s harmonic resources are split between vertical harmonies, in a
script of many voices, and harmonies obtained in expressive arpeggios.
Saudoso is a very expressive play, with cantabile interpretative guidelines, dynamics between
p and f, and several indications such as sognando, expressivo (bar 11 on the piano and bar 14
on the cello), ethereal (bar 19 on the piano) and dolce (bar 22 on the cello). The use of the
piano resonance is revealed by the indication of a sustained use of the pedal (a single pedal
between bars 1 and 4) and reinforced by interpretative suggestions such as lasc. vibr. tutti gli
suoni (bar 2) and appena sentito (bars 37 through 39).
The presence of several voices in the 1st and 3rd sections of this Saudoso evokes Carrapatoso’s
love for choral composition, which is primordial to support the interpretative idea. The most
textured snippets require the sound of a tutti choir, which for the piano means a valuation of
all the voices. The snippets of the solo piano suggest the image of a solo voice, which is

9
translated as a search of expressivity within a text being recited. The required character and
all the expressivity indications, as well as the impressionistic ambiance of the last four bars,
which disappear in resonance, all lead to an ethereal ambiance, as if eternalizing Pedro’s love
for Inês. The shared melody and intertwining of piano functions, and the comments to the
melody that Pedro is singing, are performatively interpreted as Inês’ interventions. Thinking
about Inês as a character, she is dramatically closer or farther away according to the melodic
disposition: sometimes Inês is a part of the discourse construction, other times she replies to
that melody. The 2nd section proposes a scenario which only reveals Pedro, a role which falls
upon the cello; the piano has simply an illustrative role. When building the ensemble, the
pianist infers that sometimes symbolizes Pedro, other times replies as Inês, and yet others
builds the background of the dialog.

Intertextual relationships between Sedoso and Saudoso

The aesthetic prevalence connection Carrapatoso has with his nationality is shown on the
titles and semantic choices for each piece. One can also pay attention to the subtitle “Espelho
da Alma: Subsídios para o estudo de uma orografia musical portuguesa” (Mirror of the Soul:
Contribution for the study of the Portuguese musical orography), which shows this deep
connection.
As the mirror construction of Espelho da Alma, above-mentioned, it is now time to identify
the analogies that occur between the two scores under analysis, looking for a common thread
in the construction of the performative narrative. It is thus necessary to identify the
continuities and discontinuities between both pieces. The piano takes a role of a harmonic
driving force intertwined with that of a melodic leading actor, with the goal of maximizing
the expressivity among all participants.
Sedoso and Saudoso original songs are poems about love for someone. Although thematically
asunder the love between Pedro and Inês, they show poetic ideas fitting the drama this couple
lived through, and it is compelling to consider this linguistic bridge in its interpretative study.
Phrases as
Ai quanto amor diz à gente com o olhar [Oh how much love is bared in the
gaze] (2nd stanza, 2 nd verse)
Ai quanto pranto tu fizeste derramar [Oh the tears you have had shed] (2nd
stanza, 4th verse)6
in Olhos Pretos (Sedoso), have a content that could be sung by Inês, immersed in her love and
tragedy. The nostalgia arising from the poem Terra do Bravo (Saudoso) also leads to the
visualization of Pedro’s nostalgia, prompted in the piece’s title itself as well.

Conclusion

The intertextual relationships shown thus far are metaphoric relationships, which lead to the
creation of the interpretative script, in the sense that they provide perceptions and the
construction of a contextualization. This performance analysis allows the mapping of images

6
Author’s translation.

10
from different intertwined contexts: the national collective imaginary embodied in the popular
tradition and historic past, the western cultural ideology and the link to the past of Western
classical music.
The mentioned resources complete a cycle of intersections among several levels of
significance, leading to an interpretation towards the musical result. The above-mentioned
cooperation between the performer and the composer was crucial for the interpretative
construction, and in this case was based in two strategies: the use of documents that the latter
provided and the interaction of the performer with the score. The analytic and, afterwards,
performative result favouring the musical discourse was achieved through the balance
between reason and imagination, present in specific facts as the score and its indications and
in the resulting connection to the interpreter’s inner reality.

References

CARRAPATOSO, E. (2007). Pequena reflexão de Eurico Carrapatoso a propósito de sua obra

“Espelho da Alma”(subsídios para o estudo de uma orografia musical portuguesa).
Lisboa.
COOK, N. (1992). A guide to musical analysis. UK: W. W. Norton & Company.
————. (2013). Beyond the score, music as performance. New York: Oxford University
Press.
COSTA, J. A. & MELO, A. S. (1998). Dicionário da língua portuguesa. (6ª edição). Porto:
Porto Editora.
DOGANTAN-DACK, M. (2015). Artistic practice as research in music: theory, criticism,
practice. UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
GRIFITHS, P. (2010). Modern music and after. New York: Oxford University Press.
PANAGIOTIDOU, M. E. (2011). A cognitive approach to intertextuality: the case of
semantic intertextual frames. New castle:
http://docshare04.docshare.tips/files/28317/283176468.pdf.
PINHO VARGAS, A. (2008). Cinco conferências: especulações críticas sobre a história da
música do século XX. Lisboa: Culturgest.
REIS, C. (2008). O conhecimento da literatura. Coimbra: Edições Almedina, SA.
ROSEN, C. (2002). Piano notes: the hidden world of the pianist. USA: Penguin Books.
ZBIKOWSKI, L. M. (2017). Foundations of musical grammar. New York: Oxford University
Press.

11
Tarrying with the negative? Contemporary
music and the sublime
Mauro Fosco Bertola1

Abstract. Positioning at its core the category of the sublime, the modernist aesthetic
engenders a problematic relationship between music – characterised as a self-relating agent of
nonrepresentational negativity pursuing on its own terms a powerful critique of the Western
metaphysic of presence – and its embeddedness in cultural contexts. Susan McClary recently
highlighted how in the last few decades a new generation of composers has arisen, which by
still drawing on the modernist tradition nonetheless engages more directly with signification and
the cultural inscription of music. On this basis McClary calls for rehabilitating the allegedly
feminine category of the beautiful. Yet, is the beautiful the more apt category for aesthetically
framing this artistic development? In my paper I explore the potential Slavoj Žižek’s theory of the
sublime object offers for reading these recent developments neither in terms of a domesticated
modernism nor as a return to the category of beauty.
Keywords: Sublime; Beauty; Slavoj Žižek; Jean-François Lyotard; Sublime Object; Thomas Adès;
Salvatore Sciarrino; Kaija Saariaho.

On barricades and related mysteries2

Picking up again her old polemical stance from 1989 against the modernist aesthetic of the
sublime dominating the avant-garde in the second half of the 20th century, Susan McClary
recently highlighted how, in the last few decades, a new generation of composers like Kaija
Saariaho, George Benjamin and Salvatore Sciarrino has arisen, which though still drawing on
the modernist tradition, nonetheless engages more directly with signification and the cultural
inscription of music (McClary, 2015: 32-33). On this basis McClary dismisses what she dubs
“the lure of the sublime,” a fundamentally male aesthetic category promoting – from Richard
Strauss’ Salome to the latest computer game – an escalation of violence mostly directed
against women. Instead, McClary advocates rehabilitating the allegedly feminine category of
the beautiful, thus relocating music’s essence within the anthropological boundaries of
pleasure and opening it up for cultural diversity and contextuality. If Saariaho, Sciarrino,
Benjamin etc. “have returned to techniques and sonorities pioneered by Messiaen, Boulez and
others,” they nevertheless “openly acknowledge the expressive and rhetorical power” of this
music and thus “humanize its post-tonal idiom, making its power intelligible to audiences”
(McClary, 2015: 22; my emphasis). But, is the beautiful really a more fitting category for
aesthetically framing this artistic development?
From a different perspective, more focused on re-reading the 20th century modernist
experience in toto, Stephen Downes proposes in an essay from 2014 what appears to be a
more viable solution. If more recent philosophers like Jean-Luc Nancy have outlined the

1
Universität des Saarlandes, Deutschland. [email protected]
2
A previous version of this text has been published under the title “Sublime borders: Modernism, Music and the Negative” in
Perspectiva Filósofica 44/3 (2017), pp. 59-72; see also (Bertola, 2018).

12
porous boundaries between the beautiful and the sublime, Downes unearths an entire tradition
of aesthetic thinking, from Jean Paul to Friedrich Nietzsche, consistently intermingling the
two categories and attempting, by highlighting their reciprocity, to elaborate ways of grasping
– and at the same time debasing – their entanglement (Downes, 2014: 84-95).3 Shifting
attention to the musical field, Downes very convincingly exemplifies his findings by
considering the music of Francis Poulenc and concludes: “For Poulenc, the end was to
establish a repertory of strategies that facilitated new musical variants - inversion, subversion,
one might even say perversions - of those aesthetic qualities traditionally assigned to the
beautiful and sublime” (Downes, 2014: 105).
This may wonderfully fit the aesthetic gist of Poulenc’s music; let’s nevertheless consider a
brief example from one of the contemporary composers McClary seems to refer to, at least
implicitly, in her essay. In 1994 the British composer Thomas Adès arranged François
Couperin’s famous cembalo piece Les barricades mystérieuses for an ensemble of five
instruments (clarinet, bass clarinet, viola, cello and double bass). It is, of course, an oddly
peripheral example, a minor work and not an original composition, but the 20th century
modernist tradition has deeply engaged with this task of re-arranging past works: From
Stravinsky’s Pulcinella or Le baiser de la fée to Birtwistle’s Machaut à ma manière, we
witness how the predecessors’ pretensions of beauty and formal closure, of pleasure and
accomplishment have often been torn apart (ironically, melancholically etc.) or bent towards
the troubled waters of “let’s pretend (nothing happened)” like in Richard Strauss’s Tanzsuite
from keyboard pieces by François Couperin. Now, how do we account for Adès
arrangement?
Adès doesn’t clearly frame Couperin’s piece in terms of the beautiful as an accomplished
aesthetic experience (the muted strings and clarinets as well as the vanishing pianissimo in the
last couplet confer a spectral, ghostly character to the piece, as if the music and the players
aren’t really there, actually present), but neither does it transform the trompe l'oeil quality of
the original piece into the source of a sublime sense of awe and pain or a self-reflexive
statement in which music deconstructs itself, as in Anton Webern’s transcription of the
Ricercare a sei voci from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering. Nor can we detect any
kind of debasement strategies aimed at entangling in a Poulenc-ian gesture our all-too binary
aesthetic categories: no irony, no sentimentality, no rhetoric excesses, not even kitsch with a
critical edge are at work here. At its most fundamental, what we perceive is only that
something is slightly amiss, that the somehow pleasurable back and forth of the off-beat
melodic line with its syncopated development sounds awry. And we promptly find ourselves
asking what is actually missing what? Is it Adès’s arrangement, which here and there
smoothly misplaces an internal voice, suddenly forgets the right harmony or inadvertently
underplays the closure of a phrase? Or was this already in the original piece, which, after all,
is entitled “The mysterious barricades”? A porous ambiguity, a dizzy feeling of a somehow
enjoyable inconsistency takes hold of us: Pleasure, pain, melancholy, sublime?
What this arrangement makes poignantly clear, as we will see more clearly at the end of my
paper, is precisely my point regarding Downes’ reflections, not specifically on Poulenc, but
considered in their more general implications: If we want to overcome the binary opposition
between the beautiful and the sublime, making way for a more sympathetic and less
exclusivist reading of the 20th century musical experience and at the same time developing a
more apt understanding of contemporary compositional developments, our focus should not

3
On this point see also Beech 2009. Beech highlights how contemporary artists “have taken pleasure and critical purchase
from the confusion and collapse of the distinction between beauty and a vast range of its antonyms, such as ugliness, the
banal, ideology, chaos, and so on” (Beech, 2009: 17-18).

13
lie on the entanglement, on the jeux croisée of the two categories. Instead we have to consider
carefully that which Adès’s arrangement makes so impressively clear, i.e. that behind the very
dichotomy between the beautiful and the sublime and all the compositional strategies aiming
at their debasement there is a gap. The awkward sense that an indefinable something is
missing, not in the right place, permeating Adès’ arrangement, effectively circumscribes that
empty, meaningless space, that minimal distance, which the two categories of the beautiful
and the sublime as well as their reciprocal opposition rely upon. And what is ultimately this
empty space if nothing but the unfathomable void of the Real lying at the very core of Žižek’s
concept of the “sublime object”?
At its most fundamental, Žižek’s concept of the “sublime object” is the result of a somehow
counterintuive theoretical move, conflating in the same breath the Kantian sublime with
Freud’s sublimation.4 What may appear to be some kind of truism in English is in fact nothing
of the sort: Indeed, already at the etymological level, in German das Erhabene (the sublime)
has nothing in common with Sublimierung (sublimation). And at a conceptual level, too, the
intermingling of the two terms is a twisted one: What does the negative form of aesthetic
pleasure Kant calls the Sublime, and which he defines as the pleasure arising from the
twofold moment of a sensory and imaginative failure to grasp an event like an earthquake
immediately followed by the re-assertion of our intellectual superiority through its
subsumption under the category of infinity, have in common with that operation by means of
which what is socially excluded returns to the subject in a displaced, socially acceptable form
(arts, scientific work etc.), that operation Freud refers to as sublimation?
From Žižek’s standpoint, the former has everything to do with the latter:5 Our entire social
and individual life revolves around what he calls “sublime objects,” i.e., mysterious,
ungraspable “things” (persons, ideas, functions, items etc.) which precisely by being
ultimately nothing more than empty signifiers canalize and focus our enjoyment, our libido
and thus ultimately guarantee the experience of a “meaningful” universe. From “humanity” to
“freedom”, from “terrorism” to “la Femme” in the continuous shifts of their “ungraspable”
meanings behind the stability of their names/appearances, all these sublime objects offer
perfect because nearly bottomless vessels for the unstoppable, meaningless pulsing of our
enjoyment. At the same time they nevertheless sublimate this very enjoyment by offering a
point of reference, an ultimate authority to refer to, that “quilts” all the other signifiers and
thus guarantees the existence of a meaningful life-world. Even if for instance there are dozens
and dozens of conflicting and mutually exclusive definitions of “freedom” we all feel that this
is what Western civilization is ultimately about, and we are prepared to engage ourselves (in
very different ways and in different degrees) in its name.
With regard to aesthetics Žižek’s theory of the sublime object thus not only accounts for the
libidinal hold the aesthetic object exerts on us, but also it overcomes en bloc the opposition
between beautiful and sublime: Sublime objects being empty, pure functional vessels
capturing our enjoyment within the symbolic network, can indeed be aesthetically “beautiful”
as well as purely negative, sublimely connoted objects (like timbre in the case of Lyotard and
of the Darmstadt based musical Avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s, as we will see in more
detail farther into the text) and are often both at the same time.
So, in short, our task in trying to grasp what seems an odd, ambiguous intermingling of
beauty and the sublime – like Adès in our example – is to directly address the gap itself, the
Real lurking at the core of the sublime object. In a way, our critical task is nothing but simply

4
See in particular (Belsey, 2005: 141-148).
5
See in particular (Žižek, 1989: 201-209).

14
asking how 20th and 21st century music constructs this gap, this void continuously
undermining and debasing our aesthetic experience of the sublime as well as the beautiful.
How did different composers and aesthetic orientations envisage and deal with it? But what
does this mean in concrete terms? And speaking of gaps, void, emptiness etc., i.e. putting a
fundamentally negative magnitude at the core of our aesthetic endeavour, are not we in spite
of everything still stuck within the old, modernist logic of the sublime, thus invoking (once
again), mostly contrary to public taste, a renewed hecatomb of composers and compositional
styles in the name of some abstract, chauvinistically male, fundamentally violent aesthetic
category based on negativity like the sublime, as McClary would have put it?
To clarify my position let’s take a brief, critical look at what, in many ways appears to be a
fundamental moment in the aesthetic reflection on modernism under the guise of the sublime:
I’m referring to what it is probably the most Lacanian and in a way most extreme formulation
of aesthetic modernism, i.e. that of Jean-François Lyotard; a particularly intriguing
formulation that at first raises hopes of, as McClary puts it, “a break away from the modernist
trajectory,” but in the end seems to have engendered a perverse dynamic by means of which –
and I’m quoting McClary once again – a second generation of “Oedipal successors” arose,
“which often felt the need to push the already distended envelope yet further in order to claim
the right of ascendency” (McClary, 2015: 23). So, how did Lyotard conceive that negative
magnitude, that gap we intuitively referred to with our musical example? And, to put it
bluntly, where did he go wrong?

The Thing and its discontents: Lyotard’s Kantian sublime

If Robert Solomon was ever right in highlighting in 1991 a masochistic strain of modernism
and asking if “is there any room left in our jaded and sophisticated lives for the enjoyment of
simple innocence and ‘sweet’ affection” (Solomon, 1991: 13), then Lyotard’s reformulation
of modernist aesthetic fits this strain perfectly. So, how did it happen? The outstanding role
Lyotard ascribes to timbre in his few but nevertheless quite substantial essays on musical
subjects lies in the very fact that timbre appears to him, like nuance in painting, to be the
stand-in for that paradoxical invoking of the unpresentable within presentation itself the
sublime feeling stands for.6 Timbre is nothing more than the inscription within the acoustic
field of the sublime gap between reason and imagination, nothing but an agent of
differentiation, a différend, continuously defying identification, continuously suspending the
“active powers of the mind” and as such the very acoustic sign of modernity (Lyotard, 1991a:
140). As Lyotard puts it:
Within the tiny space occupied by a note or a colour in the sound- or colour-
continuum, which corresponds to the identity-card for the note or the colour,
timbre or nuance introduce a sort of infinity, the indeterminacy of the
harmonics within the frame determined by this identity (1991a: 140).
So, at first sight, we are dealing here with a postmodern form of sublime, fundamentally open,
rejecting formal closure. Nevertheless, it seems to me that particularly when it comes to
music something like an unresolved tension within Lyotard’s conceptualization of the sublime
and of its ties to the avant-garde becomes particularly conspicuous. Indeed, at the very end of
the essay Obedience (a title which, by the way, already says something about masochism),

6
On this point see also (Leipert, 2012).

15
Lyotard quotes approvingly the following lines from Giacinto Scelsi’s short text The Look of
the Night:
There is also another music of a transcendental character, which escapes all
analysis of its organization, as it escapes all human understanding. Certain
privileged beings have heard sounds, melodies and harmonies that can be
described as ‘out of this world’ (Lyotard, 1991b: 179).
Besides Scelsi’s perilous concluding drift toward that kind of Hegelian “pure intuition” that
Lyotard himself is always all too eager to criticize as the seminal moment of every form of
totalitarianism, Scelsi’s formulation clearly places true music, sound itself, in a noumenal
region of transcendental unreachability. And this noumenalization of timbre as an
unreachable beyond of pure sound-matter appears even more strongly in Lyotard’s own
formulations. In After the sublime Lyotard adopts Lacan’s most Kantian conceptualization of
the Real as the Thing, as “the beyond-of-the-signified” (Lacan, 1992: 54) and defines timbre
as that “which is not addressed, what does not address itself to the mind (what in no way
enters into a pragmatics of communicational and teleological destination)” (Lyotard, 1991a:
142).
The very fact that Lyotard uses Lacan’s concept of the Thing here is intriguing: Soon after the
seminar of 1959-60, where this notion first appears, Lacan almost entirely drops this notion,
probably concerned about its all too Kantian implications. Indeed in the same years of the
seminar Lacan explicitly warns in another text of the risks on somehow blurring together
Kant’s concept of the noumenon with his own concept of the Real. As he puts it:
This notion [of the Real, A/D] is not at all Kantian. I even insist on this. If
there is a notion of the real, it is extremely complex and, because of this,
incomprehensible, it cannot be comprehended in a way that would make an
All out of it (Lacan, 2005: 96-97)
Even if Lyotard doesn’t explicitly draw the two notions together, well aware of their
fundamental incompatibility, nevertheless, to put the matter in Alain Badiou’s terms, a “logic
of purification” (Badiou, 2006: 26-28) is at work in Lyotard’s conception of timbre as
inhuman sound matter lying beyond our all-too-human experience; a logic that, even if it
doesn’t really “make an All out of it”, nevertheless engenders a whole poetic of music as the
act of freeing some kind of noumenal inner life of sound itself and with it an extreme defence
of the autonomous, self-relating character of music and of the work of art. Even in his late
essay Music and Postmodernity, Lyotard on the one hand openly criticizes the grand récit of
the history of music as the progressive emancipation of sound. He acknowledges the
embeddedness of timbre as inaudible sound-matter within immanence, affirming that “the
inaudible is an act in the space-time-matter of sound” (Lyotard, 2009: 41). But on the other
hand he’s not interested in following up on or explicating how this intriguing embeddedness
of the two planes concretely works. He never truly poses the question of how timbre/sound as
the Real concretely interacts with music itself.
Precisely this noumenal understanding of sound/timbre forces Lyotard to structure his
thinking along a series of aporias: the avant-garde is defined by successfully “causing the ear
to sense sound-matter – timbre – freed from all destination” (Lyotard, 2009: 43) and thus it
revolves around the aporia of “making heard that which escapes in itself all hearing”
(Lyotard, 2009: 43, slightly modified). Music itself appears split between music per se, in its
noumenal autonomy, what Lyotard calls Tonkunst, and its being there, as perceived by our
phenomenal ears, in Lyotard’s terms, musique. So, whenever the task is to account for the
interlacing between the phenomenal as the space where sound happens and concretely
resounds on the one hand, and its noumenal, transcendental roots on the other, Lyotard, like

16
Kant, has no other choice than to structure this relationship in the form of disjuncture, of an
aporia between two distinct, non-communicating levels of reality.
In this way, Lyotard lays bare the Kantian roots at the core of the modernist sublime and their
problematic consequences. As Slavoj Žižek puts it, the whole point of Kant’s Copernican
revolution basically consists in affirming “a transcendental gap,” i.e. in Kant’s
acknowledgment that “every content appears within an a priori formal frame” (Žižek, 2014:
15-16), that the noumenon is out of reach, always-already missed in its being an sich, beyond
the boundaries of our experience of the world even if it structures it. This perfectly captures
the basic gesture of modernism itself, as practised – at least in their aesthetic statements – in
the second half of the 20th century by composers like Boulez, Stockhausen, Varèse and Luigi
Nono. Here the very impossibility of achieving the noumenal absolute (pure sound, time as
such etc.) becomes the motor of their creative outburst; something that makes modernism an
“unfinished project” doomed to keep going and endlessly missing its goal (Jameson, 2009:
61-62).
But this noumenalization of the gap is precisely what we don’t find in the new generation of
composers McClary refers to (nor in “older” composers like Poulenc or Satie, as Downes
made perfectly clear): Even if they use the techniques of their modernist predecessors, here
the gap is not a masochistic beyond, unabashedly demanding blind obedience, as Lyotard puts
it. On the contrary, the gap appears playful, ambiguous, even mischievous in its ubiquity. So,
I think that in order to aesthetically grasp what is going on right now, what we have to do is to
consider what has proven to be the most fundamental step in Western thought over the last
two centuries, namely the transition from Kant to Hegel. What do I mean?

Modernism: From Kant to Hegel

In the last two decades an entirely new interpretation of Hegel has been attempted by scholars
like Catherine Malabou, Rebecca Comay, Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek, aiming at doing
away with the old interpretive clichés on the Jena philosopher. That very same Hegel who, in
the works of Lyotard, Gilles Deleuze or Jacques Derrida appeared as the stand-in for
identitarian thinking, for the everlasting (totalitarian) temptation of Western metaphysic to
square the circle and to speak for the totality of being itself, this Hegel becomes in recent
scholarship the very spearhead of a dialectic the ultimate goal of which is not the conciliatory
gesture of Aufhebung but a reaffirmation of the power of contradiction. For instance, in an
article from 2013 Rebecca Comay describes as follow what in the traditional (anti-)Hegelian
doxa appears to be the very proof of Hegel’s outdated and preposterous ambition to somehow
speak on behalf of being itself, i.e. that concept of “Absolute Knowing” at the end of the
Phenomenology of Spirit, in which the entire dialectical process reaches its own conclusion:
It’s the Saturnine aspect of the operation that fascinates me. Sluggish,
torpid, ‘sunk into the night of its own self-consciousness,’ Absolute Knowing
digests what it encounters and secretes what it has assimilated as its own
excrescence. […] A moment of kenotic expenditure in which the speculative
reversal from loss to gain is in turn reversed […]. Could such an
undecidable figure—the very figure of indecision—make its comeback as the
final figure of the dialectic? (Comay, 2013: 144-145).
Instead of an affirmative, “identitarian” synthesis we suddenly face in Comay’s interpretation
of Hegel’s Absolute Knowing its very opposite, an uncanny reversal, in which it seems we
have been suddenly thrown back to the very chaos the entire dialectical process began with.

17
But what does this un-decidability breaking through at and as the end of Hegel’s dialectic
mean in concrete terms?
If Kant affirms the existence of a noumenal, transcendental formal frame, laying beyond the
boundaries of our experience of the world but nevertheless structuring it, the proper Hegelian
move in dealing with such a Kantian frame resides precisely in shifting this transcendental
gap a step further: What Hegel ultimately accomplishes with his own philosophy is, according
to Žižek, to affirm that “the very gap between content and form is to be reflected back into
content itself, as an indication that this content is not all, that something was
repressed/excluded from it” (Žižek, 2014: 15-16). The basic gesture of Hegel’s dialectic thus
consists not in a (totalitarian) glimpse into the noumenon in itself, but in revealing how this
noumenon is per se barred, caught up in an internal antagonism. Or, to put it another way:
When Kant asserts the limitation of our knowledge, Hegel does not answer
him by claiming that he can overcome the Kantian gap and thereby gain
access to Absolute Knowledge in the style of a precritical metaphysics. What
he claims is that the Kantian gap already is the solution: Being itself is
incomplete (Žižek, 2004: 45).
At this point it becomes clear that the passage from Kant to Hegel advocated by Žižek implies
within the aesthetic sphere the very opposite of what Lyotard identified as the fundamental
gesture of every true aesthetic (post-)modernism, i.e. that jubilation, that “making us discern
the unpresentable in the writing itself, in the signifier”, Lyotard saw as paradigmatically
embodied in James Joyce’s work. The point is not to challenge the form in order to express by
means of a sublime feeling the unpresentable content (the inhuman Thing), but to reveal the
very split between form and content as the inherent property of the content itself: Here the
Kantian noumenon wrapped in its own transcendental self-sufficiency becomes that
undecidable figure Hegel’s Absolute Knowing is concerned with. Ultimately, to put in more
Lacanian terms, we have “traversed the fantasy” of the sublime object itself or, as Žižek puts
it: “to ‘unmask the illusion’ does not mean that ‘there is nothing to see behind it’: what we
must be able to see is precisely this nothing as such” (Žižek, 1989: 195).
And, to conclude, is this not what we ultimately get in Adès’s arrangement of Couperin’s
cembalo piece? As we saw at the beginning of my paper, Adès’s refined instrumentation
doesn’t convey the sense of a trans-historical sound event sublimely shimmering through the
texture of Couperin’s phenomenal music or breaking/deconstructing from within the original
logic of the piece. There is no dynamic tension between some unaccomplished surface and an
unreachably deeper truth at work here. But the arrangement neither reconstructs Couperin’s
work in terms of a self-assuring, pleasurable sense of closure, celebrating the beauty of an – at
least in the arts – accomplished finitude (the rococo dreams of denial in Strauss’s own
engagement with Couperin). Instead, what we confront here is an utterly open space of
inconsistency or, to put it once again in more Lacanian terms, a – indeed feminine – non-All,
a twisted space, troubled by some missing object, by a gap, but a gap that – unlike Lyotard’s –
has no consistency of its own: What we become able to hear here it is “nothing as such”.
Like the traumatic event in Freud, the ontological consistency of this gap is only that of a
fantasmatic reconstruction après-coup, of a retroactive formation the reality of which (Did it
really happen? And did it really happen this way?) is continuously under scrutiny. The
wonderful blurring together of Couperin and Adès throughout the piece impressively
exemplifies this point: The gap, the weird sense of something missing, relentlessly dances
back and forth between Couperin (the off-beat melody, its syncopated development) and Adès
(the muted instruments, the modernist fragmentation of the melodic line redistributed between
different players etc.). The gap becomes a porous, ubiquitous something, metamorphosizing

18
in a plethora of symptoms we can no longer ascribe to one source or another. Ultimately,
what we acoustically confront here is our being caught up in an imperfect finitude, unable to
fully fit the pure immanence of nature, to be a meaningful part of any cosmos whatsoever, nor
to subscribe once again to those sublime pretensions of transcendental erlösung that culture
unabashedly upholds despite everything. And precisely this void, this “Real” zone of
indecidability, neither beauty nor the sublime, is what, in my opinion, the more recent
compositional developments McClary refers to in her essay are trying to map out.

References

ADORNO, T. W. (1997). Aesthetic Theory, Minneapolis/MN: University of Minnesota Press.

BADIOU, A. (2006). The Century. Cambridge: Polity.
BEECH, D. (2009). Introduction. Art and the Politics of Beauty. In Dave Beech (ed.) Beauty.
Documents of Contemporary Art. London-Cambridge/MA: MIT Press, 12-19.
BELSEY, C. (2005). Culture and the Real. Theorizing Cultural Criticism. London - New
York/NY: Routledge.
BERTOLA, M. F. (2018). The Sound’s Remains: Some Thoughts on Harrison Birtwistle’s
Orpheus Elegies (2004) or: Timbre from Kant to Hegel, Contemporary Music
Review, 36(6), 590–613.
COMAY, R. (2013). Hegel’s Last Words. Mourning and Melancholia at the End of the
Phenomenology. In J. Nichols & A. Swiffen (ed.) The Ends of History: Questioning
the Stakes of Historical Reason (pp. 141–160). New York: Routledge.
DOWNES, S. (2014). Beautiful and Sublime. In Stephen Downes (ed.) Aesthetics of Music.
Musicological Perspectives. London-New York/NY: Routledge, 84–110.
JAMESON, F. (2009). Valences of the dialectic. London: Verso.
LACAN, J. (1992). The Seminar. Book VII. The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959-1960 (trans.
Dennis Porter). London: Routledge.
————. (2005). Le triomphe de la réligion, précedé du Discours aux catholiques. Paris:
Seuil.
LEIPERT, T. (2012). Destination Unknown: Jean-François Lyotard and Orienting Musical
Affect. Contemporary Music Review, 31(5-6), 425–438.
LYOTARD, J-F. (1991a). After the Sublime, the State of Aesthetics (trans. by G. Bennington
& R. Bowlby). The Inhuman. Reflections on Time (pp. 135–143). Cambridge: Polity
Press.
————. (1991b). Obedience (trans. by G. Bennington & R. Bowlby). The Inhuman.
Reflections on Time (pp. 165–181). Cambridge: Polity Press.
————. (2009). Music and Postmodernity (1996). New Formations, 66(2), 37–45.
McCLARY, S. (2015). The lure of the Sublime: revisiting the modernist project. In Erling E.
Guldbrandsen & Julian Johnson (ed.) Transformations of Musical Modernism.
Cambridge/MA: Cambridge University Press, 21-35.
SOLOMON, R. (1991). On Kitsch and Sentimentality, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art
Cirticism, 49(1), 1-14.
ŽIŽEK, S. (1989). The Sublime Object of Ideology. London: Verso.

19
————. (2004). Organs without bodies. Deleuze and Consequences. New York-London:
Routledge.
————. (2014). From Kant to Hegel. International Journal of Žižek Studies, 8(1), 1–19.

20
Size Does Matter: Microtonal Harmonic Distance
as a Structural Determinant in Just Intonation
James Dalton1

Abstract. Historically certain aspects of just intonation such as the commas, diesis, and the
need for more than one size for some common intervals, have been viewed as flaws in the
system. Many theorists and composers believed these to be insurmountable obstacles to its
use, choosing various temperaments such as meantones, well-temperaments, and, more
recently, microtonal equal divisions of the octave. Even Harry Partch, who championed the use
of just intonation, limited the number of pitches in an effort to keep his palette manageable.
Recently, some composers have chosen to make these issues into features of their
compositions rather than avoid them. Since the late 20 century composers such as Ben
th

Johnston and Lou Harrison make these features into structural and expressive devices and use
them to delineate form.
Keywords: just intonation; microtonal; syntonic comma; Free Style; Lou Harrison; Ben Johnston

Introduction and Historical Background

Most composers and theorists of the past few centuries have considered some aspects of just
intonation to be flaws that precluded its use. In this article, I will explore ways that some late-
20th-century American composers have exploited these as essential features of their
compositions.
Just intonation is distinct from other tuning systems because it is non-tempered. Just intervals
are derived from the harmonic series and often expressed as ratios. You can think of the ratios
as describing an interval between two members of a harmonic series, for example, 3/2
represents the interval between the third and second harmonics of a fundamental represented
by the integer 1. 15/8 represents the interval between the fifteenth and eighth harmonics of a
fundamental represented by 1, and so forth. For a variety of reasons – musical and practical –
composers and theorists have found that tempering or compromising these intervals by tiny
amounts provided a solution that kept the required pitches to a manageable number, especially
for fixed pitch instruments such as keyboards, mallet percussion, and fretted stringed
instruments. This is where the various mean-tones, circulating or well temperaments, and
equal temperaments come into play.
David Doty gives one of the clearest definitions of just intonation. He calls it, “any system of
tuning in which all of the intervals can be represented by whole-number frequency ratios,
with a strongly implied preference for the simplest ratios compatible with a given musical
purpose” (Doty, 1994: 1).
A “given musical purpose” in a just intoned composition could vary from composer to
composer and from piece to piece, but to give one example that is fairly common, we will

1
Boston Conservatory at Berklee, USA. [email protected]

21
need to touch upon the issue of “prime limits.”(Doty, 1994: 27) In music-mathematical terms,
a prime limit is the highest prime number used in a set of ratios. The historical tuning
common in Europe before the Renaissance was 3-limit or Pythagorean tuning. All the ratios
could be formed using only the primes 2 and 3. Musically, this meant that all the intervals
could be derived by combining and stacking octaves (2/1) and fifths (3/2). This resulted in a
major third of 81/64 (called the Pythagorean ditone) rather than the simpler and arguably,
more consonant 5/4.
When later composers began to use the major and minor thirds as consonances, they needed
to accept intervals of the 5-limit in order to get major thirds of 5/4 and minor thirds of 6/5.
Hence, in a 3-limit context a major third would be 81/64 but in a 5-limit context, a major third
would be 5/4. Common practice never fully accepted the move to the 7-limit and beyond,
though a number of musicians advocated for these changes to little or no avail. Since the mid-
twentieth century, though, more composers have availed themselves of these resources. Partch
worked with an 11-limit gamut and other composers used limits of thirteen and above in their
works. Each of these different prime limits would add different available options for our
familiar intervals as well as some for which our 12-note equal temperament system (12edo or
“12-tone equal division of the octave”) gives no adequate approximation.

Just Intonation
Interval 12edo
(to the nearest cent)

P8 1200¢ 1200¢

P5 700¢ 702¢
P4 500¢ 498¢
M3 400¢ 386¢
m3 300¢ 316¢
Table 1. A table comparing some common equal tempered and just intervals.

The 5-limit just major 3rd is ~14¢ lower than in 12edo and the Pythagorean ditone obtained
by stacking perfect fifths is ~8¢ higher than in 12edo. The difference between these is ~22¢
(actually closer to 21.51¢) and is called the syntonic comma or the comma of Didymos (first
century C.E.) who was one of the earliest theorists to choose the just major third (5/4) over
the Pythagorean major third (81/64). The difference between these is 81/80 which is another
way to express the syntonic comma. This and other classic tuning discrepancies have been
called “the historical tuning problem.” (Polansky, 2009: 74) Mathematically, it can be
explained by the fact that the numbers in question, 3 and 5, are primes and no power of 3 will
ever equal any power of 5. Stated musically, stacks of perfect fifths and those of major thirds
will never coincide in just intonation.
The syntonic comma and the issues surrounding it have been known and examined by
theorists since antiquity. We will focus for the moment on one aspect – commatic drift, which
is the shifting up or down by the distance of a syntonic comma when certain passages are
executed in just intonation by voices or flexible-pitch instruments. This has been a commonly
discussed issue since the Renaissance. One of the most straightforward examples comes from
Christiaan Huygens’ Cosmotheros:
...if any Persons strike those sounds which the Musicians distinguish by
these Letters, C, F, D, G, C by these agreeable Intervals, altogether, perfect,

22
 interchangeable, ascending and descending with the Voice: Now the latter
sound C will be one comma or very small portion lower than the first
sounding of C. (Huygens, 1698: Book I, They have Musick)
He then shows the math:

4/3 + 5/6 + 4/3 + 2/3 = 80/81

(modern practice puts the larger number first: 81/80)

Figure 2. Huygens’ commatic drift demonstration

and he states that if this passage is repeated nine times the resulting C would be nearly a
whole tone lower and adds:
But this, the sense of the Ears by no means endures, but remembers the first
tone, and returns to it again. Therefore, we are compelled to use an occult
Temperament, and sing these imperfect Intervals, from doing which less
offence arises. And for the most part, all Singing wants this Temperament...
(Huygens, 1698: Book I, They have Musick)
Many composers and theorists in the 20th and 21st centuries have used a lattice to visualize
tonal space. A common form of the just intonation lattice is shown below. The prime number
3 (perfect fifth) is represented on the horizontal axis while the prime number 5 (major third) is
shown on the vertical axis. The lattice theoretically extends to infinity in all directions
(Tenney, 1983: 24):

Figure 3. A portion of the 5-limit JI lattice.

Pitches with the same name on this lattice actually vary by syntonic commas. For example,
the C on the bottom line of this lattice is the highest, with each higher line containing a C that
is one syntonic comma lower than the previous line; the same holds for all pitches.
We can demonstrate the commatic drift of Huygen’s example on a portion of the lattice. The
superscript numbers (called “Eitz notation”) show the comma relationship to the starting
pitch:

23
 Figure 4. Lattice for Huygens’ demonstration.

Notice that it is the third from F to D (actually D-1) that drives the drift. The shift to a
different plane on the lattice is because the minor third (6/5) is an interval of prime 5. In a
Pythagorean tuning (a chain of perfect fifths, that is 3-limit), the move from F to D would
have been on the same straight line (to the D at the right of the lattice portion) but this D
would be less consonant, out of tune by a comma. The example would have ended at the same
pitch with which it began. Equal temperament works in a similar way to Pythagorean but with
all of the intervals tempered - P5ths smaller by ~2¢ and the m3rd from F to D, smaller by
~16¢.
In a series of letters to Cipriano de Rore around 1563, Giovanni Battista Benedetti discusses
the same issue and gives examples of both rising and falling commatic drift (Reiss, 1925).
Here is the rising example:

+1 +2 +3 +4
Figure 5. Benedetti’s demonstration with comma displacement below staff.

The tied A causes the C in the bass to be a comma higher. Tuning the next G to that pitch
requires it (the G) to be higher by a comma as well. Here is a lattice for it:

Figure 6. Lattice for Benedetti’s demonstration.

For each repeat the lattice would move to the right in the same manner indicating the rise of a
comma. In this case, the interval that drives the commatic drift is the major sixth. Being the
inversion of a third, it is still an interval of the prime 5.

24
Benedetti states that the result is odiosa esset sensui auditus (“odious to the aural sense”) and
recommends tempering out the comma (spreading it over several fifths) as a solution.
There are many other examples discussing this issue including an article by physicist Max
Planck (Planck, 1893) and a letter from A. H. Fox-Strangways to Harry Partch (1974).
What unites all these analyses is the general dismissal of just intonation based on this one
problem. They essentially all say either (1) that we must use temperament to avoid the
problem or (2) that singers and players would adjust to avoid the effect instinctively. Max
Planck encourages conductors to be aware of the issues and choose wisely. At the end of his
article he holds out hope that a genius who speaks the language of just intonation better than
any others might cause it to play a greater role in music in the future.
Ob die natürlichen Stimmung künftig einmal eine bedeutendere Rolle in der
Musik zu spielen berufen ist, als jetzt, vermag heute Niemand zu sagen.
Sicher ist nur das Eine, dass dies nur dann geschehen wird, wenn ein Genius
ersteht, der in der Sprache der natürlichen Stimmung mehr zu sagen weiss,
als in irgend einer anderen; ihm würde gewiss kein principielles Bedanken
Stand halten.2 (Planck, 1893: 440)

Case studies

In this article, I will examine the works of two late 20th century American composers who
were influenced by Harry Partch (1901-1974), but each created their own individual approach
to just intonation. Lou Harrison (1917-2003) found interest in just intonation sparked by his
reading of Genesis of a Music (Partch 1949) which he read on the recommendation of Henry
Cowell. Partch’s idiosyncratic approach to just intonation became a dominant influence
among Americans drawn to just intonation and other forms of microtonality. Harrison was
among the first to carry the banner of just intonation, which he did with the zeal of a convert.
Ben Johnston (b.1926) intended to study with Partch but the latter’s aversion to teaching
made the situation more of a master/apprentice relationship. Partch’s music was primarily
created for his unique instrumentarium born of his abilities as a woodworker. Lacking those
skills, Johnston turned to writing for standard orchestral instruments and retuned pianos. In
particular, his ten string quartets represent an impressive achievement even though several of
them did not receive premiers or recordings until just a few years ago from the able hands of
the Kepler Quartet who have performed and recorded the complete set.
In his string quartets, Ben Johnston explores just intonation through a multiplicity of
techniques, including serial procedures, control of tonality by prime limits, and a number of
creative and personal approaches to form. In 2006 Johnston wrote of one of his fundamental
artistic concerns:
In more recent works I have been attempting to ask myself — and to answer
in my compositions — such questions as: what would the music of Ars Nova
and subsequent Renaissance polyphonic music have been like if not only
sharps and flats but also the microtonal interval of the syntonic comma had
been a conscious and deliberate part of a composer’s palette? That one I

2
Whether just intonation will in the future again be called to play a significant role in the performance of music,
no one can say today. Just one thing is certain: this will happen only when a genius arises who has more to say
in the language of just intonation than in any other. In that case, he would not be stopped by any principle.
Author’s translation.

25
 tackled in the first movement of String Quartet No. 9. In its third movement
the question was: what if Beethoven had been observing just such niceties in
composing a slow movement for a string quartet? (Johnston, 2006a: 19)
Although throughout most of history commatic drift has not been an intentionally audible
feature of Western music, Johnston makes it a structural and expressive device in the third
movement of his ninth quartet. See example 9.
A few words about Johnston’s notation will help to elucidate. He uses Ptolemaic just
intonation (also called Syntonic diatonic) as the basis. The seven letters A through G with no
accidentals represent a C major scale in this intonation represented here by a portion of the
just intonation lattice.

Figure 7. Ptolemaic just intonation, the root of Johnston’s notational system.

The D at the bottom right is tuned as a 3/2 perfect fifth above the G. The D- is a syntonic
comma lower (Johnston uses + and - to represent the syntonic comma) and is a perfect fifth
from A.
As vibrational ratios:

Figure 8. Ptolemaic JI in ratio form.

These ratios apply to any major key in this intonation. Since Johnston bases his notation on C
major, the Bb- chord in measure three is diatonic to a Ptolemaic F major. Bb- is, in fact 4/3
(subdominant) in the key of F. The first four measures are a fairly traditional type of key-
establishing progression. Partly because of the harmonic palindrome (V-I-IV-I-V) from the
third quarter note of measure one to measure four, the tonic does not drift at this point.
The key to the controlled commatic drift is the difference between the large major second
(9/8) and the small major second (10/9). Johnston chooses his second degree based on its
relation to the preceding pitches. The drift becomes audible at measure six – note the g-
harmony. It drops another comma in the next measure (g- -). There is a secondary dominant
(V7/vi) at the point of greatest tension, a tension that derives more from the pitch nadir of the
Key of F- - than from the simple chromaticism.
Johnston then brings us back over four measures from F- - to F- to F. and then a half cadence
in measure fourteen. The subsequent fourteen measures repeat essentially the same
progression varied melodically terminating in an authentic cadence. The overall form is
ternary. The middle section begins in the key of g- (10/9 above the tonic F) and back to F
before the return of the first theme in the last section, which is varied by the addition of

26
sixteenth notes in the second violin and viola, increasing the tension by using pitches based
on the seventh and thirteenth harmonics (prime numbers 7 and 13).
The section of score included in example 9 represents, with some variation, all but the middle
section of the movement. Johnston has a new approach to form here in which the drift of two
commas away and back to the original tonic for the cadence delineates the simple structure in
a new and rich way. Traditional techniques of melodic motion, harmonic progression, and
cadence are enhanced by the addition of this intonational movement. Rather than avoiding the
drift of a syntonic comma, he celebrates it and puts it at the service of the form.
Johnston said, “the paradigm upon which the behavior of tones in Western art music rests is
radically altered in important ways when tempering is brought to bear upon it” and “…the
confusion of spiral designs with circular ones is a radical change of symbolic
meaning” (Johnston 2006b: 168). In his music, he attempts to restore, or at least illuminate,
the original paradigm.

Figure 9. excerpt from Ben Johnston, String Quartet #9, III.

27
Lou Harrison posited that there are two different approaches to composing in just intonation:
“Strict Style,” defined as composing within a predetermined scale or gamut; and “Free Style,”
which he described as composing in such a way that “you don’t have a preliminary
concatenation of tones or intervals but a free association of intervals that you know and
associate as you wish for artistic purposes” (Doty, 1987: 10). His concept of Free Style is
recognized as a significant contribution to music theory (Polansky, 1987). Harrison composed
just a few pieces using this technique between 1955 and 1974. At that time, practical matters
of performance seemed almost insurmountable. Technological advances now facilitate both
composition and performance of Free Style pieces. This, however, is still a poorly understood
aspect of Harrison’s career and oeuvre. It is my intent to re-examine these ideas and clarify
the meaning of the terms.
Among his pieces in Strict Style just intonation we can count all of the pieces that he
composed for his struck-idiophone and “gamelan” ensembles; those for retuned keyboards
such as the Incidental Music to Cornielle’s “Cinna”(1957); all of his works for guitar; and
such pieces as Concerto in Slendro (1961) and the Four Strict Songs (1955), among many
others.
When we consider the Free Style, we are presented with a very different story. Though he left
several incomplete sketches, Harrison only composed three complete pieces in this manner:
Simfony in Free Style (1955); At the Tomb of Charles Ives (1963); and A Phrase for Arion’s
Leap (1974). This last one is only thirty-six seconds long. He, himself, admits to the
complications involved in this kind of composition. In 1987, he was still unsure of the
practicality:
… And so far as I know there’s still not an instrument that’s capable of
doing that, either electronic or any other kind …I would love to hear an
extended piece. I have sketches for extended pieces in the free style, but
there’s no way of doing it. …After all these pieces have been extant for 25
years. That’s a quarter of a century. (Doty, 1987: 10)
At the Tomb of Charles Ives pays homage to the American composer, Charles Ives partly by
reference to one of his more well-known works, The Unanswered Question. In this work, Ives
uses a solo trumpet playing nearly identically repeated phrases over a slow-moving C major
string background. The most obvious parallel in Harrison’s tribute is the repeated solo
trombone phrase over an open fifth (3/2) on C and G in the strings shown in example 6. In a
way, this piece is like a combination of Strict Style and Free Style. The trombone and harp I
are based on a simple anhemitonic pentatonic scale throughout. It is the other instruments that
participate in the “free” aspect of this composition.

28
 Figure 10. At the Tomb of Charles Ives. Excerpt (p. 6 of the score) Harrison.

In this excerpt, the strings, with intonational assistance from harps II and III, depart from the
C pentatonic the most before the last repeat of the trombone phrase. The intervals are mostly
drawn from just-intoned diatonic modes on several different tonics in fairly rapid succession.
Harrison seems to have made concessions toward playability in this piece and it has indeed
proven to be the most frequently performed of the three.
For all the stability of the pentatonic sections of this composition, the string passage at page 6
of the score3 moves the farthest from the tonic. This brings us to the most harmonically
remote area right before the final return of the pentatonic trombone theme in the last measure
of that page.
This can be seen very clearly on the lattice.

3
Published by Peermusic Classical.

29
 Figure 11. Lattice for Harrison, At the Tomb of Charles Ives.

The lighter areas at the bottom right represent the pitches used for the first five pages and the
end. The pentatonic framework is C, D, E, G, A in that region of the lattice. At the top left are
the pitches in the strings that mark the most remote harmonic region before the return of the
theme in the trombone in the last measure of page 6 pictured above in example 10.
Though Johnston had used intervals based on primes 7 and 13 in the last section of his quartet
movement, these intervals did not have any function relative to the commatic drift that I
described. They were used primarily for color and interest in the inside voices of the second
violin and the viola.
Harrison, on the other hand, moves through some areas related to the preceding pitches by
intervals of prime number seven (related to the seventh harmonic). These are shown in the
lattice by diagonal lines that represent a third dimension.

Final considerations

In Harrison’s practice, Free Style requires a great deal of conscious control rather than a free
expression of musical intuition. This stems in part from the strictures of instrumental
performance, but also from Harrison’s desire to use the intervals of just intonation in ways
informed by his knowledge of acoustics and the ideas of earlier theorists, indeed including the
Persian theorist and polymath, Ibn Sina (980-1037) and the Greeks, Didymus (1st century
BCE) and Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100 – c. 170 CE) among others. Though the body of
Harrison’s Free Style works is small, it displays the same richness of ideas and expressivity as
his more numerous Strict Style compositions. The distinction between these two approaches
informs the work of many composers who use just intonation and other microtonal
approaches to the present day.
Aside from the fact that both composers use microtonal harmonic distance to help delineate
form, there are important differences. Johnston is thinking tonally here and though he uses

30
“whatever intervals he feels he needs,” it is at the service of the overall tonality. This does not
diminish Harrison’s insight – his use of Free-Style technique is beautiful in itself and a rich
avenue for exploration – but it is a very different approach than that of Johnston.
While these approaches may have been impractical in the past, today we have the advantages
of technology–and dedicated performers–to allow us to continue to explore in those
directions.

References

DOTY, D. (1987). “The Lou Harrison Interview.” In 1/1 The Quarterly Journal of the Just
Intonation Network, Volume 3(2), 1-15.
DOTY, D. (1994). The Just Intonation Primer. San Francisco: The Just Intonation Network.
GILMORE, B. (2006). Liner notes to Ben Johnston String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 4, & 9, Kepler
Quartet, New World Records.
HARRISON, L. (1971). Lou Harrison’s Music Primer: Various Items About Music to 1970.
New York, C.F.: Peters Corporation.
HUYGENS, C. (1698). “Cosmotheoros.” 2015, from
http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/huygens/huygens_ct_en.htm.
JOHNSTON, B. (1987). String Quartet No. 9. Baltimore: MD, Smith Publications.
————. (2006a). Who Am I? Why Am I Here?: Ben Johnston reflects on his life in music.
Baltimore: Maryland Smith Publications.
————. (2006b). Maximum Clarity and Other Writings on Music. Urbana and Chicago:
University of Illinois Press.
PARTCH, H. (1949). Genesis of a Music. Madison WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
———— (1974). Genesis of a Music. (2nd ed.) New York: Da Capo Press.
PLANCK, M. (1893). “Die natürliche Stimmung in der modernen Vokalmusik.”
Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft, 4 (October), 418-440.
POLANSKY, L. (2009). D. Rockmore, M. Johnson, D. Repetto, & W. Pan. “A Mathematical
Model for Optimal Tuning Systems”. Perspectives of New Music, 47 (1), 69-110.
————. (1987). Item: Lou Harrison’s Role as a Speculative Theorist. In A Lou Harrison
Reader. Soundings Press.
REISS, J. (1925). “Jo. Bapt. Benedictus, De Intervallus musicis.” Zeitschrift für
Musikwissenschaft, 7, 13-20.
TENNEY, J. (1988). A History of ‘Consonance’ and ‘Dissonance.’ New York: Excelsior
Music Publishing Company.
————. (1983). John Cage and the Theory of Harmony,
http://www.plainsound.org/pdfs/JC&ToH.pdf (accessed 15 March 2019).

31
Development of musical motives on the drums:
a theoretical and practical approach to their use
in the study and musical performance of the
instrument.
Alexandre Damasceno1

Abstract. This article aims to discuss and exemplify the use of the concepts proposed by Terry
O’Mahoney in his Motivic Drumset Soloing method when applied to the construction and/or
development of rhythmic motives in the context of the accompaniment and the improvisation on
the drums. By starting from the principle of variation of musical motives as a tool for the
development of a musical discourse, one adopts some procedures of the above-mentioned
method to exemplify their use on the drums, within a context composed almost exclusively by
rhythmic elements. Procedures normally used as compositing techniques, such as imitation,
inversion, retrogradation, augmentation, and embellishment, just to name a few. To achieve this,
we have written several musical examples using the parts of a standard drum kit: bass drum,
snare drum, ton-tons, floor ton, hit-hat, and cymbals.
Keywords: Drums; Improvisation; Performance.

Introduction

When we use the development of musical motives –proposed by Terry O’Mahoney in his
Motivic Drumset Soloing method– applied to the drumset, among the possible results that one
can obtain, we list two of them, which are more directly related to education and performance
respectively:
1) To develop an organization for the study of motivic development, by
promoting a small systematization of possible procedures for the construction of
grooves, types of comping, and improvisations.
2) To produce theoretical material that is appropriate and helps the task of musical
analysis, in our case, specifically the drums.
To achieve this, we have written several musical examples using the parts of a standard drum
kit: bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, floor tom, hi-hat, and cymbals. On the one hand, the
examples are easier to perform since the elements involved in the discussion are independent
of the technical complexity; on the other hand, they become more readable when clearly and
objectively exposed to the minimum of rhythmic figures necessary for their understanding.

1
CESEM – FCSH, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal. [email protected]

32
In addition to these examples, we also used the same procedures discussed during the musical
analysis of some transcriptions made by us. This study aimed to determine if the technique
used would be reliable when submitted to the screening of artistic performance presented by
other musicians.

Development of musical motives

The construction and development of the musical discourse through the use and variation of
motives is widely used in compositional processes, and it is also a subject generally discussed
in the literature. While appropriating this compositional procedure as a reflection related to an
instrument with no definite pitch or pitched sounds, as the drumset, one must resort to some
basis to sustain and make feasible the development of such work. The following statements:
“even the writing of simple sentences involves the invention and use of motives, even if
perhaps unconsciously” (Schoenberg, 1991: 35), and “[A]ny rhythmic succession of notes can
be used as a basic motive [...]” (idem, 1991: 36) exemplify that idea (Author’s translation).
The same resource used in musical composition is also discussed by Kenny and Gelrich, both
authors refer to it as one of the three cognitive stages used while improvising, mentioning
that:
In motivic improvising, motives develop linearly, with each new unit of
improvisation drawing upon improvised material produced either
immediately before the improvised event or within recent memory (2002:
122).
For this study, we took into account some ideas presented in Terry O’Mahoney’s book
entitled Motivation Drumset Soloing, which we consider to be the starting point for reflecting
on the subject. We will also assume as premise the similarities between a verbal and a musical
dialogue. Still, on this subject, Monson stated that “[W]hen musicians use the metaphor of
conversation, they are saying something very significant about musical process” (1996: 81).
Another correspondence between a conversation and a musical interplay occurs during the
cognitive process mainly when a musician is accompanying a soloist or improvises. Monson
gives us an example quoting a comment by the pianist Herbie Hancock about his experience
as a member of the Miles Davis Quintet:
[w]e were sort of walking a tightrope whit the kind of experimenting that we
were doing in music. Not total experimentation... we used to call it
“controlled freedom” [...] just like conversation - same thing. I mean, how
many times have you talked to somebody and [...] you got ready to say, make
a point, and then you kind of went off in another direction, but maybe you
never wound up making that point but the conversation, you know, just went
somewhere else and it was fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. Maybe you
like where you went. Well, this is the way we were dealing with music
(Monson, 1986: 81).
Another group that used the principle of dialogue among its members was the trio of the
pianist Bill Evans, who, in an innovative way for his time, was predisposed to promote
democratic principles in their trios. In the second part of the three-part interview with the
drummer Marty Morell, a member of one of these trios, Marc Myers, on the JazzWax blog,
describes:
[t]he first Bill Evans Trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul
Motian released the rhythm section. Until the first formation of the Bill
Evans Trio in 1959, a rhythm section was largely a support unit for metals.

33
 Or in cases where a trio was alone, bass and drums were there to keep time
while the piano played. But with the first Bill Evans Trio, the rhythm section
became something much more - a group of independent talkers who
exchanged ideas advanced by the pianist (Myers, 2012).2
In these two reports, we have noticed the presence (and/or necessity) of communication
between the instruments, in order to “establish the feeling and the character of the
performance” (Monson, 1996) and to reinforce the statement that the drummer’s musical
discourse “positively influenced the implementation of the other instruments”. Berendt (2009:
244) refers that some pertinent questions arise from these statements: is the drumset capable
of promoting, encouraging, suggesting, or facilitating something in the musical context? Does
it affect the performance of other instrumentalists? If so, in what way and how intensely?
A possible response to this problem - the importance of communication between instruments -
is because it contributes for a better understanding of how these changes took place and how
they are able to help the viability of possible study methodologies for performative action, it
is about observing changes suffered by the drumset during its history, and their roles within a
group. From an element that sustains musical time (pulsation) to the most participatory
dialogue in the so-called Chambers Jazz Groups, the drumset has been transformed, not only
its physical structure, but also its idiomatic characteristics.
As an example, one can refer to the year 1936, wherein the Brazilian drummer Luciano
Perrone presented to the audience of the Radio Cajuti in Rio de Janeiro, a kind of casting as a
musician, a solo concert that lasted about 15 minutes demonstrating some Brazilian rhythms
adapted to the drums. Also Radamés Gnattali, an important Brazilian composer, arranger, and
conductor, in his “Divertimento para Seis Instrumentos” (1975), assigned to the drummer, in
some particular moments, the central role in the musical plot: delegating to it not only an
auxiliary function and rhythmic maintenance, but rather determining and active position
within the musical discourse, also solos and even counterpoint sections with the other
instruments are present in this arrangement (Damasceno, 2016). Author’s Translation.
According to King (2014: 5), Max Roach, an American drummer and one of the precursors of
the Bebop era in this instrument, contributed since the 1930s “to establish the drummer as a
melodic musician in a group, further away from the role of time maintainer”. Thus, somehow
this role within a group is also capable of being fulfilled by the drummer, who even without
possessing in his instrument, conditions to express himself musically through notes with
defined pitch, organizes his musical discourse in a way to be understood within certain
common parameters such as: musical form, textures between the different sections, tension
and relaxation of sentences, contrasts, among other principles that help in the organization
and understanding of what is played.
In O’Mahoney’s method some concepts for the development of small motives are defined and
organized, which combined with other small motives are the basis for the construction of
larger musical phrases. Another drummer and teacher, John Riley, similarly lists a series of
these procedures for the same purpose, even if, in some cases, these use a somewhat different
type of clarity (Riley, 1997: 37-40).
Finally, still regarding these principles, it is important to mention another element that helps
in the understanding of development procedures. It is the concept of melodic shape, which
allows us to enter even more into the universe of conventional musical analysis, and whereas
that this is primordial when talking about instruments that do not have a definite pitch, it will

2
More information available at: http://bit.ly/1G5HpUC (accessed on April 30, 2020).

34
end up adding new perspectives and will provide more elements for the understanding of the
performance of the drummer. In his work entitled Melodic Jazz Drumming, McCaslin
illustrates the subject while quoting Canadian drummer Barry Elmes when he comments on
the melodic form:
[s]o instead of just playing drums, you’re trying to express melodic ideas.
You do not have to touch the actual pitch, but the melody has shape and you
can touch the shapes on the drums. You can touch the contours of the lines
on the drumset and that’s what I try to do (McCaslin, 2015: 13).
The drums parts will be written on the staff following the standard model, exemplified in
Figure 1.

Figure 1. Drums notation on staff

Below in Figure 2, there is a description of each of the procedures used for the development
of musical motives on the drums, according to O’Mahoney.

1) Repetition

It is the most basic form of development, which simply repeats the motives or its derivatives
(phrases, sections, and so on), in its original form (exactly) or altered.

motive rep. exactly rep. altered rep. altered

Figure 2. Example of repetition

2) Fragmentation

Fragmentation is the process in which a motive is sectioned into smaller parts, and from this
fragment, we have a new motive related to its original. The larger the size of this fragment, the
greater the possibility of identifying them with each other (as it shows Figure 3).
motive fragment

Figure 3. Example of fragmentation

3) Extension

An extension is the addition of new material at the end of a motive aiming to increase the size
of the sentence, finalizing or connecting it to another one. Usually does not resemble the
original motive (as shown in Figure 4).

35
 motive rep. altered rep. exactly extension

Figure 4. Example of extension

4) Augmentation3

Also associated with the term rhythmic elasticity, augmentation adds duration to the figures,
increasing the size of the motive. This increase happens by different means, a more common
cause is a doubling of the value of the original figure, for example: an eighth note turns into a
quarter note. This technique can resort to any factor to multiply the duration of the figure
changing its original value (Figure 5).
motive rep. altered augmentation

Figure 5. Example of augmentation

5) Diminution

The opposite of the augmentation, the diminution, as the name suggests, decreases the size of
the motive, using the same previous features, but in this case, shortening the size of the
rhythmic figures (Figure 6).
motive diminution rep. exactly

Figure 6. Example of diminution

6) Inversion

In the inversion, the melodic shape is inverted but keeps the same pitch of the initial figure (as
seen in Figure 7).

motive inverted motive

Figure 7. Example of inversion

3
In addition to Riley (1997), also Almada (2000: 247) uses the same term to refer to this procedure.

36
7) Retrograde

In this procedure, we simply start the motive backward. This retrogradation can be rhythmic,
melodic, or both, and unlike inversion, the initial figures are not the same (Figure 8).

motive retrograde motive

Figure 8: Example of retrograde.

8) Embellishment

Embellishment means enhancing or decorating a motive. This procedure can be done in three
different ways.
a) Adding new figures to the original motive.

Figure 9: Example of embellishment by addition.

b) Adding ornamentation to the original motive.

Figure 10: Example of embellishment by ornamentation.

c) Doubling figures of the original motive.

Figure 11: Example of embellishment by doubling.

9) Simplification

It consists of simplifying the original motive by subtracting elements from it. It can be done in
different ways.
a) Removing figures from the original motive.
motive motive simplified

Figure 12: Example of simplification by subtraction of figures.

b) Removing existing ornamentation.

37
 motive ------- motive simplified

Figure 13: Example of simplification by subtraction of ornamentation

c) Removing any doubling incidents.

motive motive simplified

Figure 14: Example of simplification by subtraction of figures.

10) Rhythmic Displacement

This technique consists of moving the motive fully forward or backward within the bars.
motive motive simplified

Figure 15. Example of rhythmic displacement

Another concept discussed in this work, which also helps in understanding the form of
musical analysis, is the orchestration of melodies. To do so, based on the principle of melodic
shape, the rhythm and variation of the pitch of a melodic line are taken as references. For
example:
a) If the melody starts on a low note and goes to a higher note, we can start by
playing the rhythmic figures on the bass drum and then move on to tom-tom;
b) If we find a long note, we can use a cymbal and leave it sounding by the time of
this, and then interrupting its sound through a smothering.
c) If we find an ascending glissando, we can play the drum with a stick, while the
other hand exerts pressure with the fingers on the surface of the skin, thus
altering the approximate pitch of the resulting note.

Figure 16: Example of orchestrated melody.

38
Concerning the orchestration of melodies, we have as an example the first four bars of the
melody O Barquinho by Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Boscoli, along with an orchestration
of the same for the drums. The melodic shape is maintained most of the time enough to, even
without a clear definite pitch, suggesting the outline of this melody. In the 2nd and 4th bars,
we used the hi-hat and the cymbal respectively, so this way we can represent the notes of
longer duration of the melody, which are presented in the second time of the same bars.
Another resource used in this example was the choice to finish the sentence using the low
tom-tom, in contrast to the hi tom-tom that was written in the 3rd measure, since we are
suggesting, through a downward movement, a sense of completion for the short phrase.
The following example represents a musical analysis using the tools presented in this paper.
It is a composition by Benedito Lacerda and Pixinguinha called 1x04 in 1919, written as a
tribute to Brazil’s victory over Uruguay in the decision of the South American Championship
held that same year. Later, in 1993, this song integrated the lyrics written by the guitarist and
composer Nelson Ângelo, a member of Clube da Esquina.
When recording this song, the drummer Luciano Perrone used a different timbre option,
which was obtained by leaning the left stick on the skin of the box and the right drumstick
playing on it. He interposes this with simple notes played in the box, obtaining from this,
besides two distinct timbres, also two different levels of the pitch in the same piece of the
instrument. This will be named simply by a drumstick, and its spelling in the score will
occupy the same space that was used to engrave the snare drum but with an x-shaped note
head.
The arrangement begins directly with the exposition of the first section A in unfolded
progress (quarter note, approximately 66bpm) and in the first 5 bars, there is only one
marking on the cymbal, without kicking, when one hears the figure of the triplet. After a
small bridge, which also serves as a preparation for the pace bend that happens in the 13th
bar, now turning to approximately 132bpm, Perrone assumes a drive in the snare drum, which
looks more like comping than the characterization of a marching rhythm.

Figure 17: 1x0 - Bars 13 to 19 of the first exposition of section A. (0:28 to 0:33)

Several times the conduction of the snare drum supports notes of the melody, and since no
pattern is found in the same conduction, the drummer's starting point is supposed to be the
melody itself, thus characterizing an accompaniment or comping process, in this example,
without the concern of following the melodic shape.
The next recording analyzed is Cochichando5, choro composed by Alberto Ribeiro, João de
Barro, and Pixinguinha originally called simply Cochicho and recorded in 1944, with lyrics
written by Braguinha, at the time the director of the Continental label, and with the
participation of the Carioca singer Déo (Ferjalla Rizkalla).

4
Audio available in: https://youtu.be/UU6QWgE1-WA (accessed on March 10, 2020).
5
Audio available in: https://youtu.be/lyyqJkFQmSo (accessed on March 10, 2020).

39
The conduction of the drums begins in the 9th bar (second half) of the first section A, and the
groove is played with brushes in both hands and refers us to a pattern of a “maxixe”, more
consistent with the rhythmic line played by the double bass.

Figure 18: Cochichando - Example of the “maxixe” brush and bass pattern in 1˚ A.

In the second half of the first A, the melody passes to the accordion, and the guitar starts to
drive with a telecoteco beat. This pattern is maintained until the second half of the second A
when the snare drum motive is increased by a few variations, as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19: Cochichando - Snare Drum’s Variations. Bars 9 to 12 of 2˚A. (0:51 to 0:58)

In section B of the theme, the guitar player starts to play the theme, and, as an example of
simplification, Perrone no longer plays the brushes of the second sixteen note of the first half.
This changes the original texture while generating a slight contrast to the previous section of
the song.

Figure 20. Cochichando - Rhythmic pattern of conduction found in section B.

Conclusion

Given the presented proposals, one can apprehend that the results obtained were satisfactory.
These results were achieved through tests made directly with some students. It was also
considered the personal performance of the author of the present article (based on the
organization proposed by O’Mahoney), who believes that these suggestions help the gradual
development of the addressed subject while proposing to discuss individually each of the
procedures described for the study of the motivic development. Besides, the ability of such
procedures being used for the musical analysis, focusing on the drum, has also been
confirmed. Again, these procedures almost exclusively use allowed the construction of a
coherent structural analysis, and also a panorama for the musical performance.

40
References

ALMADA, C. (2000). Arranjo. Campinas-SP: Publisher of Unicamp

BARBOSA, V. & DEVOS, A-M. (1984). Radamés Gnattali o eterno experimentador. Rio de
Janeiro: Funarte.
COOK, N. (2007). Fazendo música juntos ou improvisação e seus outros. Belo Horizonte:
Publisher of Per Musi, Academic Review of Music.
DAMASCENO, A. (2016). A Batucada Fantástica de Luciano Perrone: sua performance
musical no contexto dos arranjos de Radamés Gnattali. Campinas: Publisher of
Unicamp.
KENNY, B. J. & GELRICH, M. (2002). Improvisation: The Science and Psychology of
Music Performance: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning. Londres: Oxford
University Press.
KING, Z. A. (2014). A Brief History of Jazz Drumming. Durham: Publisher of the University
of New Hampshire.
MCCASLIN, J. D. (2015). Melodic jazz drumming. Toronto: Publisher of the University of
Toronto.
MONSON, I. (1996). Say Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.
O’MAHONEY, T. (2004). Motivic Drum Soloing: Guide to Creative Phrasing and
Improvisation. Australia: Hal Leonard.
RILEY, J. (1994). The Art of Bop Drumming. New York: Manhattan Music Inc.
SHOENBERG, A. (1991). Fundamentos da Composição Musical. São Paulo: Publisher of
Edusp.

41
Extended techniques on the pipe organ
Cláudio de Pina1

Abstract. The extended techniques on the pipe organ are other means of producing sound in
this instrument. Several composers used their own notation or guiding rules to expand the
sounds of the pipe organ. Although Ligeti, since 1960, was the first to become known using
these techniques, with his works for pipe organ (Volumina, Harmonies and Coulée) one can
assume that these sounds always existed, but they did not have a formalization. A clear notation
and explanation are needed to further develop the interests and facts about these techniques.
In an instrument so tied to a functionality, it is paramount nowadays to re-incorporate these
techniques in the contemporary pipe organ repertoire and creation. Several new techniques
have been developed and a new approach is needed.
Keywords: Pipe Organ; Extended Techniques; Notation; Ligeti.

Pipe organ

In music, extended technique is an unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional method of

singing or playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres
(Burtner, 2005). The pipe organ as an instrument for contemporary music is established by
several composers such as: Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), György Ligeti (1923-2006), Egil
Hovland (1924-2013), Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008), João Pedro de Oliveira (1959) and
Frederik Neyrinck (1985), quoting a few. These composers used different approaches, some
of them with great originality. The pipe organ is an instrument that is deeply rooted to a
functionality and purpose, portrayed on the repertoire of solo and chamber music of the
Baroque period. Besides having a strong backbone with Bach and several other composers,
most of these advances are from the musical domain, not sound domain.
A great concern of this article relates to the several techniques used on the pipe organ. Some
of these effects are similar, but are not linked with the early repertoire, such as ‘thunder and
cannon’ on early music for historical instruments (Sumner, 1973). These different kinds of
techniques with the keyboard have been a commonplace throughout ages, especially in
improvisation.
Most of these techniques reside in the way one interacts with the keyboard, especially on a
pipe organ that is not fully electronically enabled. It means that the keys are played with a
traction mechanism, and the register stops are mechanically connected to the organ. If a pipe
organ is not controlled electronically, one can achieve other kinds of effects and techniques.
But what are extended techniques on the pipe organ? These techniques can be called
extended, since they change the way you play the pipe organ. Some examples of such
techniques used by the above-mentioned composers are: playing with weights that hold
indefinably the key and the sound produced; using the register stops in unusual ways, such as
not full opening the stop, producing a muffled and detuned sound; or varying the pressure of

1
CESEM – FCSH, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal. [email protected]

42
the keys, which means that one can control directly the sound being produced in a way that is
similar with the modern after-touch in synthesizers.
The pipe organ, in a certain point of view, is akin to an additive mechanical synthesizer. One
can pull stops to add layers of sound. The extended techniques of altering the way how an
organist plays, bring another level of expression and sound. One can use weights to hold the
keys and therefore, manipulate the stops and gradually open them. Or one can vary the
pressure of the keys at the same time that the stops are manipulated. The possibilities are
almost endless, and in this regard, the pipe organ behaves like a synthesizer, albeit being non-
digital.
Luk Vaes in its thesis entitled Extended Piano Techniques writes about several techniques on
the piano, and several authors delve on their techniques to certain instruments. In the book
Music Notation in the 20th century, Kurt Stone makes a systematization of these different
techniques. He explores several extended techniques on the pipe organ, focusing on the
notation for the instrument. In a brief analysis of the repertoire concerning the extended
techniques, one can notice that each composer uses different notation and means in order to
obtain certain effects and sounds. Each composer uses different notation and means because
most organs has slight differences, so there is no structured way of notating or possibilities for
extended techniques.

Ligeti

When Ligeti composed for the pipe organ in the 1960s it did not exist a continuously variable
air valve to control the pressure of the pipes, as with modern pipe organs (e.g. St. Peter’s pipe
organ in Köln or St. Martin’s pipe organ in Kassel). Although Ligeti studied the instrument,
and also the appropriate technology to change the sound the way he wanted, which was not
available at the time. These ideas of sound manipulation are a consequence of the electronic
works that Ligeti has achieved at the WDR (Westdeutscher RundFunk, Köln).2 With
Artikulation (1958) and Glissandi (1957), Ligeti explored paradigms related to sound that
were impossible to do with acoustic instruments at the time, but when approaching the limits
of the electronic systems in Cologne, he started treating the instruments in another way.
At Cologne Studio, Ligeti learned some of these techniques mimicking in other instruments,
yet in regard to the pipe organ it is different due to its particularities. Some of the pieces that
Ligeti wrote are a pertinent remark, because they reflect a changing in the way of thinking
and operating a machine like the pipe organ. So, it is in this sense that will be explained the
clusters of Volumina (1961/62, rev. 1966), the long chords of Harmonies (1967) and the
speed of Coulée (1969) including tape and electronic manipulations, couched in an acoustical
instrument as the pipe organ. In this regard, special techniques were used to attain the desired
sound palette. Clever manipulation of stop registers, engine and key depression allowed the
sounds that Ligeti was looking for.
Ligeti lived in Vienna, from 1959 to 1969, and in 1961 he accepted the position of invited
professor of composition at the Musical High School in Stockholm, where he met the
Swedish organist Karl-Erik Welin. Together with the German organist Gerd Zacher, Ligeti
had some connections and privileged access to the instrument. Zacher would be the organist

2
Studio for Electronic Music of the West German Radio in Cologne.

43
that would play the studies for organ, Harmonies on October 14, 1967, in Hamburg, and
Coulée on October 19, 1969, in Seckau/Steiermark, both times assisted by Juan Allende-Blin.
In the case of Harmonies, the author and several performers quote a few ideas to “starve”3 the
wind supply in order to achieve the sounds needed. Also, special advices are added regarding
the registration, dynamics, tempo and even practice considerations like octave transpositions
and specific registrations needed. Although the score doesn’t have a notation for the extended
techniques involve, one should use them taking into account composer’s notes.
Regarding the execution, one must “play legatissimo throughout; all ten fingers stay down at
all times” (Ligeti, 1967: 4). This is a reminiscent of the French articulation style in pipe organ
music, it was a common practice many decades before. The use of ten note chords also create
a mass of sound, characteristic of Ligeti’s music, albeit different from the clusters of
Volumina, since specific notes are written on the score.
Regarding notation:
the white and black noteheads do not indicate note values; their purpose is
to make reading easier. A white notehead indicates a change of pitch, i.e., a
move from one key to another (the finger concerned slides from a key to the
nearest adjacent key, since pitch changes are always a minor second up or
down). The black noteheads indicate the unchanged pitches (Ligeti,
1967: 4).
This style of notation, very different from Volumina with its graphical notation, tries to
achieve a similar sound palette, but this time with fixed notation in a score. The use of black
or white noteheads is just a marker for performance issues. Since tempo in notes and bars is
not fixed, the changing of noteheads aids the performer to follow the score. A special note to
the use of several fermatas to emphasize the duration (Figure1).

Figure 1. Harmonies ending.

Regarding tempo:
the individual ‘bars’ can differ in length as the player wishes; certain chords
can be held longer, and others can be treated as passing chords of shorter
duration. Nowhere in the piece should the chord successions create an
impression of meter or periodicity (Idem: 4).
The notion of passing chords and the value that they can represent is left to the performer
itself. Since changes are always in minor seconds, one can assume a contra-punctual
resolution of leading voices or passing notes. However, the work Harmonies does not follow

3
The word “starve” was used by Ligeti on his notes, meaning to cut and deplete the air supplied by the wind chest. While
closing it partially with certain objects or using a different motor (i.e., vacuum cleaner).

44
any tonal counterpoint rules. These changes only serve to create fluctuations on the sound. All
changes are made to directly influence the resulting sound from each key.
Regarding dynamics and ‘tone colour’:
The whole piece is soft to very soft. Pale strange, “vitiated”4 tone colours
must predominate. Denaturing the sound is achieved by ‘greatly reduced
wind pressure’ (‘artificial consumptiveness’). Wind pressure can be reduced
in a number of ways (Ibidem: 4).
There are not many editions that include ways of notating made by both the author and the
organists that performed Harmonies:5
a) by using a weaker motor like that of a vacuum sweeper, inserting the hose
into the [air] reservoir. (Gerd Zacher)
b) by adjusting the valve in the chief wind-receiver between the fan and the
reservoir. (Detaching the rope holding the valve or reducing the play of the
valve so that the flow of air from the fan to the reservoir is impeded). (Gábor
Lehotka)
c) by opening the wind chest. (Gerd Zacher)
d) by reducing the rotation speed of the fan by loading the circuit (installing an
adjustable resistance in the circuit, for instance). (Zsigmond Szathmáry)
e) by removing some low pipes from a pedal reed register; the relevant stop is
drawn, and the relevant pedals are held down throughout the piece, so that
some of the wind escapes (other notes of this register cannot be used during
this piece!). (Zsigmond Szathmáry)
Depending on the construction of the organ and the inventiveness of the
player, other ways of reducing wind pressure will be found. The
effectiveness of these methods also depends on the registration (Ligeti,
1967: 5)
This quote is the most important information for properly performing Harmonies. The result
depends on the construction of the organ and knowledge of the performer. A certain
inventiveness is required to perform this piece. This could lead to a false assumption that the
piece will sound drastically different each time is played, especially with different pipe organs
and organists, but that is not the case. The constriction of the ‘rules’ to play the piece, even in
very different pipe organs (from the various construction periods) creates an axiom, always
permitting the production of Harmonies. Allied to the fact that the notes are always the same,
only time values can change, albeit Ligeti indicates that the duration will be 6’ to 9’.
Other methods are closer to empirical knowledge and limitations of the instruments. For
instance, one should take special care in altering these instruments, that usually reside in
churches. Other organs are impossible to alter in any of the described cases, especially the
historical ones with regular bellows. Szathmáry and his use of register stop to cleverly starve
the wind supply is a safe method without altering too much the instrument.
A simpler method would be to use half-drawn registers but paying special attention to the
registration changes needed throughout the piece.

4
“Vitiated” is another word that Ligeti uses to refer to “starve”.
5
These are some of the notes on the Schott edition of the “Zwei Etüden for Orgel, p.4”.

45
The explanation for this phenomenon relies on the physical behaviour of the pipes
themselves. Starving the wind pressure, the pipes cannot ‘sing’ properly the notes. In a
normal operation of the pipe, one can listen to the timbrical differences between a reed, flue,
open, closed and all the myriad of pipe shapes and sizes. Since they are not behaving in a
normal way, some of their characteristics are lost. The acoustics behaviour of a pipe, basically
a cylinder that can be open or closed and have a reed or a lip, already has a great amount of
non-linearity behaviour during the transient part6 (Olson, 1966: 157). The pipe starts to
acquire an acoustic mode shape when the turbulence is balanced with the normalization of
pressure, and that give us a musical note7 (Henriques, 2014: 643).
Regarding registration:
Since the organist uses both hands at all times, an assistant will be needed to
change the registration; frequent changes are desirable and must occur in
such way that the timbre alterations always take place imperceptibly and
apparently continuously. On mechanical organs, half-drawn stops are
welcome as half-depressed keys […] sudden entrances of starkly contrasting
registers should be avoided. The choice of registers will have a great
influence on the denaturing of the sound. Pipes requiring a lot of wind are
especially good at producing the desired ‘consumptive’ sound (Karl-Erik
Welin, Gerd Zacher).
The continuous change of registers, simultaneously with the way it is notated, gives a mass of
sound. That mass of sound is the final result and it is not related with pitches on the score, it is
an extension.8 One could assume that it is an extended way of achieving certain sounds. On
the other hand, one could also assume that the work Harmonies from Ligeti is a good example
of physical modelling synthesis with ten oscillators (multiplied for each register) and various
variables for each oscillator. Even when one can program such an endeavour (i.e., MaxMSP
or SuperCollider)9, the randomness and behaviour of each pipe are difficult to predict. The
same assumption could be applied to Volumina’s introduction, that uses all keys depressed
and then you turn on the organ. In fact, denaturing the sound is only a simple explanation for
what is really happening. The real phenomenon is more related with the field of
hydrodynamics and fluid physics, than with acoustics or organology. A certain degree of
chaos is implemented into the pipe’s system.
The knowledge about the way the pipe organs works in Ligeti’s compositions is so deep that
he suggested the use crescendo and decrescendo to simply changing the registers. Since the
wind supply is starved, for each pipe that is drawn, the same wind pressure is used for all the
pipes in action, so a decrease of volume and ‘denaturation’ of sound is heard. The same
happens at the end of the piece, in which there is a decrease of keys depressed, that would
lead to a crescendo, but countered by the pedal note we listen to a diminuendo. All of this,
only with stop manipulation. That is the reason why Harmonies is a good example of
extended techniques.
An additional remark: at the end, if the number of notes is decreased to the amount of three
notes, the crescendo or ‘natural’ sounds are not heard. There is an extra low note on the

6
In Olson’s book, some chapters are dedicated to the behaviour of several types of pipes, and it is referred that when the pipe
starts to vibrate, in the beginning of the sound, there isn’t a periodic behaviour, when the systems stabilizes, the tone arises.
7
Henriques specifies the amount of turbulence that is needed at the beginning of the pipe’s vibration. This turbulence is
related to the transient of the pipe and also to intonation and tuning properties.
8
The notes are written in pitches, and the resulting sound is not equal to that pitch. This is what Ligeti calls “denaturating”
from a “vitiated”/“starved” wind supply.
9
Computer programming languages for producing sound.

46
pedals with a 32’ register (the deepest note and register, C)10, but as the wind pressure is
starved, this note is not perceived. The larger the pipe, the lower the note, higher wind
pressure needed to produce a note properly. In fact, Szathmáry had the idea of ‘denaturating’
the sound using a continuous pedal without a pipe, to let the wind escape, but he was aware of
the desirable note for the end of Harmonies. A special indication is made to not using an 8’ on
the pedals in any way, albeit a soft 16’ could be used, Ligeti states: “very soft, almost only
‘wind’ ”.
Regarding manuals and octave transposition, a common practice in organ repertoire11, the
work Harmonies can be played ad lib, but Ligeti recommends an octave lower since it does
not affect the lower note on the pedals12 at the end, but if a performer chooses to do so, he
needs to prioritize the 4’ registers in place of 8’, thus the sound matches the notation. In this
case, it favours the ‘denaturing’ of the sound, since all the other registers will be played an
octave lower, so they will need the double amount of wind pressure, behaving more
erratically.
Another statement corroborates that more registers the pipe organ has, the more intricacy is
the functioning and interaction. So, the complexity of the sound is directly proportional to the
number of registers of the pipe organ. One could ask, but why there are not more works for
pipe organ using these kinds of techniques?

Notation

Thus, it is proposed a new notation for extended techniques on the pipe organ, based on the
mentioned repertoire. The unusual appliance of techniques to achieve other sound effects is
the spark that starts an avant-garde approach to the pipe organ, culminated with the pipe
organ works by Ligeti (Volumina, Harmonies and Coulée). Many things can still be made
regarding this instrument, without the use of computers, effects, or altering the instrument in
any way. By altering the instrument, we are creating a new instrument and not a new way of
playing the instrument. Besides, the number of sheer variables of sounds one can achieve is
unrivalled with other acoustic instruments.
The sound morphology of the pipe organ doesn’t permit the same interpretation as other
instruments. The key connected to the pipes, brings a sound with always the same envelope.
A performer can only adapt the articulation between the keys and the acoustics of the space to
bring forth a degree of expression. The same applies to the dynamics, the organ can only add
or subtract registers, so by layers. Albeit some instruments have a volume pedal, which either
brings more registers or open/closes certain cabinets of pipe ranks, thus mimicking a
crescendo.
The use of extended techniques breaks some of these paradigms. One can use a half-key
technique for creating a small glissando and crescendo. Manipulating the stops, one can
achieve a tremolo effect, or bring non-pitched sounds. Like in Volumina from Ligeti, by
turning on and off the instrument, while some keys and registers are drawn, achieves another

10
The same note used at the beginning of Also sprach Zarathustra, op.30 (1896) by Richard Strauss.
11
The best example is the Concerto in D minor, BWV 596 (1713-14) from Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), an adaptation
of the Concerto Grosso in D minor, RV 565 (1711) from Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), in which the octaves of the
registers (4’ and 8’) are needed to play the piece without crossing hands on the manuals.
12
Although the work Harmonies does not include a score for the pedals, a passage is added in the last bars, like an ossia,
with the C note and registration comments.

47
kind of sound, more similar to the synthesis. For an appropriate use of these techniques, a
systematization of notation is needed in order to help composers and organist in
understanding what is needed. Therefore, the development of notation to simplify the use of
extended techniques is desirable, also fostering interest in these techniques. Graphical scores
or improvisational practices are too complex for a newcomer to understand such techniques.
Accordingly, several compound examples are described below, which are suitable for clearer
perception and reading. Many of the composers here quoted have their own types of
notations, and these examples are not fixed. One can and should adapt them to their specific
needs depending on the music.

Figure 2. Turning on and off. Applying weights. Removing weights.

In Figure 2, we have a clear sign for turning the motor on and off. The duration of the
decay/rise of the sound is proportionally connected to the number of pipes that are feed by the
wind. This means that many keys and/or many pulled registrations will behave differently. An
introductory test is highly advised.
By applying weights to the keys with a notated rhythm, and by changing the notehead, a new
way of interacting with the keys is created. The use of arpeggio to remove the weights in a
certain order is a natural consequence of the hand movement while removing each weight in
order.
Another possible way is the use of words as FIX, used in Australpnea (2010) by Frederik
Neyrink (1985), or simply to use an ossia staff for longer values or keys on another manual.
For weights, a simple solution is to go to the sport section or a fishing shop. Lead weights for
fishing are the best option (from 100g to 150g) in a rectangle shape inferior to the wideness of
the key. Indeed, it is an inexpensive way of testing these varied weights with the infinite
sound13 in pipe organs. Nevertheless, one must take care with historical instruments, with
superglue and felt, one can assemble a personalized set that would not harm the pipe organ
keys.
The next examples are related to register manipulation. These can only be made with a non-
digital organ. Some stops are quite sensitive, so once again, prior experiments are advised.

Figure 3. Half-key. Dynamics to aid the performer. Only possible with tracker mechanism

13
In the pipe organ, as the sound does not decay, you can obtain infinite sustainability of the sound. The use of weights or
other means can help to achieve this infinite sound. As an example, one can see: Organ2/ASLSP (As slow as Possible)
(1987) by John Cage (1912-1992): https://universes.art/en/specials/john-cage-organ-project-halberstadt (accessed on April
30, 2020).

48
With the aid of crescendo and decrescendo lines, a performer, assistant or composer, can have
a general idea if a sound is rising or falling. In this case the sign is a dot, white, black or half-
black. The use of a dot for the minimum amount of pressure is also correlated to the way that
holes are closed in an aerophone. Also meaning that the white dot is the greatest amount of
pressure on the key (or the usual amount to play a tuned note).

Figure 4. Stop part. Insert the most used register to apply rhythm to them. Half drawn stop. Dynamics to help the
performer.

Using a staff for the stops brings another level of creativity and expression. One can notate
rhythms to be ‘played’ by opening and closing the stops. The notehead is typically used for
opening, crosshead for closing. When one needs to gradually open/close the stop, we use the
same circle/dot sign. In this case, it is directly linked to the way registers work inside the
organ, again, like keyholes in an aerophone. Dynamics marks can be presented to guide the
organist, assistant and/or conductor.

Figure 5. Weights. Slowly removed at the end. Use spaces of Stop part for other registers. Open/close like an
arpeggio. Apply rhythm, mimicking a tremolo. Half drawn stop.

The use of weights brings the possibility to the organist to ‘play’ with the stops. It also frees
the hands to control the motor or prepare the next registrations. The glissando lines on the last
measure are the indication of slowly removing of the weights, mimicking the half-key
technique. For this example, consult Rrrrr... (1980/81) by Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008).

Figure 6. The usual way of notating register changes in a historical Portuguese organ.

49
Conclusion

This is the usual way of notating registrations changes in Portuguese historical organs. A
subtraction or addition sign is used to call certain families of registers. In these organs there
are usually some feet control to open and close such families of registers, being reeds and
mixtures the most common. Some organs can also couple or decouple manuals and also store
registrations on demand with electronic means. Although this is out of the scope of this
article, nevertheless, with inventiveness, one can achieve the same sounds with a regular
organ.
The amount of permutations is quite high, and several results were used by some composers.
Much more are still lurking and waiting to be used, and it is the main objective of this article
to indulge the curiosity of composers and organists to try out combinations.

References

ANDERSON, S. C. (Ed.) (2012). Twentieth-Century Organ Music. New York: Routledge.

BLACKBURN, A. (2011). The Pipe organ and Real-time digital signal processing. (Doctoral
diss.). Melbourne: Griffith University.
BURTNER, M. (2005). Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Experimentalism,
NewMusicBox.org.
COLLINS, G. (1980). Avant-garde techniques in the organ works of Györgi Ligeti, a lecture
recital. (diss. doutoral). Texas: North Texas State University.
HENRIQUES, L. (2014). Acústica Musical. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
LIGETI, G. (1966). Bemerkungen zu meiner orgelstück “Volumina”. Melos 33, pp. 311-313.
————. (1967). Volumina für Orgel, Frankfurt: Litolff/Peters.
————. (rev. 1997). Zwei Etüden für Orgel. Mainz: Schott Music Gmbh & Co KG.
————. (2010). Neuf Essais sur la musique (trad. C. Fourcassié) Géneve: Éditions
Contrechamps.
OLSON, H. (1966). Music, Physics and Engineering. New York: Dover.
READ, G. (1976). Contemporary Instrumental Techniques. New York: Schirmer
RITCHIE, G., & STAUFFER, G. (2000). Organ technique, Modern and Early. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
STONE, K. (1980). Music Notation in the Twentieth Century. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company.
SUMNER, W. (1973). The organ: its evolution, Principles of Construction and Use. New
York: Philosophical Library.
SZATHMÁRY, Z. (1987). Die Orgelwerke von Györgi Ligeti. Vienna: Universal edition.
VAES, L. (2009). Extended Piano Techniques in Theory, History and performance practice.
(Doctoral diss.) Leiden: Leiden University repository.
TOOP, R. (1999). György Ligeti. London: Phaidon Press.
VÁRNAI. P. (1983). Györgi Ligeti in Conversation. London: Eulenburg Books.

50
VAZ, J. (2013). Dynamics and Orchestral Effects in Late Eighteenth-Century Portuguese
Organ Music: The Works of José Marques e Silva (1782-1837) and the Organs of
António Xavier Machado e Cerveira (1756-1828). In A. Wooley & J. Kitchen (Ed.)
Interpreting Historical Keyboard Music: Sources, Contexts and Performance, Cap.
11, 157-172. London: Routledge.

51
Paweł Szymański’s Works Referring to Medieval
Music
Violetta Kostka1

Abstract. The article is devoted to intentionally intertextual music by Polish composer Paweł
Szymański (b. 1954) which is presented in the light of Ryszard Nycz’s intertextual theory. In the
first part of the article the author sketches Szymański’s poetics declared and gives a general
description of his work. He puts forward such concepts as meta-reflection, meta-output and
two-level music and states that he sets himself up in a group of surrealists. While discussing
Szymański’s output, the author emphasizes that almost every piece of music is governed by two
sets of incommensurable rules which lead to discursive interference on the surface of the
piece. She means historical rules used to create structures in well-known musical styles and
abstract rules invented in order to transform historical structures into new works. In the
second part of the article two Szymański’s works are discussed: Miserere for voices and
instruments, and Three Pieces for three recorders accompanied by a metronome. Both works
clearly show references to medieval music, the first ─ to the religious, the second ─ to the
secular. Both of them are also characterized by some modern means, mainly by modern syntax.
The discussion of each work ends with an attempt to capture its meaning. In the first case it is
the result of conceptual blending, in the second ─ a kind of intertextual game.
Keywords. intertextuality; Ryszard Nycz; intertextual poetics; postmodernism; Paweł Szymański;
intentional intertextuality; medieval music; transformation; meaning

Introduction

Paweł Szymański (b. 1954) is among the best Polish composers of our time whose work
includes numerous compositions for orchestra, solo instrument and orchestra, chamber
ensemble, solo instrument, choir, vocal-instrumental ensemble, one opera, film, theatre and
radio music, as well as music for tape. His music is often played at concerts and festivals in
Poland and abroad. The biggest event of this kind was the Festival of Paweł Szymański's
Music organized in Warsaw from 24th November to 1st December 2006. For a number of
years, various institutions and music festivals have been commissioning new works from him.
Two recently commissioned works honored the following events: 1st International Chopin
Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw, in September 2018, and the concert on the
occasion of the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence in London in November 2018.
Most of Szymański’s music has been published, mainly by Chester Music, and recorded on
CDs and DVDs. Its value is confirmed by a number of reviews where one can read that it
evokes unforgettable impressions and equivocal associations, affects both our senses and our
intellect, attracts the listeners’ attention for a long time, fascinates and even hypnotizes them.
The entire poetics declared and the music of Paweł Szymański perfectly fits into the
intertextual poetics ─ Ryszard Nycz’s scientific construct recently published in articles in

1
The Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk, Poland. [email protected]

52
English (shorter version) and in Polish (longer version).2 The characteristic feature of this
theory is its untypical scope limited to modern and postmodern literature and all artistic
disciplines, as music, fine arts, film, architecture, and so on. According to the author,
postmodern intertextuality is “a manifestation of discursive interference ─ in a kind of,
deriving from Bakhtin’s «a polyphonic word», the principle of «constructive parody»
(Głowiński) or «double coding» (Jencks 1987, Hutcheon 1996, Welsch 1998)” (Nycz, 2012:
171). All that means “a kind of formal-semantic structure being under incommensurable rules
[…] which cannot be reduced to themselves or to any superior model” (Nycz, 2005: 17). As
examples, he gives “[rules] relevant to the functional form and historical style, elitist artistic
experiments and the needs of hoi-polloi recipients […], autonomous form and experience of
formlessness” (idem). In the center of postmodern intertextuality is a work understood as an
“intertextual construct” and its “weak” ontology. A work cannot be here valuated neither as
perfect nor original nor even new, and “there is no place for the demiurgic genius that creates
a fundamental work of art from «nothing»” (ibidem). Tradition and culture are not treated in
this theory as a paralyzing heritage, but rather as a reservoir of existing creative possibilities.
If we take into account the matter of meaning, then it is dependent on three factors: “formal
organization […]; potential contexts of intertextual references that cannot be «closed»;
competences, «pre-judgements» and changeable preferences of the ever-changing recipient”
(Nycz, 2012: 173).

Paweł Szymański’s poetics declared

From the interviews, which journalists have conducted with him over many years, it appears
that almost from the beginning of his creative work Paweł Szymański realized that avant-
garde trends of his time “were becoming academic ones” (Szymański, 2006: 14) and that the
contemporary artist had nothing else to choose except an intermediate way between complete
novelty and tradition. Here is the justification for this situation:
There is now a dominant conviction that art ─ and thus artists ─ should
create new values, a new language, something that distances itself, deviates
from tradition. My observation […] concerns the situation when the artist,
moving away from the existing, functioning in the culture conventions too
far, creates a hermetic language. This language cannot be understood,
because both language and convention are understood intersubjectively;
language and convention understood by one person ─ by the creator ─
cannot be a subject of communication. The artist begins to babble. […] The
practice of art cannot be separated from the collective intellectual condition.
On the other hand, at some point we realized that the conventions of the past
are trivializing and cannot be repeated indefinitely. This awareness began to
affect evolutionary and conservative attitudes, revealing their weaknesses.
This leads to the conclusion that neither one nor the other is acceptable:
neither avant-garde optimism, nor conservatism. Therefore, the question:
what remains? Meta-reflection, meta-output, referring to the paradox,
universalism which allows us to reach elements found in various historical
times, as well as in various geographical areas. I think that this is the path
that many creators of various fields of art follow. But here comes another
reef in the form of eclecticism which is for me ─ like for those who once

2
Ryszard Nycz is Polish theoretician of literature, whose intertextual theory bases on French semiotican Michael Riffaterre’s
achievements.

53
 represented avant-garde ideologies ─ a negative phenomenon. The very fact
of uncritical deriving from various areas of art or culture is not positive
(Szczecińska, 20073).
Szymański advocates “pure”, autonomous music which, however, does not prevent him from
using the resources of the past. In addition, he states that he refers to other texts quite
consciously, intentionally and wants listeners to recognize them (Szymański, 1986: 297). The
fact that his works depict musical conventions in a non-continuous way results from his
perception of the world: “The philosophical starting point is the assumption about the
inability to reach reality as such (as a universe of attributes and relations) ─ available to
cognition is only the incomplete number of fragments that cannot be comprehended. This idea
is presented in a metaphorical way in the construction of the work” (Naliwajek-Mazurek,
2013: 14). Author’s translation.
Speaking of his works, as well as inventing titles for them, the composer situates himself in a
rather specific artistic circle including: English writer Lewis Caroll, Belgian painter René
Magritte and Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher. All these creators have presented
in their works a reality full of contradictions and fantasies, although all differently. Here is
Szymański’s concise attempt to capture an analogy between Magritte’s surrealist painting and
music:
In Magritte’s paintings or dreams all elements are taken from reality.
Relationships in which these elements remain among themselves, from the
point of view of this reality, are abnormal, although from a different point of
view, they do not have to be meaningless. That’s how it can happen with
music, if for example we randomly cut Frescobaldi’s ricercars into small
pieces, then glue them contrary to their original meaning, but ─ let’s say ─
according to their length, from the longest to the shortest (Szymański, 2006:
854).
The composer calls his own way of composing a two-level technique or surconventionalism5
(Szymański, 1993: 134), but sometimes also meta-reflection, meta-output, music with a
distance to tradition. Some of his statements about contemporary or his own music
surprisingly coincide with what theorists write about intertextuality, for example Gérard
Genette about literature in the second degree (Genette, 1982), so his poetics declared could be
called intertextual.

Paweł Szymański’s output in general

I am having a fragment of Paweł Szymański's output analyzed (Kostka, 2018a, b), so I can
say that his intentionally intertextual musical pieces are based on two sets of
incommensurable rules. The first set is called historical, because it consists of compositional
rules used to create a structure in a historical style. Although the musical style is here the
most important, some structures have additionally specific forms, such as fugue or sarabanda,
and contain some minor stylistic deviations, such as a long pause in the middle of the piece in
baroque style. It must be emphasized that the composer creates these structures himself (does

3
Author’s translation.
4
Idem.
5
Surconventionalism is a neologism invented by Paweł Szymański and Stanisław Krupowicz, which means a musical style
analogous in certain respects to Surrealism.

54
not borrow them from previous composers). Taking into account Ryszard Nycz’s three
intertextual ranges: text─text, text─genre or style (architext), text─reality (Nycz, 2000: 79-
109), I have to say that Szymański clearly prefers the second type. Although structures are
maintained in many styles from the Middle Ages to modernism, the composer prefers baroque
and classical ones. The second set of compositional rules is called abstract. It includes all
ideas aimed at transforming the historical structure into a new work. The set is divided into
three subsets: (1) rules concerning free or algorithmic extension of the historical structure
(e.g. leading to multiplication of vertical components with their simultaneous spreading); (2)
rules transforming the already widened structure, i.e. the second-level structure (e.g.
introducing pauses in place of some vertical components); (3) rules for “decorating” the final
sound material (e.g. systemic use of dynamics and articulation).
These incommensurable sets of rules, coming from different times and places and involving
completely different compositional activities, bring new texts with easily perceived discursive
interference on the surface. The combination of materials and techniques of various
provenance does not take the form of collage, in which a passage in one style is followed by
another in a completely different style. Instead, it forms a historical and modern synthesis
with varying proportions of resources over time. Intertextuality in Szymański's compositions
is global, running from the beginning to the end of the text, moreover, of a structural nature.
Manfred Pfister calls this kind of reference a “strong” form of intertextuality (Pfister, 1985:
19). It should be emphasized that some of Szymański’s works are created almost exclusively
from the pitches of the historical structure, which now are deployed in radically changed
syntax. This syntax usually takes two forms: extending over time from grammatical to non-
grammatical or in opposite direction and broken into two plans: grammatical and
ungrammatical. The discursive interference that manifests itself on the surface of works is
always subordinated to a formal concept. At first glance, these works seem very cohesive and
almost indivisible. When looking more closely, however, we notice a number of sections or
episodes passing from one to another without any distinct caesurae. All the works have a
profiled introduction and also a profiled ending, and the middle sections or episodes are
distinguished on the basis of changing proportions between historical and modern means.

Miserere for voices and instruments (1993)

As examples of Paweł Szymański’s intentionally intertextual music, I am discussing here two

works which are synthesis of medieval and post-medieval musical conventions with modern
techniques and timbres. The first work is Miserere for voices and instruments (1993). In the
language layer of Miserere there is a Latin text, starting with the words “Miserere mei, Deus,
secundum magnam misericordiam tuam”. As is well known, it is very famous Psalm 51
(Septuagint 50) from The Book of Psalms, many of which are linked to Israeli King David
who probably lived around 1000 years BC. From the late Middle Ages till today Miserere,
together with six more penitential psalms, has been one of the most popular texts, frequently
used in various liturgical traditions, because of its spirit of humility and repentance. Paweł
Szymański uses all nineteen paired verses of the psalm and additionally repeats some words
or even whole paired verses. The entire text is addressed to omnipotent God. The lyrical “I”
repents and expresses sorrow for sin; it is extremely humble and conscious of its frailty. The
sinner talks about his conviction that all men are sinful and that evil deeds are an integral
element of human life which sometimes cannot be avoided. However, he is certain that God
can forgive his sins and therefore begs Him for mercy, at the same time assuring Him that if
his prayers are heard, he himself will be converting other sinners.

55
The musical layer of Miserere ─ intended for solo bass, men’s choir (two countertenors, two
tenors, two baritones), vibraphone, harp and four cellos ─ is composed of nineteen sections,
but not always a section includes a couple of verses. There are nine solo bass sections and ten
choral-instrumental sections which alternate after each other. Regardless of the kind of
section, the music flows slowly and regularly in 4/4 meter, in very quiet dynamics.
Solo bass sections are very short and very similar to each other. All of them are composed in
the mode of a Gregorian chant, based on the Gregorian psalm tone with dominant F and
finalis D, with the exclusion of the so-called initium. In contrast to them, the choral-
instrumental sections are more complex. To understand these sections, we should first know
that all of them have been derived from an initial, tonal and chord structure which
consistently and progressively modulates throughout the circle of fifths. Szymański discusses
about it in an interview as it follows:
My intention, which I was trying to solve on a technical plane, was just to
give the impression that something is at the same time physically standing
still […] and changing its position and moving. […] This is done so that if
you removed these chant verses, it would turn out that all this music creates
a consistent, indivisible whole: a harmonic structure, which consistently
modulates on the whole circle-of-fifths progression. But it has its own
segments that do not coincide with those segments that have been allocated
to the segments of text (Naliwajek-Mazurek, 2016: 176).
After analyzing this composition, I can add to this initial structure three other information:
1) the model group of chords is maintained in D minor with modulation to A
minor at the end;
2) the model progresses through the following minor keys:
D─A─E─B─F♯─C♯─G♯─D♯─A♯─F─C─G;
3) modulation throughout the circle of fifths is repeated up to six times (the
beginning of the initial structure falls in bars 1, 44, 78, 106, 143, 182), and
the last circulation ends in the middle of the circle (i.e. in G♯ minor, a tritone
higher than at the beginning).
All choral-instrumental sections of Miserere were created exclusively from the pitches of this
initial structure, but in a very specific way ─ by assigning three different sets of pitches to
three execution groups (a choir, a harp with a vibraphone, four cellos). In addition, the initial
structure has been stretched over time by the use of three different rhythmic formulas (a
formula for one execution group). By imposing these abstract compositional ideas on the
historical structure, three distinct layers were created. The choral layer is similar to the solo
bass sections and recalls a process of achieving a sense of balance or stability. The two
instrumental layers modulate all the time throughout the circle of fifths and recall a process
related to pursuing a path toward some goal.
Six choral voices use in total only six pitches: D, F, A, C, E, G, which are the components of
D-minor and C-major chords (a tonic and a VIIth degree chord in D-minor key). Individual
sounds are assigned to particular voices in the following way: D ─ baritone 1, F – baritone 2,
A – tenore 2, C – tenore 1, E – contratenor 1, G – contratenor 2, and do not change their
positions till the end of the composition. All choral voices are written in a counterpoint
technique of nota contra notam in monotonously running quavers. Each section containing

6
K. Naliwajek-Mazurek’s translation.

56
these voices is composed according to one schema: a whisper, repetitions of six pitches, a
whisper (these are three grammatical units of this layer).
The parts of the harp and the vibraphone are the closest to the initial structure. They are
composed mainly of grammatical items each two bars in length. In the duration of each two
bars individual pitches consolidate one minor key and modulate to the key of a fifth higher.
The parts of the harp and the vibraphone are constructed in a mechanical way. The harp uses
only pitches from the first set: D, E, F, G, A, C, and plays them in the rhythm of septuplets
with some pauses. The vibraphone uses only pitches from the second set: D+, F+, G+, A+, B,
C+, and plays them in the rhythm of crotchets with dots. It is worth emphasizing that the
sounds of the vibraphone are not produced with the use of a stick, but by a glide of a bow.
The parts of the four cellos are also divided into grammatical items, each two bars in lenght,
but are formed in an entirely different way. They begin from determinate pitches and then
change into glissandi going up. The pitches of every two bars are subsequent semitones: D,
D+, E, F, F+, G and so on. It means that every four bars which determinate the pitch of the
cellos meet the first step of the minor scale used in the harp or vibraphone part. In the outer
sections of Miserere, the glissandi up are performed in unison, but in the middle ones they
mix with glissandi down, wavy glissandi and long-lasting pitches.

Three Pieces for three recorders accompanied by a metronome (1993)

The second Paweł Szymański’s work chosen for discussion here is Three Pieces for three
recorders accompanied by a metronome (1993). The work evokes associations with the music
of late Middle Ages and renaissance. These associations are the result of both instruments and
musical material. Nowadays recorders are encountered mainly in ensembles performing early
music and strokes of the metronome imitate here beats of a drum, which was also used by
early music ensembles.
The first of the three pieces, to be performed on alto flutes, is maintained in 2/4 meter and
semiquaver rhythm. Three motives, with the length of 7, 8 and 9 semiquavers respectively,
have been based on pentatonic, semitonal scale a, h, c, e, f. An important element of the
second motive is a trill which, in the imitazione della natura practice, could imitate a
birdsong. Each motive has been placed within one of the three voices, and is repeated there a
couple of times, in accordance with the principle of the Lowest Common Multiple of three
integers, in this particular case LCM (7, 8, 9). The calculations show that the 7-semiquavers
motif appears 72 times, 8-semiquavers ─ 63 times, and 9-semiquavers ─ 56 times. The syntax
of musical structure based on such idea seems to be ungrammatical with regard to early
music. Motives moving in a mechanical way enter all the time into new relationships,
resulting in sound combinations which are sometimes consonant, and occasionally dissonant.
The composer imposed two further ideas on such original structure: he replaced some sounds
by pauses, and some other sounds are equipped with various articulations. It is significant that
he did not introduce dynamic signs, which refers to the old practice of composition.
The second miniature, to be performed in piccolo flutes, is maintained in 3/8 meter and
possesses up to seven various motives, each with the length of one bar. Among them there are
four melodic motives, including two semiquaver and two punctuated ones, and three quaver
motives, each with the repetition of a sound. The pitches of all the motives: d3, e3, f3, g3, a2,
cis3 constitute a D-minor harmonic scale, without the sixth degree. The musical structure is a
3-voice one, with the length of 80 bars. Each bar is a result of quasi-combinatorial operation
on motives. The following two principles are observed within each bar: the semiquaver and

57
punctuated motives cannot meet, and the number of motives with sound repetition can be
from one to three. The ultimate structure is characterized by numerous unisono moments and
displays a tendency to move from melodic motives to motives with sound repetition.
The third of the three pieces, to be performed on alto flutes, runs in the 3/4 meter and
is based on three motives in a pentachord scale, composed of the pitches: g1-a1-b1-c2-d2. An
interesting thing is that the opening motives are materially identical but differ by the length of
the highest pitches; as a result, the length of these motives is 10, 12 and 14 semiquavers
respectively. The structure of this composition was formed following similar principles as in
the case of the first composition (i.e. the principle of the Lowest Common Multiple of three
integers), which in this case is LCM (10, 12, 14). The whole structure has 35 measures, the
shortest motif appears 42 times, the average length is 35 times, the longest ─ 30 times. In the
middle part of the composition the mechanical structure passes through melodic-rhythmic
modifications, but the length of the motives remains unchanged. Similarly to the previous
miniatures, the old musical means collide here with modern syntax. In addition, Szymański
decorated motives with articulations and placed them in lower registers than in the first
miniature.

Final notes

Intertextuality is a general condition of meaning and gives particular works a high degree of
hermeneutic vitality. So what does each of Szymanski's works described here mean? Because
Miserere is a complex and multi-layered work, I intend to explain its meaning using
Lawrence Zbikowski’s latest’s theory appropriate for such a work (Zbikowski, 2017: 167-
200). In his cognitively oriented book on musical grammar, Zbikowski writes that when
music flows simultaneously with words, they both create a conceptual blending. We must
therefore answer the question: how the concepts activated by the music of Miserere interact
with those activated by the words of Miserere? One way to account for this correlation is
through a conceptual integration network (CIN), composed of four mental spaces: generic,
words, music, and conceptual blend. The generic space could be expressed by a following
sentence: Due to ethics a human being is able to pursue to elusive perfection. The words
space is structured by features as: (1) intimate speech of the sinner, (2) humility and
repentance, and (3) high style. The music space is structured by two kinds of sections
alternating each other: (1) Gregorian chant sections (i.e. sonic images of achieving a sense of
balance or stability), and (2) choral-instrumental sections (i.e. sonic images of moving and
staying simultaneously). The blended space of Miserere is a result of interaction between
words and music. In my opinion, it is composed of two following images: (1) the sinner is
serious, self-controlled and calm, because he reaches out to omnipotent God; (2) the sinner is
filled with a contradiction: on the one hand, he is conscious of his frailty, on the other ─
hopes to be able to pursue to perfection.
While looking for the meaning of the Three Pieces for three recorders accompanied by a
metronome, we find that we do not need to use any complex theory. This rather simple
instrumental piece does not provide readable or straightforward message, but meaning similar
to those which occur at other Szymański’s instrumental works, as well as at surrealist novels,
films, paintings, and so forth. For me, each short piece of this set has “vibrating meanings”,
meanings with a positive character. Listening to the miniature, I perceive something that is
known and unknown at the same time. It is a kind of an intertextual game between old
elements (medieval motives and timbre of flutes) and new ones (new musical syntax and

58
timbre of metronome). One can make here the reference to the composer’s philosophy and
say that Three Pieces are a symbol of our experiencing of the world.

References

GENETTE, G. (1982). Palimpsestes. La littérature au second degreé. Paris: Seuil.

KOSTKA, V. (2018a). Muzyka Pawła Szymańskiego w świetle poetyki intertekstualnej
postmodernizmu. Gdańsk: Akademia Muzyczna, Kraków: Musica Iagellonica.
KOSTKA, V. (2018b). “Intertextuality in the Music of our Time: Paweł Szymański’s
Riddles”, Tempo. A Quarterly Review of New Music, Vol. 72, No. 286, pp. 42-52.
NALIWAJEK-MAZUREK, K. (2016). [booklet attached to the CD], in: Camerata Silesia
sings Szymański. Warszawa: Dux.
————. (2013). “Paweł Szymański. Między konstruktywistyczną iluzją a metaforą
niepoznawalnej realności.” In Aleksandra Piętka (ed.), Paweł Szymański. Qudsja
Zaher, 10-19. Warszawa: Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa.
NYCZ, R. (2012). “Poetyka intertekstualna: tradycje i perspektywy.” In Michał P.
Markowski, Ryszard Nycz (eds.), Kulturowa teoria literatury. Główne pojęcia i
problemy, 153-180. Kraków: Universitas.
————. (2005). “Intertextual poetics: Traditions and Outlooks.” (transl. Rafał Śmietana).
In Mieczysław Tomaszewski, Ewa Siemdaj (eds.), Krzysztof Penderecki ─ Music in
the Intertextual Era. Studies and Interpretation, 7-20. Kraków: Academy of Music.
————. (2000). Tekstowy świat. Poststrukturalizm a wiedza o literaturze. Kraków:
Universitas.
PFISTER, M. (1985). “Konzepte der Intertextualität.” in U. Broich, M. Pfister (ed.),
Intertextualität, Formen, Funktionen, anglistische Fallstudien, 1-30. Tübingen.
SZCZECIŃSKA, E. (2007). Między eklektyzmem a meta sztuką. Wywiad z Pawłem
Szymańskim, [online], https://www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/miedzy-eklektyzmem-a-
metasztuka-138081 [access: 6.03.2019].
SZYMAŃSKI, P. (2006) [statements from years 1986, 2006], in: Festiwal muzyki Pawła
Szymańskiego. 24 listopada ─1 grudnia 2006, ed. Andrzej Chłopecki, Katarzyna
Naliwajek. Warszawa: Polskie Wydawnictwo Audiowizualne. Szymański, Paweł.
(1993) From Idea to Sound. A few Remarks on my Way of Composing, in: From
Idea to Sound. Proceedings of the International Musicological Symposium held at
Castle Nieborów in Poland, 4-5 IX 1985, ed. Anna Czekanowska, Miloš
Velimirovič, Zbigniew Skowron. Kraków: Fundacja Zjednoczonej Europy, pp. 134-
139.
————. (1986). “Autorefleksja.” In Leszek Polony (ed.) Przemiany techniki dźwiękowej,
stylu i estetyki w polskiej muzyce lat 70., 291-299. Kraków: Akademia Muzyczna.
ZBIKOWSKI, L. (2017). Foundations of Musical Grammar. New York: Oxford University
Press.

59
‘You will grow to hate emails from me’:
composing in a remote [digital] collaboration
Amy Mallett1

Abstract. The practice of studying collaboration within a virtual setting is a relatively new
approach to arts research, but one that is already informing new perspectives on collaboration,
as multinational teams become increasingly prevalent across many creative fields. For the
artist-researcher, the asynchronous nature of remote idea exchange offers a valuable
opportunity to reflect upon and develop both their collaborative skill and artistic process. This
paper recounts the UK-based author’s remote, trans-global partnership with Canadian writer
Gary Swartz in the composition of music for musical Whispers of the Heart (2014). A mixed-
method approach is outlined, involving triangulation of findings from a discourse analysis of
email correspondence, composer notes and co-collaborator interview. Textual analysis of
correspondence recorded the frequency of five types of exchange and suggests the importance
of ‘small talk’ in establishing a relationship conducive to positive collaborative interchange. A
retrospective review of the creative process highlights how periodical email and digital file
exchange can provide objective space in which to digest and cogitate feedback given. It is
further argued that by effectively exploiting the contained environment of a remote [digital]
collaboration, auto-ethnographic study can facilitate the identification of enablers and barriers
to collaborative practice, and also go some way to de-mystify and develop the composer’s
creative process.
Keywords: Composing; collaboration; discourse analysis.

Introduction

Advances in technology have made it increasingly possible for artists to collaborate across
geographical locations and time zones. Technologies such as email, video chat, file sharing
and bespoke real-time platforms enable creative exchange and present wider opportunities for
working with new collaborators. Whilst this approach to collaborative working can bring
technical challenges, it can also be a valuable way to allow creative teams to connect where
personal interchanges are not possible due to practical or economic reasons (Stewart, 2015).
Interaction may take place in real-time (where all co-collaborators are ‘present’ such as a
video or conference call, chatroom, or virtual environment) or in the form of asynchronous
correspondence (such as where email and/or file exchange is the preferred tool).
For the composer-researcher, participation in a remote collaboration offers a unique
opportunity to scrutinise and document their compositional and collaborative journey with
minimal disruption to the creative process. This article charts my own experiences of one
such journey, through a remote, trans-global partnership with Canadian writer Gary Swartz2. I
will argue that through the application of an appropriate methodology, the asynchronous
nature of a remote digital collaboration can offer the composer the chance to not only

1
Independent scholar. [email protected]
2
A retired advertising copywriter, Swartz had previously written musical Country Love (available on StageScripts.com) and
play Tears Like Rain. He had become aware of my research interests through my membership of musical theatre
networking organisation Mercury Musical Developments.

60
examine and reflect on their craft and process, but also to enrich and develop their creative
practice.

Methodology

The practice of studying collaboration within a virtual setting is a relatively new approach to
arts research, but one that is beginning to inform new perspectives on creativity. Researchers
such as Turner and Schober (2007) and Gerben (2012) have acknowledged the value of the
virtual environment for studying collaboration. Their studies apply methods of language
coding and textual analysis to chat room transcripts to identify language and behaviour
conducive to effective collaboration. Research of this nature exploits the remote collaboration
as a contained environment in which carefully designed methodologies can facilitate a vast
amount of valuable evidence. This evidence can take the form of quantitative data such as
textual or discourse analysis, more qualitative insights (from interviews or observation) or a
mixture of the two.
A significant risk to any auto-ethnographic approach is the intrusive nature of self-scrutiny,
and its potential to both interrupt and influence artistic activity. Knowing that communication,
processes and artistic outcomes are subject to analysis can influence how co-collaborators
interact, in particular causing artists to ‘tone down’ our responses or not behave intuitively. In
order to minimise such manifestations of the ‘observer effect’, for this study a mixed method
approach was applied, involving triangulation of quantitative and qualitative findings from a
discourse analysis of email correspondence, composer notes and co-collaborator interview.
The study focuses on a ten-month period during which I wrote the music for 13 songs for
Swartz’s pop/rock/blues musical Whispers of the Heart (2014)3. The creative process was
facilitated through the exchange of email and audio files between myself (based in the UK)
and Swartz (in Vancouver, Canada). Throughout the project, as well as documenting the
musical material as lead sheets, I recorded my creative thought processes as written
annotations. These notes included details of stimulae, musical/literary influences, reasoning
for creative decisions, and any revisions made. In order to minimise the detrimental impact of
other observational methods such as protocol analysis (Collins, 2007), I self-interviewed as
soon as possible after each song was completed. Notes were kept succinct to provide a high-
level process map of the musical decision-making process. This auto-ethnographic adaptation
of the Stimulated Recall4 approach to data collection captured the key steps in my decision-
making processes and also recorded how input from my co- writer was applied.
When the work was complete, a retrospective study of correspondence between Swartz and
myself was carried out in the form of a discourse analysis. This analysis noted instances of
five types of exchange in the written statements of each collaborator:
1. Small Talk/Relationship Building (Not related to tasks and usually
referencing elements of our personal/professional lives)
E.g. “I lived in Japan for many years...”
“I may well end up cutting the lawn this afternoon”

3
Whispers of the Heart is a four-hander musical in two acts that examines the relationships of two career-minded couples,
allowing the audience to decide (during the interval) whether one of the couples stays together or splits up. Swartz had
already written the script and lyrics when he approached me.
4
In the Stimulated Recall approach, a third party interviews the subject who has undertaken the experience being
investigated using various stimuli as cues to stimulate recollections of the process.

61
 2. External Musical References (Usually in the form of hyperlinks to video or
audio recordings)
E.g. “The Fabulous Baker Boys song was ‘Making Whoopee’”
“I recently discovered this song that driving feel might translate well
with Rich”
3. Managing Expectations (relating to timescales and delivery of musical
material)
E.g. “I’ve got a really busy week coming up” “I’ve got a house full of
toddlers this week” “Just wanted to make sure you are still alive”
4. Positive/Encouragement (Where ideas or artistic efforts are praised) E.g.
“Works for me.”
“Seems like we are on track.” “I like it. Lots of nifty stuff in it.”
5. Veto (Where musical ideas were rejected or deemed inappropriate to the
project. Not including where permission was first sought to make edits)
E.g. “I think it has to stay ‘we’”
“It could maybe sound a bit more “Kiss my Ass!””

Findings in each category were compared between co-writers and also to our song
productivity throughout the ten-month period. Finally, an email interview was conducted with
Swartz, with questions formulated by cross-referencing findings from textual analysis,
composer notes and relevant theoretical background.

Findings

Within any collaboration, the initial stages of a project will include a period of establishing
scope, roles and responsibilities, as well as gaining an understanding of the motivating factors
for working together. In their study into online team behaviour, researchers Tseng and Yeh
argue that familiarity, commitment and team cohesion are necessary to build a foundation of
trust in a virtual team: “It is advantageous to discover the struggles and conflicts earlier, to
facilitate the open communication channel in teams, and to encourage individual
accountability” (2013: 23). In the case of Whispers of the Heart, discourse analysis allowed
for a useful and detailed insight into this initial ‘scoping’ stage. Analysis of our email
exchange shows that the first two months of our discourse yielded a high level of ‘Small
Talk/Relationship Building’ statements on Swartz’s part (see Figure 1). Contrastingly,
‘Managing Expectations’ statements were my most frequent approach, perhaps reflecting our
‘client-composer’ roles, despite lack of formal arrangement.

62
 Figure 1. Frequency of statement types in email correspondence Feb-Mar 2014

This ‘scoping’ phase was also vital in establishing a musical language from which we would
go on to develop a collaborative compositional process. As a non-musician, to illustrate
musical parameters Swartz’s approach was to provide me with a large pre-prepared list of
existing songs as starting points for the musical style, feel and form of each song in the show.
This was in the form of a verbal list referencing YouTube videos given during a Skype
conversation, followed up in a subsequent email containing a series of hyperlinks to video and
audio recordings of existing songs. This use of ‘reference’ or ‘temp’ tracks is a strategy often
used in the film music genre to create a ‘blueprint as well as a barometer’ for musical ideas
(Sadoff, 2006: 180). Film composers such as Kim Halliday (2013) and Jerry Goldsmith (in
Karlin and Wright, 2013: 40) advocate their use in order to bridge the gap in musical
knowledge between director and composer. Whilst a useful place for a composer to begin, it
has also been argued that this approach can present potential problems for a composer who
values their own compositional voice or likes to avoid pastiche. Some film directors feel that
temp tracks can limit composers, and indeed, some composers choose not to listen to them
(Karlin and Wright, 2013: 30). I found this adaptation to my own compositional approach
strangely liberating; a challenge to deviate from my usual sources of stimulus but invigorating
to be freed from the imposition of originality. I took care to record Swartz’s narrative
surrounding each track in order to ascertain which aspects of the song he was inspired by. To
avoid direct pastiche of the reference tracks I had been given, my notes show how I identified
simple characteristics of each track, using a musical feel, or limited chord progression as a
starting point from which to build via my own compositional voice.

63
 Figure 2. Frequency of External Musical References

Discourse analysis shows that the majority of external musical references (see Figure 2) were
used at the beginning of the writing process, with additional references given later on during
the project when Swartz wanted to signpost other aspects of the musical material, or when I
wanted to clarify musical direction. As we progressed through the project, a musical aesthetic
emerged which incorporated both the influences of existing language across rock, pop and
blues genres, but also our collective authorial voice. Swartz retrospectively observed the
advantages of this approach and also highlighted the value of on-line tools such as YouTube
to increase the accessibility of musical ideas and aspects of performance: “So while I could
not necessarily describe in words or technical terms, what I thought some, not all, but maybe
many of the songs wanted, or needed, or would be happy with, I could search YouTube and
ultimately provide links to performances of songs that I felt had some attribute that would
work for us.” (Swartz, 2016: 4).
Again, email correspondence shows that the only significant instance of veto in the project
was in the very early stages, when my first attempt at a song was rejected outright by Swartz.
At the time, this was a blow that almost made me pull out of the project. However, with
hindsight, this misunderstanding and subsequent reconciliation of a mutual musical language
could only have been achieved through a period of trial and error, and was efficiently dealt
with via the openness and transparency of our textual communication. The advantage of not
composing side by side with my co-writer meant that I could digest and consider my co-
collaborator’s feedback at my leisure. This supports the findings of Phalip et al (2009) that
although written feedback can be harsher than the potentially more ‘considerate’ face-to-face
delivery, asynchronous modes of communication can alleviate the negative impact of
criticism by offering time and space to reflect.
Following this vital, and significant ‘scoping stage’, levels of ‘Small Talk/Relationship
Building’ statements continued consistently from both sides throughout the creative process.
In this way, by sharing details about our home lives to each other within the friendly subtext
of our emails, we were implicitly providing an on-going commentary of our availability and
ability to make progress with the work. Over time, a mutual creative flow emerged, and

64
Swartz and I could consciously enjoy the advantages of the remote nature of our collaborative
partnership. This perspective is neatly corroborated in Swartz’s interview response where he
says: “We could work at our own pace, whenever the time was available, and the mood was
right.” (Swartz, 2016).

Discussion

The process of writing music for Whispers of the Heart has provided a useful perspective on
the advantages of remote collaboration as both a model for artistic partnership, and an
environment for collaborative research. The remote [digital] collaboration offers the
composer many benefits, if implemented with an approach that includes appropriate
technology, considered communication, and a level of conscious self-awareness.
In terms of my own compositional practice, as well as encouraging me to view negative
feedback as an opportunity to create something new (Sutton, 2012), the challenge of relating
Swartz’s diverse musical references to the lyrical structure of each song required a new way
of approaching a songwriting task which has enriched my craft. I was able to let go of my
own self-imposed constraints, allowing for a more efficient and emotionally detached
approach to composing that is perhaps more suited to a commercial environment. This
supports the views of researchers such as Pejrolo (2014); that the remote collaboration can be
an opportunity to enrich the composer’s musical palette.
If strategically adopted, the asynchronous nature of email and digital file exchange offers
thinking space to each party that can both aid the creative process and allow for greater
reflection on the formatting of responses. An email may be blunt and lacking in the subtle
nuances shared with face-to-face verbal exchanges, but it can be read at the recipient’s leisure
and re-visited if (as in this case) re-interpretation is called for. I would suggest that a purely
asynchronous approach can be successful if co-collaborators are mindful of the directness of
the written word as a means to convey and receive feedback. This in turn can enhance the
collaborative skills of those involved, essentially making them more effective collaborators.
Adopting the role of composer-researcher for this project required a more consistently
reflective approach that I believe enhanced my own skills as collaborator. This is a
phenomenon also observed by Biasutti (2015) who found that completing surveys reflecting
on collaborative interactions helped participants develop an awareness and consciousness of
their own approach to collaboration, leading to positive changes in behaviour: “The
participants reflected on their knowledge, evaluated the progress of the activities, and
regulated their cognitive resources based on the roles of their bandmates.” (2015: 60).
Similarly, in researching the collaborative efforts of design students, Turner and Schroder
(2007) observed that assessing the behaviours of others increased self-awareness of
participants, and in turn, encouraged interactions more conducive to team endeavours: “The
mere fact of evaluating each other increases behaviours that get higher ratings and decreases
behaviours that get lower ratings.”(2007: 9). These findings would indicate on a wider level
that taking part in research into communal creative activity is beneficial to the development of
collaborative skills in the individual and the creative team as a whole.
As expected, a mixed method research design proved a structured and focused approach to
providing an ethnographic perspective of the impact of this model of collaboration on the
compositional and collaborative process. The action of taking notes during the compositional
process was a change to my usual working practices, which brought advantages and
challenges. Not reliant on technology or requiring lengthy transcription time, the action of

65
putting thoughts into words and then recording on paper required a periodic pausing of
cognitive processes, and I believe is only affective if incorporated with a high degree of
honesty inquiry. Rather than interrupting creative flow, this method induced a higher level of
subjective consciousness of both my decision-making processes and collaborative
interactions, and allowed a valuable insight into previously uncharted creative practices. This
allowed me to question my motivation and musical direction, which I believe made me less
likely to choose familiar avenues. I became more aware of empirical influences and felt more
able to combine experience with instinct. Through writing the music for Whispers of the
Heart this self-reflective approach became embedded within my creative practice, and indeed
has endured beyond the end of the project.

Conclusion

As suggested by Turner and Schroeder (Turner and Schober, 2007: 9) language coding and
textual analysis can provide a tangible way to find meaning in collaborative discourse. In this
case it provided a structured approach to analysing the substantial data produced during ten
months of email exchange. This simple form of language classification was successful in
revealing trends in types of language used by each co-collaborator, and would be an equally
valuable approach to widening perspectives on collaborative interactions in larger groups. In
this project, statements relating to creative decisions (i.e. lyrical/instrumental suggestions)
were not included due to time constraints, however could be included in future studies into
compositional process. A more detailed study into collaborative creative decisions may be
enabled by observing co-collaborators within a synchronous virtual environment, where
decisions are made more immediately, and communications recorded through forum-style
interactions. A similar set of language classification could be developed to map and record
how interactions affect the musical creative process.
Finally, ethical considerations in this type of research remain paramount. Self-scrutiny is not
for the faint-hearted, and requires honesty and integrity on the part of the auto-ethnographer,
and consent of other participants. This research project would not have been possible without
my co-collaborator Swartz’s willingness to be scrutinised, and the openness of his interview
responses provide a qualitative context within which to reflect on the rich experience of this
remote collaboration. Rather than ‘growing to hate’ Swartz’s emails, as he jokingly predicted
right at the beginning of our project, they have provided a unique perspective on my creative
practice, and the development of a fruitful working partnership.

References

BIASUTTI, M. (2015). Creativity in virtual spaces: Communication modes employed during

collaborative online music composition. Educational Technology & Society, 18 (3),
49–63.
COLLINS, D. (2007). Real-time tracking of the creative music composition process. Digital
Creativity, 18 (4), 239–256.
GERBEN, C.A. (2012). Expanding Conversations: Cultivating an Analytical Approach to
Collaborative Composition in Social Online Spaces. PhD Thesis. University of
Michigan: Michigan, USA.

66
HALLIDAY, K. (2013). Commissioning Music For Short Films. [online]. Raindance. URL
http://www.raindance.org/commissioning-music-for-short-films/ (accessed on May
19, 2016).
KARLIN, F. & WRIGHT, R. (2013). On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring.
Abbingdon: Routledge.
PEJROLO, A. (2014). Remote Collaboration: Long Distance Recording Projects [online].
Sound on Sound. URL http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/remote-
collaboration (accessed on April 4, 2017).
PHALIP, J., EDMONDS E. & JEAN, D. (2009). Supporting Remote Creative Collaboration
in Film Scoring. In Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Creativity and
Cognition, C&C ’09. ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp. 211–220.
SADOFF, R. H. (2006). The Role of the Music Editor and the “Temp Track” as Blueprint for
the Score, Source Music, and Scource Music of Films. Popular Music, 25 (2), 165–
183.
STEWART, Z. (2015). The Rise of the Telerehearsal: You No Longer Need to Be in the
Same Room to Create Theater [online]. TheaterMania.com. URL
http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/the-rise-of-the-telerehearsal- you-no-
longer-need-t_73017.html (accessed on April 14, 2017).
SUTTON, T. (2012). Skype Interview with Amy Mallett, 17 December.5
SWARTZ, G. (2016). Email interview with author, 6 June.5
TSENG, H.W., & YEH, H-T. (2013). Team members’ perceptions of online teamwork
learning experiences and building teamwork trust: A qualitative study. Computers
and Education, 63, 1–9.
TURNER, G., & SCHOBER, M.F. (2007). Feedback on Collaborative Skills in Remote
Studio Design. In 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
HICSS 2007. Presented at the 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on
System Sciences, 2007. HICSS 2007, pp. 44–44.

5
Available from author: [email protected]

67
A CODFISH IN THE SKY WITH SALT! The
representations of Portuguese media about the
relationship between rock’n’roll music and drug
abuse (1980-2018)
Ana Martins1 and Paula Guerra2

Abstract. Since early, music in general and rock music in particular became crucial in young
people’s lives (Mulder et al, 2009a/b). According to Vuolo et al (2014) and Calado (2007),
music mirrors the main social and cultural events that happen in our life, like our feelings, our
problems and our substance uses. In this sense, the music’s and pop stars potential influence is
so big, that some researchers believe that some music genres can be a stimulator for drugs
use (Mulder et al, 2009a/b). The musicians themselves are frequently linked to substance and
drug abuse (Miller & Quigley, 2011). Recently, Ian Inglis (2007) wrote about musical legends,
drug abuse, rock and roll overindulgences and bohemian life in rock music artists. In fact, these
myths are very important in fans day life, particular in teenagers’ fans, when search for a
lifestyle model. This scenario happens with different variations in all occidental countries and
Portugal is no exception for that (Guerra et al., 2016). And we usually receive the information
about the relationship between music and drugs mainly by the media. So it’s important to
analyze and think about the way Portuguese media portray rock music and drugs use and
abuse.
Keywords: Rock music; media; drug abuse; Portugal.

Introduction
Rock performances were popularly associated with all forms of riot and
disorder – from the slashing of cinema seats by teddy boys through
Beatlemania to the hippie happenings and festivals where freedom was
expressed less aggressively in nudity, drug taking and general ‘spontaneity’
(Hebdige, 2002: 162).
As we may know, rock music has been linked to rebel and risk behaviours, as well as
experience and sensation seeking, since her setting in the Anglo-Saxon scene (Guerra et al.,
2016). Also very important in these behaviours are the supposed substance use and abuse
popularly associated with the rock subculture. About the rock subculture itself, we can talk
about it as a youth culture, because the emergence of rock as a post-subculture in the national
and international panorama has been associated with youth. In other words, rock has been and
remains a juvenile phenomenon, in the eyes of many, since its premises of rebellion and
transgression merge with the instability, flight and search of adolescents for an ideal that

1
Instituto de Sociologia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. [email protected]
2
Faculdade de Letras e Instituto de Sociologia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. [email protected]

68
meets their feelings of revolt. Paula Guerra (2015) considers rock subculture as an ‘absolute
beginner’, insofar as the emergence of this musical genre in Portugal brought with it a break
with the socially established standards to date, giving rise to the birth of a new musical
experience, which came to be absorbed by a vast group of social actors, namely located in the
typically young age groups. In this sense, for the adolescents, the musical manifestation of
rock represented the promise of a new social panorama, where socioeconomic problems
would be overcome by the recent freedoms provided in the various dimensions of individual
and collective life. So, the youth is an important age group when studying this kind of
subjects.
According to Vuolo et al (2014), the lifestyles of these young people, as well as their feelings,
fragilities, experiences or consumptions, end up being portrayed in the songs they listen to.
For this reason, many authors believe that rock music and its protagonists can influence, in
some way, receptivity, maintenance or withdrawal to certain consumer behaviours, especially
of illicit substances. Even, because the rock musicians themselves are often associated with
this type of consumption. In this particular field, there are countless links about these subjects
in rock lyrics, music videos or performances, as we can see in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
– The Beatles; Brown Sugar – The Rolling Stones; Needle And The Damage Done – Neil
Young; Light my Fire – The Doors...
In this sense, some authors have discussed about the illegal substance abuse and the bohemian
life of rock music icons, as these myths are very important in the lives of fans, especially
younger fans, as they search for models for their lifestyles. This happens a bit throughout the
western world with different variations, of course, and Portugal is no exception. And the
media play a crucial role in the transmission of these alternative behaviours and lifestyles.
This type of deviant behaviour in relation to socially established norms has gained increasing
importance in Sociology, especially in the main urban and exclusion issues at the present
time. Particularly relevant to these questions is the analytical axis of Marginality and
Deviation and, within this, the paradigm of symbolic interactionism, “[...] as an explanatory
theory of innovative and precursor clipping in the explication of the mechanisms of social
domination” (Guerra, 2002: 15). In fact, the importance of the paradigm of symbolic
interactionism for this paper is related to the atonement it gives us of the mechanisms of
production and reproduction of this type of behaviour, understood by common sense, as
resulting from pathological characteristics present in individuals and easily identifiable. Thus,
in the social-day-to-day interaction frameworks, if one or more individuals show behaviours
that do not meet socially shared norms, the organizational premises lead to the reactivation of
sanctions that, in this particular context, result in stigma, labelling and appropriations about
the protagonists and actors of the national rock subculture. “Only when the violation of the
norm is recognized and designated as such, giving rise to a process in which the transgressor
takes the label as a stigma and confirms it, repeating it, is that, in good rigor, one can speak of
deviant behavior” (Pinto, 1994: 144).
In short, in contemporary Portuguese society, musicians and other professionals associated
with the rock universe, carry with them a career of labelling and stigmatizations related to
risky behaviours, which, from the outset, gives them a position of discrediting towards other
social actors. And in this subject, the media play a key role in the dissemination of this kind
of social stereotypes. So, it’s urgent to deconstruct this reality and reflect about her
complexity and multiformity. Last, in terms of methodology, this paper uses documentary
analysis and secondary data.

69
Thinking over the ‘media portraits’

Using the press as a source of information about the mechanisms of (re)construction of

societal deviations, we proceed to an exercise of application on the thesis of interactionists.
Thus, we analyzed some extracts from five examples of online national press reports that
relate this type of music and illicit substances. The empirical material that was the basis of
this analysis consisted of extracts from five articles about the relationship between (rock)
music and illicit substance use in different online media agents (specialized press and general
press) and in different years (i.e. 1997, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2018). This collection of
information based on a convenience selection was restricted to the search for five distinct
examples that met our objectives of exemplifying the application of the thesis of symbolic
interactionism to this particular article.
From a symbolic point of view, this association between rock music and consumption of
illicit substances brings together domains of exclusion and rock assumes itself in the
collective imaginary as a subculture that shows a greater practice and experience of deviant
behaviour. In this way, the musical events that involve this musical genre, as well as the
protagonists of this subculture are often represented in political, social and media discourses,
as having some relation with the consumption of illegal substances. This question is
inextricably linked to the fact that the crystallization of the image of rock musicians is based
on negative events (such as incivility behaviours, for example), leading to the creation of
these stigmatized individuals, enhancing their growing rupture with the “normal” society. The
way society negatively identifies the participants of the rock subculture results in the loss of
collective self-esteem and consequent reproductive worsening of the situation by the rock
music artists and fans.
In general, given these five examples, we can see that we have two short, (Diana.fm &
Correio da Manhã), two medium / large (Blitz & Sol) news pieces and a report developed in
depth, which is the largest of all articles (Observador). We’ll quote then an extract of each
example translated from Portuguese language and a brief analysis.
1st example quoted: Liberalize vs. Forbid – 19th of July of 1997, Blitz
Liberalize, decriminalize, and maintain the prohibitionist policy? What is
the best political choice for the drugs issue at the turn of the century? BLITZ
interviewed the Minister of Justice, whose position of caution can be
verified, but admits that society is moving towards the decriminalization of
light drugs. We also spoke with Luís Patrício, director of the Taipas Center;
Luís Fernandes, professor of psychology at the Faculty of Psychology of
Porto and author of studies on drug addiction carried out according to the
method of field study in Porto, as well as a study on the relationship between
drugs and music; and we spoke with Ricardo Sampaio, president of the
National Association of Young Physicians (Blitz, 19973).
The Blitz is a specialized media in music. Founded in 1984, the Blitz started out as a
newspaper, then turn on a magazine and now works only online. This example is from a
report on the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal, in which one of the interviewees was
Luís Fernandes, author of a study on the relationship between drugs and music in our country.
The report discloses different points of view of interviewees about the liberalization or
prohibition of illicit substance use in Portugal at the time. A number of possible political
policies are proposed to be implemented in the country and comparisons are made with

3
Author’s translation

70
policies adopted in other countries, notably in the Netherlands. Basically, all opinions seek
solutions that do not involve an injunction prohibiting of this type of consumption. This
conclusion may lead the reader to assume that, sooner or later, the consumption of illicit
substances in Portugal will be legalized, since there are already several public entities that
think this way. The fact that the interviewed assume that in the face of the threatening reality
of consumption and sale of these substances in our country, (giving an example of their
presence near the schools), the solution would be to work for the treatments and even
legalization. This assumption ends up transmitting a sense of social insecurity to the readers
and a concern about the future of the society with that freedom to consume that kind of
substances. It is noteworthy that they interviewed Luís Fernandes, a researcher at the Center
of Sciences of Deviant Behavior of the FPCEU and author of chronicles and works such as
“The drug site” (1999) and that has been developing reflections on the phenomenon of drugs
and their relation to music, namely rock music. It is also curious that this report is published
in a newspaper specialized in music, which probably has more young readers than adults.
2nd example quoted: Odemira: GNR holds six people for drug trafficking in overseas
operations of the Southwest Festival – 4th of August of 2007, Diana.fm
The GNR has arrested, in recent days, six people for drug trafficking and
has filed 107 countersigns for consumption in the zone of the Southwest
Festival, which runs in Zambujeira do Mar until Sunday (Diana.fm, 20074).
DianaFM is an FM radio station from Évora, founded in 1986, which emits especially for the
district of Évora and for the whole Alentejo. In addition to its online presence through a
dynamic and up-to-date website, it also allows its broadcast to be listened to online. This is a
story about an arrest by the GNR around the grounds of the Sudoeste Music Festival. The
news reports, in addition to the arrest, that 107 people were identified for consumption of
illicit substances, namely cannabis. It should be noted that this apprehension still happens
during the festival, since the police actions were in progress already before the beginning of
the festival and would remain until its closure. This is an example of news in which the
media, the police and the political agents themselves associate this type of musical events
with the consumption of substances, since there was a reinforcement of the police forces in
the enclosure with an average of 120 military in each day. This type of news end up imparting
a sense of insecurity, fear and concern in society, especially in parents whose children attend
such events. And it ends up causing similar feelings in young people, whether or not they
consume illegal substances.
3rd example quoted: Uncontrolled young people at drug parties – 21st of April of 2011, Sol.
There are more and more parties of trance music, in Portugal, where minors
mix chemical drugs like MD and LSD. The situation in many other European
countries is of concern to the European Union, which at a conference last
month warned of the danger of a mixture of psychoactive substances. In
portugal, the authorities are also alert with these events that, with the
arrival of good weather, multiply from north to south (Balasteiro, 20115).
The Sol [Sun] is a weekly Portuguese newspaper that is on the newsstands on Saturdays,
founded in 2006 and based in Lisbon. It was the first Portuguese newspaper to simultaneously
launch a paper version at the same time as it went digital. This report addresses the lack of
control of essentially minor young people at musical events, especially during the broadcast
of electronic music. It should be noted that this report is quite extensive. Like the previous

4
Idem.
5
Idem.

71
example, this type of news presents a negativist approach around this type of events, which
causes that the society quickly associates the consumption of drugs to musical events. And it
addresses the issue as being a recurring situation, leading people to think that it will probably
happen again in other similar events. To intensify this media alert, the report has testimonies
of teenagers of both genders, who assume to consume one or several illicit substances,
especially the hallucinogens. Although the Portuguese Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction
states that it has technicians infiltrated on the ground in order to avoid the excessive
consumption of these chemicals, the report's own title ends up shocking, frightening and
creating mistrust regarding this type of events.
4th example quoted: Seized 2,653 doses of drugs at summer festival – 9th of August of 2015,
Correio da Manhã
The GNR announced this Friday that it seized 2,653 doses of drugs in the
course of surveillance operations near a summer festival, held near the
Montargil Dam, in the municipality of Ponte de Sor, Portalegre (Correio Da
Manhã, 20156).
Correio da Manhã is a Portuguese daily newspaper of the general type, founded in 1979. Like
English tabloids, it is characterized by its sensational news. It is located in Lisbon and is the
best selling newspaper in Portugal. In March 2013, Correio da Manhã launched a general
television channel, called CMTV. This is yet another example of the detention of illicit
substances at a music festival by GNR. But this time, the amount seized is much higher and
concerns 2653 doses of drug. The news also tells of the detention of 37 people of different
nationalities. The substances were from different types and have been seized, such as hashish,
liamba, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine, opium and amphetamines. The GNR military also identified
128 people by consumption of the abovementioned substances and seized several prohibited
weapons, all named in the news in question. From the title to the end of the story, it's all a
shock to any reader. In addition to the huge doses seized, the newspaper makes a point of
identifying what kind of substances have been treated and does the same with the weapons.
This type of information tends to cause a real panic to parents whose children attend musical
events, the young people who attend them and even the local community, where the event is
located. Instead of emphasizing the presence of the GNR in the event, in order to promote a
sense of security, the newspaper ends up giving prominence to the consumption of drugs and
the possible violence involved in it.
5th example quoted: The 70’s. When the drug ceased to be an addiction of artists and became
the scourge of youth – 17th of June of 2018, Observador.
Suddenly, in the 70's, the drug ceased to be an addiction of artists to become
the" scourge of our youth. "Prisons and judgments succeed each other.
Parents are accused. And also is the rock music. (Matos, 20187)
The Observador is a Portuguese electronic newspaper, whose first edition was launched in
2014. It is the only newspaper in Portugal that has a defined political tendency (Right-wing).
In a virtually unique concept in Portugal, this is a fully digital newspaper, without paper
edition. This report is the most extensive of all and addresses the drug issue in Portugal, from
the 1970s to the date of its publication (June 2018). The important point is that the drug is no
longer associated with artists and eccentrics, but has become a scourge of contemporary
Portuguese youth. This report shows us some pages of a newspaper of the year of 1972,

6
Idem.
7
Idem.

72
which reported on the cover the detention of young Portuguese and foreigners for
consumption and trafficking of narcotics. As we can see, and contrary to what many people
think and say, this phenomenon has been present in Portugal for several decades. It is also
worth noting that the news reports that these consumptions, which until the 1960s were
limited to the wealthiest social classes, can now enter any home or school. The news shares
several statistics and figures and accuses the first Portuguese great festival of music, Festival
Vilar de Mouros, to have played a central role in the spread of addiction among the
Portuguese youth. Another characteristic is that the music appears here already as guilty or
great guilty of the scourge that is currently living and the approach given to the Festival de
Vilar de Mouros is like a negative event for the country. More, the report referred a case
brought to court, where some public figures of the Arts in Portugal were consumers. Faced
with this situation, the parents of the 70's are blamed for their children's addiction, by this
media. This blame ends up frightening the readers' parents about how they should educate and
deal with their children, to avoid having this type of consumption.

Final reflection

Although these examples were very brief, it was possible to verify that the association
between music and rock music in particular and the consumption of illicit substances is
transmitted by the national media, in a non-impartial manner. This is because the way in
which this news is presented to the public goes beyond the merely informative purpose. The
fact that the national media and the security forces themselves are moving massively to
musical events is already a sign of the mistrust they have about this kind of music-related
events.
News about drug arrests by the Republican National Guard (GNR) – municipal branch of
Portuguese police - at summer festivals is becoming more frequent, resulting in the spread of
feelings of insecurity among young people, parents and the local community itself. Often, the
media focus only on this type of dissemination and are not engaged in the dissemination of
content about the events themselves, such as the invited artists, the economic impact on the
community or the ecological actions developed by the organizations, among many other
important activities. Somewhat like Cohen's study of how the Mods were portrayed in the
British press, the same happens here, where this kind of subjects tends to be transmitted
negatively or not so positively by the Portuguese media. In fact, this reality meets the search
for sensationalism by the various media agents, who seek to always be one step ahead of the
competition and sell more than the others competitors. In the examples presented, one of the
media agents (Correio da Manhã Newspaper) is well known for its sensationalist content. On
the other hand, political affiliations and orientations also sometimes speak louder and are
reflected in the information produced. We also have an example that alludes to this tendency
(Observador Newspaper). However, the use and abuse of this type of substance is not
exclusive to music or rock music or even the arts in general. And national media should
distance themselves from popular myths and focus on the facts and on a factual construction
and deconstruction of the reality. To avoid perpetuating these social labels is crucial for the
identity construction of their protagonists, in order to diminish in a squeezing way the stigmas
that can haunt their daily lives and their social interactions.

73
References

BALASTEIRO, S. (2011). Jovens sem controlo em festas de droga. in SOL, April, 21th.
BLITZ. (1997). Liberalizar Vs. Proibir. July, 19th. Lisbon: Expresso Impresa Publishing S.A.
CALADO, V. G. (2007). Trance psicadélico, drogas sintéticas e paraísos artificiais –
representações: uma análise a partir do ciberespaço, in Toxicodependências, 13 (1),
21-28.
COHEN, S. (2002). Folk devils and moral panics: The creation of the mods and rockers,
London: Routledge.
CORREIO DA MANHÃ. (2015). Apreendidas 2.653 doses de droga em festival de verão.
August, 9th. Queluz: Grafedisport Impressão e Artes Gráficas, SA.
DIANA.FM. (2007). Odemira : GNR detém seis pessoas por tráfico de droga em operações
no exterior do Festival Sudoeste. August, 4th. Évora: DianaFM.
FERNANDES, L. (1990). Os pós-modernos ou a cidade, o sector juvenil e as drogas, Provas
de Aptidão Pedagógica e Capacidade Científica, Porto: Faculdade de Psicologia e
Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto.
GUERRA, P, MOREIRA, T. & SILVA, A. S. (2016). Estigma, experimentação e risco: A
questão do álcool e das drogas na cena punk, in Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais,
109, 33-62.
GUERRA, P. (2002). Cenários de Insegurança: contributos do interacionismo simbólico para
uma análise sociológica da construção mediática do desvio. Porto: Faculdade de
Letras da Universidade do Porto.
GUERRA, P. (2015). Keep it rocking: The social space of Portuguese alternative rock (1980–
2010)’. Journal of Sociology. 52 (4), 615–30.
HEBDIGE, D. (2002). Subculture:the meaning of style. Oxford: Taylor & Francis Group.
INGLIS, I. (2007). Sex and Drugs and Rock’n’Roll’: Urban legends and popular music, in
Popular Music and Society, 30 (5), 591-603.
MATOS, H. (2018). Anos 70. Quando a droga deixou de ser um vício de artistas e passou a
ser o flagelo da juventude, in Observador, June, 17th.
MILLER, K. E. & QUIGLEY, B. M. (2011). Sensation-seeking, performance genres and
substance use among musicians, in Psychology of Music, 40 (4), 389–410.
MULDER, J., et al. (2009a). Culture and substance use: Music, in Substance Use & Misuse.
44, pp. 514–531.
MULDER, J., et al. (2009b). Is it the music? Peer substance use as a mediator of the link
between music preferences and adolescent substance use, in Journal of Adolescence,
1-8.
PINTO, J. M. (1994). Propostas para o Ensino das Ciências Sociais. Porto: Edições
Afrontamento.
VUOLO, M., UGGEN, C. & LAGESON, S. (2014). Taste clusters of music and drugs:
Evidence from three analytic levels, in British Journal of Sociology, 65 (3), 529-54.

74
CMT’s artistic-educative constellations and its
music-making practice
Mariana Miguel1,3, Paulo Maria Rodrigues1,2 and Helena
Rodrigues1,3

Abstract. The work of Companhia de Música Teatral includes performances, installations,

workshops and training, among others, organized as “artistic-educative constellations” (i.e.
different types of experiences that are related in conceptual and creative terms, exploring the
boundaries of art, education and human development). Collective instruments and creative
approaches (including improvisation and real-time composition) have been developed in several
projects in order to allow for collective music making practices. This presentation is based in
the direct involvement of the authors as creators/participants/observers in a series of
experiences (held in projects such as Opus Tutti) and aims to report and reflect about the
artistic and educational nature of CMT’s work and its implications towards establishing a
continuum between community music and educative practices. By presenting an overview of
CMT’s creative universe, we explain how the concept of “artistic-educative constellations” has
emerged and how it continues inspiring our work.
Keywords: community music; educative practice; artistic and educative constellations;
Companhia de Música Teatral; Opus Tutti.

Introduction

Companhia de Música Teatral (CMT) develops a regular activity since 1998. It was
constituted with the intention of developing projects within the aesthetic designation of
“scenic music” / “music theatre” and privileges Music as a starting point for interaction
between various techniques, languages and possibilities for artistic communication. CMT has
developed a pioneering work, articulating academic research, artistic production,
technological creation, community involvement and the dissemination of the importance of
musical experience and art in general on human and social development. CMT’s work has
been presented in various formats as shows, workshops, medium and long duration projects,
books, CDs, DVDs, and has been subject of investigation and publication on the academic
field. With this article we intend to communicate the idea of “development of artistic
educative constellations” as an aggregating concept for CMT’s actual and future activity.
Section 2 describes the context of CMT’s existence and its scope, focusing on two
background experiences that led to the later conceptual organization referred to as
“constellation”: the creation and development of the Educational Service of Casa da Música
program between 2006-2010, and the project Opus Tutti (2011-2014). Section 3 refers to the
concept of constellation and its development within CMT. Section 4 presents CMT’s current
“universe layout”, defining its objects and constellations, and exemplifying their usage in

1
Companhia de Música Teatral, Portugal. [email protected]
2
DeCA, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal. [email protected]
3
LAMCI-CESEM NOVA FCSH, Portugal. [email protected]

75
three particular constellations: Opus Tutti, Gamelão de Porcelana e Cristal (GaPC) and
Anatomia do Piano (AdP). In Section 5 conclusions are drawn about the interest in using this
model as a visual representation of CMT’s projects throughout its existence, and proposals
are made for new ideas into how the model can be manipulated, explored and developed,
creating new analytical frameworks.

Context and Background

CMT’s root is artistic creation, a field in which it has been developing innovative work
reflected in a repertoire constituted of more than twenty original works, presented in Portugal,
Brazil, China, Thailand, Finland, Poland, Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway or
Spain. Exploration and creation of educative ideas has been also an essential component of its
philosophical and pragmatical matrix. The concern in creating bridges between art and
education it is still a current one, but in CMT’s case it is more than a strategy: it is at the
essence of CMT’s creation and its founding members’ careers, namely of the authors Paulo
Maria Rodrigues and Helena Rodrigues. Paulo Maria Rodrigues initiated his path of artistic
and educational experiences in England, prior to CMT, was the coordinator of Casa da
Música’s Educational Service and presently teaches at Universidade de Aveiro. Helena
Rodrigues has devoted a large part of her academic research work to questions related with
education and currently teaches at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, where she’s also the
creator and director of the Laboratório de Música e Comunicação na Infância4 (LAMCI).
Since its first works (e.g. O Gato das Notas, 1998), CMT has been concerned with the
creation of experiences transcending the mere fruition or contemplation, and contributing to
awaken interest in discovering, questioning, acquiring tools of comprehension and creation of
knowledge. Initially these ideas impregnated the artistic language of the shows that were
created. Over time, however, the type of projects started to contemplate other types of formats
through which we explored ideas such as projects with communities, participatory projects,
educators’ training activities, materials creation (DVDs, CDs, books) intended to deepen the
artistic experience.
Consequently, this work has combined, in a balanced way, innovation and outreach,
exploration and involvement, broadening and anchoring concepts, relevant ideas and authors,
expansion and deepening. In the “artistic-educative constellations” designation, one finds the
clarity and openness considered relevant to preserve the thinking and communication of our
work. There are also metaphors inspiring us: the idea of a system in expansion, the idea of a
poetical and simultaneously analytical sense that we can attribute to what we do, the idea of
“bodies” with different nature that interact between them and that relate by a group of
“forces” or “fields”, in our case, of aesthetical or conceptual nature (Rodrigues et al., 2020).
According to Paulo Maria Rodrigues, the experience of coordinating Casa da Música’s
Educational Service (2006-2010) was determinant in forming the vision we have today on
articulating artistic and educational questions. It was a fertile territory of experimentation and
implementation of ideas, but also implied conceptual and reflective work that was later
published and inspired successive developments (idem).
Another important step towards defining our current vision about the articulation of artistic
and educative agendas was the creation and development of Opus Tutti - a project that aimed

4
Laboratory for Music and Communication in Infancy (LAMCI; which is part of CESEM research centre at NOVA FCSH.

76
to develop good practices of artistic nature contributing to a better life quality in the early
infancy - a partnership with LAMCI, supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
(FCG) in Lisbon.
Thus, it makes sense to review some of the ideas expressed in these two experiences, and
from there understanding the role of CMT in that field.

The experience of Paulo Maria Rodrigues at Oporto Educational Service of Casa da Música

The conceptualization of an Educative Service (ES) generates questions regarding its

definition, its role in society and its context within the institution. By definition, an Educative
Service is an education agent, different than School due to its offer (specific to the institution,
which might be a museum, a science centre or even a cultural centre), organization and goals.
In effect, Educative Services can complement school activities via field trips or dedicated
events, but don’t feature any kind of evaluation of its participants. This difference from the
main education agent in Western societies (schools) allows for a rare opportunity to question
some ideas and discover, test and build modes of action that, for several reasons, aren’t
allowed to school systems. Thus, the first question that arises is to define a general idea of
Education from which one can reflect on its role. There are certainly many definitions of
Education but,
maybe one of the greatest goals of Education is to give people ways to relate
with things that have to be discovered and built. One doesn’t educate for
what is obvious or innate, one educates so that we can build our own ways
allowing us to discover more and more. So, Education should not be
something temporary or someone’s privilege: it’s endless and should be
continuous. In the case of Music Education, this is even more striking, since
the Music itself is limitless and undecipherable (Rodrigues & Rodrigues,
2013: 193; Rodrigues, 2009; author’s translation).
In the case of Casa da Música (CdM), there was a foundational philosophy defending a very
eclectic and embracing idea of Music - CdM intended to be “the house of every music”.
“Thus, and because Education is not synonymous with school and Music, it is much more
than the activity of a musician that others are destined to contemplate”, “the Educative
Service serves for everyone to build their relationships with Music: superficial or profound,
rational or affective, abstract or concrete, in one or various styles, with these or other means”
(Rodrigues & Rodrigues, 2013: 193, author’s translation). In that sense, activities for babies,
children, young people, adults, seniors, people with special needs, people with or without
musical experience, teachers and communities, were devised.
Conceptualizing the ES program included the idea that the construction of those relationships
with Music could be made in several ways – listening, making, creating, learning about
music. The more we hear, make, create and know, the more we “understand” Music, that is,
the more we “relate to” Music, the more we “open to” the power, pleasure and fascination that
Music has upon us. The ES aimed to provide different forms of relationship with Music so
that the same person could “enter” in diverse ways (and build its own “Education”), and so
that different people had a place on “the house of all music(s)” (Rodrigues & Rodrigues,
2013: 194).
The philosophy described earlier gave origin to ES’s following set of goals:
1. To catalyse and nourish the creation of bonds with music: promote interest
for its discovery – listening, making, creating, knowing;

77
 2. To contribute to the acquisition of tools for musical understanding:
providing instruments for fruition and free and autonomous creation;
3. To touch a broad spectrum of people, considering their differences and
specific needs: individuals, families, schools, communities, babies, children,
teenagers, young people, adults, seniors, specialists, amateurs or simply
“curious people”;
4. To fill voids of the offers in the field of music and education, namely
opening education to “several kinds of music” and other arts and
technologies;
5. To explore the role of music as a rehabilitating factor and affection
generator: promoting unfavoured communities and special needs people’s
inclusion;
6. To contribute to an integrated conception of artistic projects, promoting
emergence of truly transversal and unpretentious artistic discourses;
7. To intervene in training and investigation areas that can sustain educative
projects within CdM’s philosophy: training people, research processes and
methodologies, create tools;
8. To inspire other educative, social and cultural agents: creating ideas and
pilot-projects that can be further dynamized and developed by agents
specially tailored for school, communities and other kinds of work.
The aforementioned goals were based on the belief that education and music are self-justified,
not a means to an end, but an end in themselves. The creation of audiences and the attraction
of future “concert goers” was not, thus, an educative goal, though it might be an unwarranted
product of a successful educative work.
Lastly, there was an effort in creating alternatives to the frequent dilemma between promoting
formal education activities and purely recreational activities. The Educational Service should
promote pedagogically significant activities, in balance with other educative agents’ activities,
specializing in areas where opportunities are scarce. To conclude, “the ES does not “teach”
music, it creates opportunities, poses challenges, shows clues, exposes people to meaningful
musical experiences” (Rodrigues, 2009; author’s translation).

The long-term experience of Opus Tutti project

Opus Tutti was a four-year project (2011-2014) rooted in the idea that Music can play an
important part in the development of interaction, communication and cooperation between
people (Rodrigues et al., 2013). The project was conceived by CMT and LAMCI-CESEM
and supported by the Educative Service of the FCG, aiming to promote the creation of
methods to improve human development through arts in early childhood.
With these ideas and background in mind, the main concerns were:
1. To conceive and experiment models of intervention in the community within
a broad perspective;
2. To promote discussion and reflection;
3. To develop best-practices that could be recommended to educational and
community agents, training artists and educators;

78
 4. To create innovative artistic experiences and to develop artistic discourses
based on the principle of sharing artistic languages and creative processes;
5. To provide real opportunities for the engagement of the community and
action on a specific context.
Each year corresponded to a phase of the project:5 Budding, Rooting, Growing and Fruiting,
inspired by the idea that the project would be, itself, a developmental process of organic
nature and have the capacity to react and adapt to circumstances, results and people.
The project was not a purely early childhood project – it extended itself intergenerationally
and holistically, involving academic, educational, artistic and social aspects and approaches.
The systemic approach has been a very influential perspective for us, and this is probably one
of the reasons that explain why a project concerning early infancy has been including
initiatives addressed to adults and older children. In fact, having that theoretical model in
mind, we look at infants as elements belonging to different systems – the nuclear family, the
extended family, and the nursery care institution – that also belong to collateral systems in the
community. Accordingly, we planned initiatives that are directly addressed to infants and we
also extended our action to other components of the system that can indirectly benefit them.
(Rodrigues et al., 2013)
Throughout the project, a broad spectrum of initiatives was designed to involve families,
children and the community, facilitating social discoveries through innovative ways to make
music and arts together. A strong repercussion on reframing connections between artistic and
educational approaches gave birth to new ideas intertwining both dimensions.

Considerations on the “constellation” concept

The concept of “constellation” outside the astronomical framework is used in an array of

subjects, including Technology, Medicine, Linguistics6, Psychology7, and Philosophy, namely
with Benjamin (Gilloch, 2002) and Henrich (1991). In addition, studies of visualization and
representation techniques and their benefits also feature the concept, although mainly
focusing on concept maps8.
Walter Benjamin states that “ideas are to objects as constellations are to stars” (2003: 34) and
Gilloch (2002: 83-84) explains that this notion “of the idea as a constellation is used by
Benjamin not only to articulate the importance of the patterning of phenomena by concepts,
but also to point out the characteristics of this process. In a constellation of stars, the most
remote objects are conjoined to form a unique, legible figure, which cannot easily be undone.
[…] The constellation involves a fleeting but irrevocable shift in the perception of phenomena
which preserves both their individual integrity and their mutuality.”9
These aspects analysed by Gilloch and presented by Benjamin have some relevance to our
concept and allow us to establish some parallels. Firstly, the aggregation of objects into a

5
Four documentaries were produced, and are available at: https://vimeo.com/showcase/5430797 (accessed on May 8, 2020)
6
See, for instance: Cantos-Gomez & Sánchez (2001).
7
As an example: Stern (2019).
8
On the importance of visualization techniques applied to Social Sciences Research and the Arts, see: (Hay, Kinchin, 2006;
Poldma, Stewart, 2004; Zele Et Al., 2004). For examples related to Arts and Education applications, see: (Garvis, 2011;
Stephens, Hermus, 2007).
9
See also: Pensky (1993), quoted by Gilloch (2002).

79
constellation changes our perception of them, by highlighting common features. Secondly,
objects (in our case, projects/outputs) preserve their integrity, even if grouped into new
constellations, which add meaning to our understanding. Gilloch goes further into an
explanation of “origin”:
For Benjamin, ‘origin’ refers to the moment when the constellation of
phenomena comes into being, when it is suddenly recognized as a
constellation, when the idea is perceived by the critic. This is fundamental.
Individual works which compose the idea are always in flux, always
becoming something other than what they were, through the corrosive,
ruinous action of criticism. Although individual works of art come into
existence at a particular moment their meaning is not thereby fixed by the
author, but instead is continuously reconstituted in their afterlife (2002: 85).
Though these remarks follow Benjamin’s philosophical context, an interesting point is made –
much like an astronomy constellation, its elements evolve continually and independently,
while the whole, by having been created (our arrangement of the constellation), remains
unchanged.
The approach presented by Mulsow (2009) is closer to our artistic and educational
endeavours, concluding the usefulness of philosophical constellations in other areas (“an
important contribution to ‘the new history of ideas’ ”), even though his focus lies on German
idealism. With a basis on Henrich, among other thinkers, philosophical constellations are
defined as a dense ensemble of people, ideas, theories, problems or documents in interaction
with each other, and should be considered, primarily, as complex objects that cover people
and their motivations as well as their ideas, issues, theories and relevant documents (Mulsow,
2009: 82-83).
Over the years, the manner in which we conceive our work at CMT has been transformed.
Deeply rooted in the artistic experience, we came to realize that our creative work has strong
educational implications. More and more we value its social relevance and its impact on
health and wellbeing. Hence, we came to conceive and nurture it in a manner that allows
emphasis on the creation, exploration and development of fruitful relationships between
different aspects of reality.
The search for a model that represents what we do emerges from the need to reflect on our
experiences and to rethink past work, as well as to base further developments. Several
promoters have challenged us to deepen and to articulate artistic and educational strands. In
fact, for most of our artistic creations, we developed an intrinsic educative potential that can
be explored by the various agents involved in both formal and non-formal education.
In addition to this concern, we seek to deepen that potential and guide the exploration process
through participative formats (workshops, training sessions), allowing to deconstruct and
understand ideas, languages and subjects that integrate these creations. The various formats
differ according to their target audience and include the acculturation of the piece through
experimentation, knowing details on aspects of its conception or its relationship with the
“state of the art”. This is both a way to multiply its reach and repercussion and a strategy to
make the effort and presentation of a creation more profitable.
By proposing the idea of “artistic-educative constellations”, we intend to:
1. emphasize the intrinsic relationship between pure fruition and art learning
and pass the message that this philosophy allows for expansion,
complexification and continuous discovery;

80
 2. create a conceptual map that allows the organization and communication of
the several projects we have achieved, emphasizing relationships between
several proposals, aesthetic and thematical coherence, promoting the idea
that the contents we present and work with in a definitive way on a show are
subjects for the exercise of creativity with others;
3. create a model in which it is possible that inside each constellation there is
no need for the simultaneous presentation of its elements (show, workshop,
conference, training session), because they have consistency and coherence
in themselves and can be presented independently or articulated, creating
relationships that provide greater fruition and learning, which might have
multiplier effects;
4. create a coherent direction of work without restraining the diversity that
characterizes us or the exaggerated specialization of a determined type of
language or audience.

The CMT-Universe and its artistic-educative constellations

The coined term ‘artistic–educative constellations’ defines a working model and metaphor for
our vision. It provides us both with a poetic sense of a universe yet to be discovered, and an
objective, strong, analytical framework in which different ‘bodies’ interact through
conceptual and aesthetic ‘forces’ or ‘fields’.
This idea of “constellation” emerged in an intuitive way from a group of examples and
practical experiences we had, giving rise to an aggregating concept. That helped generating
further experiences and new artistic formats. Figure 1 charts CMT’s work over the last twenty
years, as a Universe of “artistic-educative constellations”, with the intention of transmitting
the idea of a conceptual mapping in which different initiatives are represented by different
shapes and organized by aesthetic, thematic and methodological proximity.

Figure 1. CMT Universe. Design by Mafalda Maia. With permission from Guia do Universo-CMT.

81
Shapes are assigned to each type of work, according to Table 1. In colour version available on
Guia do Universo-CMT10 (2020), each shape has a corresponding colour, for better
visualization. These had to be grey scaled here for publication purposes.11
Shape Format

show/performance

Edition

Installation

Training

Workshop

Conference

Table 1. Correspondence between shapes of elements in Figure 1 and their format.

Opus Tutti was essential to the consolidation of this concept. After Opus Tutti, we applied the
concept to other existing projects and extended the idea to new pieces and publications.
Considering this process, we will analyse the Opus Tutti ‘parent’ constellation, the integrant
GaPC constellation (part of Opus Tutti), and the Anatomia do Piano (AdP) constellation, to
which the concept was later applied.

Opus Tutti

Figure 2. Opus Tutti constellation, its main activities represented. With permission from Guia do Universo-CMT.

The Opus Tutti constellation is the most complex one on the CMT’s universe. It is a project
that has originated many diverse experiences as:

10
Available in the Sharing Corner of CMT’s website: http://www.musicateatral.com/publicfiles/Sharing/ (accessed on May
8, 2020).
11
Dark grey corresponds to productions on tour in 2020, light grey corresponds to productions not on tour in 2020.

82
 • participatory shows (Um Plácido Domingo, Babelim);
• workshops for parents and children (Afinação do Ouvir, Afinação do Olhar,
Afinação do Brincar);
• workshops with educators and artists (Ludofónica Experimental);
• installations (GaPC and Inventário dos Frutos – IF);
• reflection meetings (Encontro Internacional Arte Para a Infância e
Desenvolvimento Humano – EIADSH);12
• video documentaries and publications, which include a book (Ecos de Opus
Tutti), a set of pedagogical materials (5 booklets and 5 CDs) presenting a
broad pedagogical approach on music for infancy and childhood (Manual
para a Construção de Jardins Interiores);
• regular sessions on a pilot-kindergarten (Creche&Apareche);
• a set of small musical-theatre pieces designed to tour nurseries and
kindergartens, in articulation with theatre and another cultural agents’
programming (Peça a Peça Itinerante – PaPI).
While these initiatives have been created within Opus Tutti, and the project itself lasted for
four years, its repercussions are still visible, and corroborate our view on the importance and
broad spectrum of an artistic project’s impacts. Some of the initiatives have acquired their
“own life” and generated their own path, as is the case of Babelim,13 PaPI and GaPC, which
became constellations themselves.

Porcelain and Crystal Gamelan (GaPC)

Figure 3. The GaPC constellation (featuring the installation, workshop and conference). With permission from Guia
do Universo-CMT.

A reflection about the GaPC constellation and its birth within a parent constellation (Opus
Tutti) is helpful to understand how an element (GaPC) continues to evolve despite the main
project’s (Opus Tutti) conclusion. This is particularly interesting because of the analogy with
Astronomy - some stars die, new stars are born, and our perspective and constellation may
shift.

12
International Colloquium Arts for Childhood and Social and Human Development. Author’s translation.
13
A performing piece for babies, featuring a group of older children (CMT-kids) that interact and sing for the little ones (as
far as we know an innovative format on the artistic production for the early years), involving the audience on music
making through the use of visual signs and providing friendly sound tools and musical instruments that are played during
the performance and that kids can explore at the end. (Still touring, having been presented extensively in Portugal and
travelled to France, Denmark and Finland).

83
GaPC is a collective instrument and visual installation that was created for the performance
entitled Um Plácido Domingo, which occurred in 2011 under the scope of Opus Tutti project.
This creation was devised to establish a dialogue between artists, performers, parents, babies,
and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Gardens. GaPC proved to be a “friendly musical
instrument”, accessible to anyone, and a good example of sustainability for a project, having
since then travelled extensively throughout the country.14
The Porcelain and Crystal Gamelan is an idea inspired by the ancient Javanese gamelan that
also draws on various trends in experimental music, from Cage to Partch. Both a visual object
and sculpture, it can take many forms and dimensions and is rethought in accordance with the
architectural space which hosts it. The combination of hundreds of pieces of porcelain,
earthenware, stoneware, glass and crystal, with various shapes and sizes, results in a myriad
of tones ranging from complex sets of frequencies and harmonics to marked base frequencies,
sounding like bells, electronical instruments or conventional instruments. The Porcelain and
Crystal Gamelan is a unique instrument due to the relationship between these sounds and the
notions of structure and space15 (Rodrigues et al., 2020).

Figure 5. The Porcelain and Crystal Gamelan at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Gardens. From left to right,
the “little gamelan”, for toddlers, a set of portable pieces on the floor that transform the audience into
participants, the porcelain pieces at the back and the crystal pieces at the far right. With permission from CMT’s
website.

Musical works using this piece employ exploratory strategies and create
mechanisms for structuring musical ideas that are notation independent,
based on the idea of collaboration and interpersonal communication. This
allows people without musical training to be able to express themselves
musically and those with more advanced training find that this instrument
presents unique challenges. It has also been the central element of
multidisciplinary performances, sharing space with other arts and musical
or electronic instruments. […] The Porcelain and Crystal Gamelan is an
artistic research project, jointly produced by CMT, the University of Aveiro
and Vista Alegre Atlantis, that seeks to stimulate new performance practices
and explore an interdisciplinary area that allows ideas to be generated and
tested in musical composition, sculpture, creation of new instruments and

14
Big Bang Festival at CCB (Lisboa), Museu de Santa Joana (Aveiro), Parque da Devesa (V. N. Famalicão), Casa da Música
(Porto), among others.
15
Adapted from http://www.musicateatral.com/gamelao/en (accessed on 11 May 2020; and Rodrigues et al. (2020)).

84
 pedagogy, as well as interpersonal communication, materials, acoustics and
design.16
The more recent journey of this collective instrument is the project GamelIN, aimed at the
inclusion/empowerment of people with mental disabilities.
At the GamelIn17 project, there was an additional layer of information. For this project, CMT
collaborated with Associação de Viseu de Portadores de Trissomia 21 (AVISPT21),18 in order
to promote an experience allowing people with disabilities to fully participate in a musical
journey that would also involve non-disabled people, namely students from different
education levels: secondary school, undergraduate studies and postgraduate studies.19
The final performance Porcelana, Cristal e Pássaros (Porcelain, Crystal and Birds) was the
epilogue of the “musical journey” that took place throughout two months and allowed this
“fragile orchestra” to present publicly the result of their joint creative work. Thereafter, a
documentary and an audio-visual poem (dedicated to Rolf Gelhaar, a beloved artist who
greatly inspired our work) were produced.20
1.1. Anatomia do Piano (AdP)
Anatomia do Piano is the show that gave name to the AdP constellation. This constellation is
based on the piano and in the different ways of listening, creating and experimenting with the
instrument. This constellation is a good example of the different relationships we have with
music within our projects:

Figure 5. AdP constellation (AdP show, Pianoscópio installation, workshop, CD, training and conference). With
permission from Guia do Universo-CMT.

Anatomia do Piano was created in 2011, aiming “to deconstruct the instrument that may be
considered the most influential in the history of Western music”.21 Conventional, extended
and prepared piano techniques are explored in a dialogue between two performers who
communicate through theatre, dance, and music:
[t]he piano is also regarded as the main piece of scenery and the entire
performance explores the idea of revealing the inside of the instrument. A

16
http://www.musicateatral.com/gamelao/en/ (accessed on March 16, 2019).
17
Set through October till December of 2018 at Igreja S. Miguel do Fetal, in Viseu.
18
Viseu Association of Down’s Syndrome Carriers.
19
Arts Course at Escola Secundária Viriato de Viseu, Escola Superior de Educação de Viseu and Masters in Music Education
at UA, respectively.
20
Available online at: https://vimeo.com/313127916 and https://vimeo.com/376525722, respectively. These publications are
a product of the continued expansion of the constellation but haven’t been added to the map yet.
21
http://www.musicateatral.com/anatomiadopiano/en (accessed on March 16, 2019).

85
 series of articulated wooden pieces containing objects that can be used
throughout the performance are attached to the piano, creating the idea of a
“metaphorical surgery”.(…) As the performance unfolds, the piano is
revealed as “a place, a being with life, a sculpture, a stage, a house where
music lives”. Anatomia do Piano invites the audience to “enter” the piano
and uncover normally hidden details, building imaginary worlds where the
boundaries of the various arts become blurred. It proposes a journey in a
poetic territory that is usually absent in performances for children and
makes the Piano the great protagonist of a “total work” of art (Rodrigues et
al., 2019).

Figure 6. Aspects of the AdP show and a Pianoscópio workshop. With permission from CMT’s website.

As for the Pianoscópio workshops, the experimental process becomes the norm, where each
workshop is different from the previous ones, and each setting/residency brings a new shape
to the installation. Pianoscópio works as a lab, where the leader guides the group (schools,
families, communities, educators, and so forth) through a set of experiences, being constantly
aware of the group’s energy and discoveries, which can lead into completely new experiences
for everyone involved.

Conclusion

The educative question is central to CMT’s philosophy and although Opus Tutti is a very
structuring activity in that philosophy, the educative potential of CMT’s creations (pieces and
publications) is immense and to think of an integrated approach of art/education is a way to
deepen the project CMT, to potentiate the developing ideas and multiply the effects of CMT’s
artistic and educative intervention.
The idea of “artistic-educative constellations” intends not only to systematize internally the
way in which we conceive our projects, but also to communicate to cultural and educative
agents the possibility and immense interest in articulating in an effective, economical and
simple way, artistic and educative aspects on their cultural agendas. Although there are in
Portugal cases of good practices in articulating artistic and educative agendas, our opinion is
that there is still a long way to go and that depends not only on programmers’ sensibility, but
also on the existence of opportunities created by artistic fabric that allows approaching
educative aspects with the same quality and depth as artistic creation. CMT’s artistic team
faces educative activities as natural territory and reviews itself in that mission with the same
conviction as the artistic challenge.

86
CMT’s activity is, in many ways, innovative, specifically in what concerns the idea, and
specially practice, that art and education are not independent territories but aspects of the
same reality. ‘Art for Human and Social Development’ has emerged as a concept that guides
some of our most important projects, while we search for ways to understand CMT’s
evolution over the years. In a way, we put ourselves in an observational position relative to
our work, allowing a critical perspective and showing possible development paths. It is in that
reflexive perspective over our work, but also the perspective of being capable to communicate
the essence of what we do (an often-complex exercise, given the singularities we deal with)
that we propose the concept of “development of artistic-educative constellations”. In this way,
we hope to contribute for a clearer view of our work, open to dialogue with other agents
inspiring future developments in all people or institutions that search for ways to better
worlds through art.
CMT’s exploratory practices with different audiences/participants, with the goal of human
and social interconnectedness and development, have therefore a remarkable difference with
traditional constellation maps and navigation charts: an element is not just discovered at a
distance while looking into a telescope or other kind of machinery, it is slowly constructed,
experimented upon, shared, while it suffers its own transformation, allowing for a clearer
image of what it can be represented as time and accumulated experiences. In this setting,
people have a preponderant role in the shaping and conditional outcome of the object, thus
creating a complex map full of elements roaming in different directions through time.
Visual representation has a number of advantages into achieving a holistic view of artistic
experience and educative outputs, and the “constellations” model in particular adds the
possibility of reorganizing contents in relation to time, theme/object of study, people
involved, collaborating entities, among others, helping the analysis of influences and
tendencies within our frameworks.
The “artistic-educative constellations” model can act as an interactive way of discovering,
exploring and presenting CMT’s work, intending to promote and instigate people’s
participation and creativity, but also as a way to reflect upon our universe and rethink it
visually, transform it, creating new ideas and relationships between elements.

References

BENJAMIN, W. (2003). The origin of German tragic drama (J. Osborne, Trans.). Verso.
CANTOS-GOMEZ, P, & SÁNCHEZ, A. (2001). Lexical Constellations: What Collocates
Fail to Tell. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 6(2), 199–228.
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.6.2.02can
GARVIS, S. (2011). Tabitha’s one teacher rural school: Insights into the arts through the use
of a story constellation. 1, 10.
GILLOCH, G. (2002). Walter Benjamin, critical constellations. Polity; Blackwell Publishers.
HAY, D, & KINCHIN, I. (2006). Using concept maps to reveal conceptual typologies.
Education + Training, 48(2/3), 127–142.
https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910610651764
HENRICH, D. (1991). Konstellationen: Probleme und Debatten am Ursprung der
idealistischen Philosophie (1789-1795). Klett-Cotta.

87
MULSOW, M. (2009). Qu’est-ce qu’une constellation philosophique? Propositions pour une
analyse des réseaux intellectuels (I. Kalinowski, Trans.). Annales. Histoire, Sciences
Sociales, 64(1), 79–109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0395264900028584
PENSKY, M. (1993). Melancholy dialectics: Walter Benjamin and the play of mourning.
University of Massachusetts Press.
POLDMA, T. & STEWART, M. (2004). Understanding the value of artistic tools such as
visual concept maps in design and education research. Art, Design &
Communication in Higher Education, 3(3), 141–148.
https://doi.org/10.1386/adch.3.3.141/1
RODRIGUES, H., RODRIGUES, P. F. & RODRIGUES, P. M., Projecto Opus Tutti, &
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisboa, P. (2016)). Manual para a construção de
jardins interiores. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
RODRIGUES, H. & RODRIGUES, P. M. (2013). Aprender na Casa. In B. Ilari & A. Broock
(Eds.) Música e educação infantil, 191–222. Papirus Editora.
RODRIGUES, H, RODRIGUES, P. M. & BARRIGA, M. J. (2013). Giving birth to
intergenerational community practices: The music’s “domino effect” in the Opus
Tutti project. In Meryc2013: Proceedings of the 6th conference of the European
Network of Music Educators and Researchers of Young Children: 17th-20th july
2013, the Hague, the Netherlands. Gehrels Muziekeducatie.
RODRIGUES, P. M. (2009). Projecto Pedagógico: O Serviço Educativo da Casa da Música.
Revista de Educação Musical, 130.
RODRIGUES, P. M., RODRIGUES, H., LOPES, F. & MIGUEL, M. (2019). Looking at
music, science and education through the pianoscope. Proceedings of Research
Hands on Piano: International Conference on Music Performance, 152–164.
https://ria.ua.pt/handle/10773/27208
RODRIGUES, P. M., RODRIGUES H. & SILVA, A. (2020). Guia do Universo-CMT.
Companhia de Música Teatral.
STEPHENS, P. & HERMUS, C. (2007). Making Art Connections with Graphic Organizers.
SchoolArts: The Art Education Magazine for Teachers, 106(8), 55.
STERN, D. (2019). The Motherhood Constellation: A Unified View of Parent-Infant
Psychotherapy. Routledge.
TREVARTHEN, C., RODRIGUES, P. F., RODRIGUES, H. & RODRIGUES, P. M. Projecto
Opus Tutti, & Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisboa, P. (2016)). Ecos de Opus
Tutti: Arte para a infância e desenvolvimento social e humano. Fundação Calouste
Gulbenkian.
ZELE, E., LENAERTS, J. & WIEME, W. (2004). Improving the usefulness of concept maps
as a research tool for science education. International Journal of Science Education,
26(9), 1043–1064.

88
Composition Models for Augmented
Instruments: HASGS as Case Study
Henrique Portovedo1, Paulo Ferreira Lopes1 and Ricardo
Mendes2

Abstract. This paper presents the concept of hasgs regarding the augmentation procedures
applied to an acoustic instrument, at the same time as demonstrates how composers applied
technology prototyped to the composition of works. The development of hasgs has been driven
by the compositional aspects of the original music created for this specific electronic
augmented instrumental system. Instruments are characterized not only by their sound and
acoustical properties, but also by their performative interface and evolutionary repertoire. This
last aspect has the potential to establish a practice among performers at the same time as
creating the ideal of community contributing to the past, present and future of that instrument.
Augmenting an acoustic instrument places some limitations on the designer’s palette of feasible
gestures because of those intrinsic performance gestures, and the existing mechanical interface,
which have been developed over years, sometimes, centuries of acoustic practice. We conclude
that acoustic instruments and digital technology are able to influence and interact mutually,
creating augmented musical performance environments based on the aesthetics of the
repertoire being developed. This work is, as well, a resource of compositional methods to
composers and programmers.
Keywords. Augmented instruments, saxophone, gestural interaction, live electronics

Introduction3

Augmenting an acoustic instrument places some limitations on the designer’s palette of

feasible gestures because of those intrinsic performance gestures, and the existing mechanical
interface, which have been developed over years, sometimes, centuries of acoustic practice
(Thibodeau & Wanderley, 2013: 1). A fundamental question when augmenting an instrument
is whether it should be playable in the existing way: to what degree, if any, will augmentation
modify traditional techniques? The goal here, according to our definition of “augmented”, is
to expand the gestural palette, at the same time as providing the performer with extra control
of electronic parameters. From previous studies conducted by this research team we can say
that the use of nonstandard performance gestures can also be exploited for augmentation and
is, thus, a form of technique overloading.
It seems straightforward to define musical gesture as an action pattern that produces music, is
encoded in music, or is made in response to music. The notion of gesture goes beyond this
purely physical aspect in that it involves an action as a movement unit, or a chunk, which may
be planned, goal directed, and perceived as a holistic entity (Burtner, 2002: 4) In our

1
CITAR. Portuguese Catholic University. Oporto, Portugal. [email protected]. [email protected].
2
Information System, and Processing University of Aveiro. Portugal. [email protected].
3
A previous version of this text has been published under the title “Saxophone Augmentation: An Hybrid Augmented System
of Gestual Symbiosis” in Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Digital Arts, ARTECH2017, (2017), 157–160.

89
perspective, augmented instruments and systems should preserve, as much as possible, the
technique that experienced musicians gain along several years of studying the acoustic
instrument. The problem with augmented instruments is that they require, most of times, a
new learning process of playing the instrument, some of them with a complex learning curve.
Our system is prototyped in a perspective of retaining the quality of the performance practice
gained over years of studying and practicing the acoustic instrument. Considering, for
instance, the electric guitar one of the most successful examples of instruments augmentations
and, at the same time, one of the first instruments to be augmented, we consider that the
preservation of the playing interface was a key factor of success, allied to the necessity of
exploring new sonic possibilities for new genres of music aesthetics. The same principles are
applied to synthesizers as the Moog or the Buchla’s Keyboards from the 1970s that still
influence new instruments, both physical instruments and digital applications. With HASGS
(Hybrid Augmented System of Gestural Symbiosis) is our intention to integrate the control of
electronic parameters organically providing a degree of augmented playability within the
acoustic instrument.

Prototyping

HASGS was initially developed having in mind to solve performative issues regarding pieces
using external controllers as footswitches or pedals, as well as other external software
controllers. It was the repertoire in our performative experience of recent mixed music that
has influenced the way in which this system has been developed. In this scenario, we mention
the concept of Reduced Augmentation because, from the idea of having all the features of an
EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) on an acoustic instrument, which could lead to
performance technique overload or, as well, making the acoustic instrument too much
personal in terms of electronical hardware displacement. The proliferation regarding to the
creation of augmented instruments in the NIME context is very big, but just a little number of them
acquire recognition from the music market and players. As any musical instrument is a product of a
technology of its time, augmented instruments are lacking the validation from composers and
performers apart from their inventors. Due mostly to the novelty of the technology, experimental
hyper-instruments are mainly built by artists with a composer/performer background (Burtner,
2002: 1). These artists mostly use their own instruments for their performances without much
validation from the needs of other performers or the community in general. There is no standardized
hyperinstrument yet for which a composer could write. It is difficult to draw the line between the
composer and the performer while using such systems. The majority of performers using such
instruments is concerned with improvisation, as a way of making musical expression as free as
possible (Palacio-Quintin, 2008: 1). Augmented performance can be considered enactive
knowledge. This term, Enactive Knowledge, refers to the knowledge that can only be
acquired and manifested through action. Some examples of human activities that heavily rely
on this knowledge are: dance, painting, sports, and performing music.
The first prototype of HASGS, we developed, was attached to a saxophone, one Arduino
Nano board, processing and mapping the information from one ribbon sensor, one keypad,
one trigger button and two pressure sensors. One of the pressure sensors was located on the
saxophone mouthpiece, in order to sense the teeth pressure when blowing. Most of the
sensors, more precisely the ribbon, the trigger and the pressure, were distributed between the
two thumb fingers. This placement proved to be very efficient once the saxophonist did not
use very much such fingers to play the acoustic saxophone. This allowed, as well, very
precise control of the parameters assigned to the sensors. The communication between the

90
Arduino and the computer was programmed through Serial Port using USB protocol. This
communication sent all MIDI commands. The computer was running a Node.js program that
simulated a MIDI port, and every time it received data from the USB port, it sent that data to
the virtual MIDI port.

Figure 1. HASGS Version 3

Taking into consideration this communication protocol, the system has an evolutionary
perspective, version 3 started with the substitution of the Arduino Nano by an ESP8266
board. The communication between the sensors and the received data into the computer
became wireless due to this fact. Both the computer and HASGS connect to a Personal
Hotspot created by a mobile phone API. This specification will allow much performance
freedom to the performer itself, allowing extra pace for the integration of an
accelerometer/gyroscope. In this new version, two different knobs were added to the system,
permitting independent volume control, mainly useful for gain and volume control.
At this stage of the research, and after several performance opportunities and prototypes, we
decided to include more capabilities, as seen in the following figures. So, we started by using
an ESP32 board, providing Bluetooth Low Energy and Wifi connectivity, in addition to the
main microcontroller of the system. . This last version includes: up/down selectors, 2.5 axis
joystick, piezo sensor, connection selector, accelerometer/gyroscope, extra trigger switches
and several status led indicators for multiple purposes.

91
 Figure 2. HASGS Block Diagram

The manipulation of HASGS is directly associated with gestural controls. Movements used to
control sound in many multimedia settings differ from those used for acoustic instruments.
For digital electronic instruments the link between gesture and sound is defined by the
electronic design and the programming. This opens up many possible choices for the
relationship between gesture and sound, usually referred to as mapping. The mapping from
gesture to sound can be fairly straightforward so that, for example, a fast movement has a
direct correspondence in the attack time or loudness of the sound. However, with
electronically generated sounds it is also possible to make incongruent, “unrealistic” links
between gesture and sound. The gestural control of electronic instruments encompasses a
wide range of approaches and types of works, e.g. modifying acoustic instruments for mixed
acoustic/electronics music, public interactive installations, and performances where a dancer
interacts with a sound environment. For these types of performances and interactions, the
boundaries between, for instance, control and communicative gestures tend to get blurred. To
give enough freedom to the performers, the design of the interaction between sound and
gesture is generally not as deterministic as in performances of acoustic music.

92
 Figure 3. HASGS Board Final Version

Software

Mapping

In the process of developing repertoire to create an erudite community around HASGS, a

table of instructions was sent to composers, regarding the communication between the sensors
and the computer/software. We suggested a normalization on the software used, giving
preference to Max/MSP. A Max/MSP Abstraction was produced with the purpose of
providing mapping instructions and options to composers. It was our intention to provide a
rewarding experience when programing/composing for this augmented instrument, even to
less experienced composers in the domain of programing live electronics. This Abstraction
refers to the third version of the prototype, since the pieces here analyzed were written for
HASGS version 3.

Figure 4. HASGS Mapping Abstraction

93
In the scope of this work, and to detail the information, we refer to the different sensors as:

Knob 1 (Potentiometer): KN1

Knob 2 (Potentiometer): KN2
Pressure Sensor 1 (Left Thumb Finger): PR1
Pressure Sensor 2 (Right Thumb Finger): PR2
Ribbon Sensor: RBN
Keypad 1: kp1
Keypad 2: kp2
Keypad 3: kp3
Keypad 4: kp4
Trigger Button: TRG

GUI

Each piece has been developed with different Graphical User Interfaces (GUI). Initially, we
had the intention to have the same GUI for all the pieces. That could be interesting for other
performers when approaching HASGS and its “language”. However, we understood that each
piece required a different visual feedback system or visual interface, once they possess
completely different concepts on how using the augmentation system. This proved that
diversity is probably the richest argument of HASGS in regard to its use in different
composition models. These various pieces result in different ways on how to use the
saxophone’s sound materials, and for this reason, it is not surprising that the visual interface
of each piece has different configurations and characteristics. The evolution and development
of notation systems and visual programming concepts have largely contributed for the
proliferation of extended techniques and instrumental virtuosity. Yet when acoustic
instruments are played or combined in unconventional ways, the result can sometimes sound
like electronic music (Roads, 2015). One thing to consider regarding the new repertoire for
augmented instruments, and more precisely, to this augmented saxophone system, is the
presence of multiple layers of information, something that is still not common when writing
for a monophonic instrument.
The goal of user interface design is to make user’s interaction as simple and efficient as
possible, in order to meet user goals. A good user interface design looks to facilitate the
completion of a task, without drawing attention to itself, being intuitive. Graphic design and
typography are applied to support its usability, influencing how the user performs certain
interactions and improving the aesthetic appeal of the design; design aesthetics may enhance
or detract the use of the interface’s functions (Norman, 2002). According to the ISO 9241
standard recommended for organizing the information (arrangement, alignment, grouping,
labels, location), display graphical objects, and coding the information (abbreviation, color,
size, shape, visual cues), are distinguished in seven attributes: Clarity, the information content
is conveyed quickly and accurately; Discriminability, the displayed information can be
distinguished accurately; Conciseness, users are not overloaded with extraneous information;
Consistency: a unique design, conformity with user's expectation; Detectability: the user's
attention is directed towards information required; Legibility, information is easy to read;
Comprehensibility, the meaning is clearly understandable, unambiguous, interpretable, and

94
recognizable. Artists and scientists have a perpetual interest in the relationship between music
and art. As technology has progresses, so too have the tools that allow the practical
exploration of this relationship. Today, artists in many disparate fields occupy themselves
with producing animated visual art that is correlated with music (Bergstrom & Lotto, 2009).

Repertoire

Cicadas Memories

Cicadas Memories is much more an improvisational process than a piece of written music.
The piece was composed for an augmented instrument being important regarding the type of
values that were produced by these sensors: modulating variables vs boolean values,
continuous stream of data vs fixed values, relative freedom of the player’s body and gestures
vs necessity to interact with the sensors from the hands and fingers, and so forth. This means
that the player’s gestural activity on the sensors conditions its way of performing the
instrument, thought as a conventional tenor saxophone: the sensors playability modifies the
saxophone playability on how accessing the key, considering the conventional way of playing
it. It became an evidence that the 4 pads could be thought as a « 4 bits data flow generator ».
Since 4 bits means different 16 values (ranging from 0 to 15), it became clear that those 16
values were like historically related to the traditional sixteenth note of the 4/4 bar in Western
music. The method eventually introduces a non-standard musical way of thinking: the present
of the live performed music is (at least partially) controlled, altered by the actualization of the
past. In the case of Cicadas Memories, this means that the actual gesture of the player will
alter (one minute later) the electronic sound-field used as the sonic background for the
saxophone’s rhythmic patterns (also created by the keypad’s « 4 bits » layers of memory).
Therefore, the performer has to develop two simultaneous ways of thinking (and acting) while
performing: a part of his mind for the present (the patterns imposed by the software but
created by the player’s past action on the keypads), another one for the future (its gestural
connection to the sensors). He has to deal with two temporalities usually separated in the act
of live music performance: he writes the future score and improvises on his past gestures, in
the present time.

Controls per synth

The control values of all sensors were normalized from 0 to 1 data value. The abbreviation
nm stands for normalized.

[p+delay] synth

(pr1nm/kn2nm): delay time

(pr2nm/rbn2nm): delay feedback
(kn1nm/kn2nm): delay resonance
(pr2nm/kn1nm): overdrive 1 gain
(pr1nm/kn2nm): overdrive 2 gain
(pr1nm/kn2nm): synth output gain

95
[p all-sqnz] synth

kn1nm: synth output gain

kn1nm: right channel delay in samples (stereo width)

NV1: connected to KP1 inside the [p distrib] sub-patch, increments the tab note-
value to adjust the allpass filters time (note values converted to ms) each time the
binary combination of the Keypad 1 is equal to 0 or 8
NV2: Keypad 2 binary combination equal to 1 or 4
NV3: Keypad 3 binary combination equal to 2
NV4: Keypad 3 binary combination equal to 4
S1 to S16: activates each step of the sequencer via the Keypads (4 steps / sixteenth notes for
each PAD in connection with the display in the main patch) TRG resets all sequencer’s steps
to 0
[r seq step]: adjusts the number of steps (sixteenth notes, from 1 to 16) of the sequencer in
association with the binary combinations (inside the [p distrib] sub-patch). This function
might appear complex and requires some time when only Keypads are used:
KP1 has a value equal to 8
KP2 has a value equal to 4
KP3 has a value equal to 2
KP4 has a value equal to 1
The different binary combinations of the Keypads values can produce every possible loop
length from 1/16 to 16/16. Of course, only the steps (orange squares are active steps) included
in the loop length will be played.

[p glitch-synth] synth:

cnt1 to cnt16 (in relationship with the binary combinations of the Keypads): controls some
synced frequencies defining the gain of the incoming signals in the filters, as well as the two
samples length, start and end points, speed / pitch in regard to tempo, so in sync with [p all-
synth] and [p rain-osc] patches.
KP1: sets the center frequency of the resonant filters in a random way
pr1nm: sets the output gain for each sampler
kn1nm: adds some kind of saturation to the signal (left sampler) kn2nm: adds
some kind of saturation to the signal (right sampler)

[p rain-osc] synth:

(pr1nm/pr2nm): synth output gain

kn1nm: range of the random starting frequency (left) of the glissando
kn2nm: range of the random starting frequency (right) of the glissando

96
 pr1nm: added value to the starting frequency (left) of the glissando
pr2nm: added value to the starting frequency (right) of the glissando
rbn1nm: added value to define the ending frequency of both glissandi (left and
right have different values even if they share the same controller)
kn1nm: attack filtering / smoothing (left)
kn2nm: attack filtering / smoothing (right)
(pr1nm/pr2nm): allpass filters gain

Comprovisador

Comprovisação nº 9 is a musical performance made by a soloist, who used an augmented

saxophone (HASGS), an ensemble of musicians that sight-read an animated staff-based score
and a real-time composition and notation system (Comprovisador) operated by both soloist
and performance director/mediator. The performance aimed to create a context where both
composed and improvised elements coexisted in an aesthetically relevant interdependency,
taking advantage of the possible synergies between a real-time composition, a notation
system, and a hybrid acoustic-control augmented instrument to enhance the level of
interactivity. The interaction flow is completed by the soloist’s reaction to the composed
response and further ramified by the presence of a performance mediator, establishing a
complex dialectical relationship.
Comprovisador is a system designed by Pedro Louzeiro to enable mediated soloist-ensemble
interaction using machine listening, algorithmic compositional procedures and dynamic
notation, in a networked environment. As a soloist improvises, Comprovisador's algorithms
produce a staff-based score in real-time that is immediately sight-read by an ensemble of
musicians, creating a coordinated response to the improvisation. Interaction is mediated by a
performance director through parameter manipulation. This system requires a network of
computers to display the notation (separate parts) for each musician who plays in the
ensemble. Further, wireless connectivity enables computers – and therefore musicians – to be
far apart from each other, enabling space as a compositional element. A host computer
centralizes algorithmic tasks accepting pitch input from the soloist and parametric input from
the mediator – and, in this special case, from the soloist as well.
In the present Comprovisação, HASGS was used as a musical interface with dual purpose:
1. to feed Comprovisador’s algorithms with improvised musical material (via
acoustic instrument)
2. to control several of its parameters (via controllers and sensors) thus,
claiming some of the performance director’s mediation tasks for the benefit
of interaction flow

97
 Figure 5. HASGS Hub in Comprovisador

A thoughtfully outlined performance plan is attained through presetting of algorithmic

parameters and corresponding control mapping. Each preset yield different types of musical
response, ranging from reactive synchronized tutti impacts to intricate micropolyphonic
textures. HASGS keypad allows the soloist to navigate through Comprovisador’s presets
according to the plan and subject to his momentary desire, while other HASGS controllers
(ribbon, trigger button, knobs, pressure and acceleration sensors) will enable him to control
parameters such as dynamics, density (harmonic and instrumental), register and speed, among
others. Furthermore, he will be able to trigger certain algorithmic actions and transformations
including capturing melodic contours and recalling previous passages. These may include
passages that were generated earlier during the performance, as well as pre-composed (pre-
rehearsed) ones.
The aforementioned synergies enabled a higher degree of interactivity between improviser
and sight-readers (which is to say, between improvisation and composed response) than with
Comprovisador alone. By empowering the soloist with control over selected parameters of
either expressive or compositional/formal nature, more consequential interplay is expected.
Moreover, the performance mediator is more aware of the macrostructure while controlling
the mapping of several parameters. On the other hand, the use of HASGS in different
environments– in short, to perform pieces involving the control of electronic sounds or
electronic devices – poses challenges and creates learning opportunities regarding the
performer experience, since the interaction with such devices is more instantaneous than with
composition algorithms, and even more with real-time notation.

Indeciduous

This piece was heavily inspired by the sonic explorations of the duo Suicide4. The title hints
at the unrelenting nature of the piece and is an anagram for ‘suicide’ and ‘sound’. The first
performance of this piece was on March 19, 2018 at Karl Geiringer Hall of the University of
California, Santa Barbara on a recital of combined support by the Corwin Chair Endowment
and the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE).

4
https://web.archive.org/web/20110104193113/http://www.zerecords.com/2010/artists_biography.php?id=29 (accessed on
May 3, 2020).

98
 Figure 6. Indeciduous Patching/Presentation modes

This piece must be performed as a free blues over an unrelenting drum machine. Durations
notated are a suggestion such as gestures/pitches, except the pitches accented with , these
notes are required and must be looped by the performer. Potentiometers on the HASGS
control the sax gain (kn1) and the overall gain of the performance (kn2). The ribbon controller
(rbn) controls the time of reverb measured in seconds. The thumb pressure sensors control the
size of the looping window (pr1) and the location of that looping window (pr2). The keypad
starts the drum machine (kp1), stops the drum machine (kp2), triggers events (kp3), and stops
looping (kp4). The trigger button (trg) starts and stops recording into the looper.

Conclusions

Starting as an artistic exploratory project, the conception and development of HASGS has
also became a research project, including a group of composers and engineers. The project
has been developed at the Portuguese Catholic University, University of California Santa
99
Barbara, ZKM Karlsruhe and McGill University Montreal. The idea of benefiting from this
augmentation system was to recover and recast pieces written for other systems using
electronics that are already outdated. The system also aimed to retain the focus on the
performance keeping gestures centralized into the typical practice of the acoustic instrument,
reducing the potential use of external devices as foot pedals, faders or knobs. Taking a
reduced approach, the technology chosen to prototype HASGS was developed in order to
serve the aesthetic intentions of some of the pieces written for it, avoiding an overload of
solutions that could bring artefacts and superficial usage of the augmentation processes,
which sometimes occur on augmented instruments prototyped for improvisational purposes.
We presented three pieces as case studies that make the use of such system in completely
different ways and qualities. Traditional music instruments and digital technology, including
new interfaces for music expression, are able to influence and interact mutually creating
Augmented Performance environments. The new repertoire written by composers and sound
artists contributes for an augmentation system intended to survive in the proliferation of new
instruments and interfaces for the musical expression. The outcomes from such experience
suggest as well that certain forms of continuous multi parametric mappings are beneficial to
create new pieces of music, sound materials and performative environments. Future works
include a profound reflection on the performative and notational aspects of each piece,
evaluating the mapping strategies of each new piece that is being written for HASGS. The
notational aspect of the pieces that are being created is, as well, key for this research and how
it could contribute to new interpretative paradigms. In the scope of this paper, we decided to
focus on the aesthetics of each piece and on the way how HASGS, as well as an interface of
musical intentions can be characterized within the paradigm of instrumentality as assemblage.

References

BERGSTROM, I. & LOTTO, R. (2009). “Harnessing the Enactive Knowledge of Musicians

to Allow the Real-Time Performance of Correlated Music and Computer Graphics.
Leonardo, 42 (1), 92–93.
BURTNER, M. (2002). “The Metasaxophone: Concept, Implementation, and Mapping
Strategies for a New Computer Music Instrument.”. Organised Sound, 7 (2), 201–
203.
BUXTON, W. & MYERS, B. (1986). “A study in two-handed input.” In Proceedings of CHI
'86, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Boston, Mass.
ACM, New York, 321–326.
CADOZ, C. & WANDERLEY, M. M. (2000). “Gesture - Music.” In M. M. Wanderley and
M. Batier (ed.) Trends in Gestural Control of Music, 28–65. Paris, France: Ircam
Centre Pompidou.
HUNT, A. & R. KIRK. (2000). “Mapping Strategies for Musical Control.” In M. Wanderley
and M. Battier Ircam (eds.) In Trends in Gestural Control of Music, 72–77. Paris,
France: Ircam Centre Pompidou.
NORMAN, D. A. (2002). “Emotions & Design: Attractive things work better”. Interaction
Magazine, ix (4), 36–42.
PALACIO-QUINTIN, C. (2008). “Eight Years of Practice on the Hyper-Flute: Tecnhnology
and Musical Perspectives.” New Interfaces for Musica Expression Genova, Italy.
ROADS, C. (2015). Composing Electronic Music: A New Aesthetic. New York: Oxford
University Press.

100
THIBODEAU J. & WANDERLEY M. M. (2013). “Trumpet Augmentation and
Technological Symbiosis.” Computer Music Journal, 37 (3), 12–25.

Notes: This evolutionary augmented instrument project is described at

https://www.henriqueportovedo.com/hasgs/

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and
Technology under the project SFRH/ BD/99388/2013. Fulbright has been associated with this
project, supporting the research residency at the University of California Santa Barbara. We
acknowledge the composers of the pieces above-mentioned as Nicolas Canot, Pedro Louzeiro
and Stewart Engart. Finally, we acknowledge Tiago Gala for the insights on the last prototype
version of HASGS.

101
Contemporary Jazz: Understanding Jazz
Composers’ Current Reality
Javier Subatin1

Abstract. This paper focuses on the observation of current reality of contemporary jazz where
composition and written music are taking on great importance. It consists in an empirical study
which aims to elaborate a general view of the main factors that influence the work of current
jazz composers. This perspective on today’s jazz allows to consolidate a starting point for more
specific and in-depth research. The objective is to understand which are the issues that
contemporary jazz composers face today; the compositional techniques; the implications of
improvisation and performance in the composition and the aesthetics boundaries of jazz as a
musical genre with American origins but adopted by cultures from all around the world. The
results may be a subject of interest to educators, students, musicians, composers and
researchers that work in the field.
Keywords: Contemporary Jazz; Composition; Improvisation; Performance; Jazz Composers;
Jazz Aesthetics; Compositional Process; Jazz Composition Techniques.

Introduction

Considering recent developments in jazz, as Stefano Zenni claims, “the emphasis may shift
more and more to composition [rather than improvisation]” (2012). In this respect,
composition is taking on greater importance for the contemporary jazz artist.
This study intends to provide an overview of the main factors that influence the work of
current jazz composers, allowing the definition of a starting point for more specific and in-
depth research.
Accordingly, the question that leads this study is: In what does the current reality of
contemporary jazz composers consist? Consequently, this investigation aims to understand
which are (i) the issues that contemporary jazz composers face today; (ii) the compositional
techniques that they are using; (iii) the implications of improvisation and performance in the
compositional process and (iv) the aesthetics boundaries of jazz as a musical genre with
American origins but adopted by cultures from all around the world.

Literature review

Looking through various jazz literature, it is possible to find a great number of studies about
American jazz history, its origins, its past innovators and their roots in blues and Afro-
American culture. We can also find many readings providing more technical and musical
information investigating the use of particular scales, chords and voicings, while providing

1
Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Portugal. [email protected]

102
details over the arrangements for a number of types of ensembles. Finally, various works
explore the subject of the future of jazz.
Nevertheless, it appears difficult to find studies about contemporary jazz, contemporary
composition techniques, current jazz trends or today’s realities of jazz composers and
musicians. It is also hard to find works which explore the subject of jazz as a work of art and
the importance of the compositional process and –more in general– the contemporary jazz
composition. For a better understanding of the current reality of contemporary jazz, it is then
necessary to review the most relevant and recent literature.

Contemporary Jazz in Context

One of the most important characteristics of jazz, which comes from its origins, is the
coexistence and mixture of diverse cultures and music genres. Finkelstein here states that jazz
is American music, considering America as a host of different cultures (1948). Piazza claims
that jazz is a result of a mixture of various elements – “marching bands music, light classical
music, opera, nineteenth-century parlour songs, French and Spanish music, as well as the
blues” (2005: 47).
In addition, Gioia argues that, although historical musicologists give most importance to blues
and ragtime influences in the beginnings of jazz, there were other styles and sounds making
part of its gestation (2016). It is also important here to consider that jazz has its history
outside of United States of America, even if most American jazz writers try to overlook this
fact. Nicholson sets this fact clear when he claims that jazz has acquired histories in other
countries, and that some of these histories came from the beginnings of jazz itself (2005).
On the other hand, defining jazz has been always a problem, according to Roland Atkins, who
states that “a definition of jazz commanding universal respect has yet to be found” (1996: 12).
On this matter, Piazza reflects on what makes jazz what it is, noticing that there is no
definitive answer to this question. He observes that jazz is a hybrid form of art, between
popular and erudite. Nevertheless, when Finkelstein defines bebop2, he asserts that bebop
works as a folk art, but one that demands formal musical education and an acute sensitivity.
In addition, Keith Jarrett claims, in an interview, that jazz is folk music, and works like a
tribal language (Walsed, 2014).
Considering all these contributions, it is difficult to find an aesthetic approach to jazz. In this
respect, Robert Kraut claims that jazz is a form of art where performances are the events that
an aesthetic theory should consider (2005). On this matter, Gioia notes that we should
develop an aesthetic theory able to include irregularities: thus considering jazz as an
improvised art where mistakes are inevitable (1990: 56).
Therefore, if we consider Zenni’s statement by which “[j]azz is primarily a player’s and
improviser’s art” (2012), we could apply it to both Kraut (i.e. the player) and Gioia’s (i.e. the
improviser) theories. It is then possible to conclude that there is a lack of studies focusing on
an aesthetic approach to contemporary jazz, where the composition takes on a foremost
importance, being written, improvised or composed in the moment.
Concerning jazz arranging and composition, it is possible to find any kind of material but,
almost always, with the same information. According to Peter Watrous, there are a huge
number of books about how to play jazz, most of which treat the same material in a similar

2
The Bebop was the current jazz-style when he was writing (1948).

103
way (Friedwald and Taylor, 2002). More specifically, Collier observes that books exploring
jazz composition are based on practices that preserve the style, rather than proposing or
stimulating new ways of using the techniques that jazz has developed (2009).
Considering the evolution of jazz, we can find a common agreement regarding trends and
periods up to bebop. After this point, this evolution has been always surrounded by a series of
polemics about what can be considered jazz. As DeVeaux claims in Constructing the Jazz
Tradition (1991), jazz music – from its origins until bebop – had followed a straight line in
terms of innovation through the evolution of the style. Later, however, it began dissolving
into an unsettling combination of many diverse styles. In The Future of Jazz, John F. Szwed
notes that it is evident, after 1960, that jazz had been marked by a continuous diversity.
Collier further states that “audiences have become confused by the sheer variety of music now
presented under the name of jazz […]” (2009: 148) due to the constant debate about what jazz
is. In this regard, it is likely that this type of reflection starts to vanish when we begin to
consider contemporary jazz. For instance, Finkelstein’s statement of 1948 sounds totally up-
to-date: “[t]he question today is no longer whether jazz is to be composed, but whether its
composition is to be put on a musical sincere and productive track” (1948: 247).
In view of the future of jazz, we can only find feeble speculations, mostly based in the
contemporary debate between the defenders of the tradition and those who want to go beyond
the paradigms of the style. Some of these speculations are found in The Future of Jazz, a book
that presents a dialogue between ten of the most important contemporary jazz critics
(Friedwald and Taylor, 2002).

Composition, performance and improvisation

Although the study of composition is traditionally separated from the one of performance, it
is well-known that, in Europe, until the first half of the eighteenth century, the figures of
composer and interpreter often coincided. Jazz here is one of the few genres of music that
preserves the conjunction of these roles today (Cerchiari et al., 2012). With this, Simonton
observes that, among jazz players, it is not easy to make a distinction between musical
performance and composition (2010).
Accordingly, the relationship between composition and improvisation is constant:
“[c]omposition and improvisation are very much related and often cannot be readily
distinguished” (Lehmann et al., 2007: 139). One of the approaches about this is that
improvisation is like composition, but on a different time scale, which Ashley mentions in
Musical Improvisation, where improvisation could be considered as “in-the-moment
compositions” (Ashley, 2006). Correspondingly, Elliott refers that the term “improvisation” is
defined as “a kind of composing-on-the-spot” (1995).
Another approach is to consider composition and improvisation as an activity that implies
problem-solving. As Schönberg explains: “[e]very succession of tones produces unrest,
conflict, problems. […] Every musical form can be considered as an attempt to treat this
unrest either by halting or limiting it or by solving the problem” (1987: 102), while Berliner
mentions that, within the jazz community, there are “conventions for effecting musical saves”
(1994: 211), which are used to address to specific musical problems. In this respect, he
includes that jazz musicians deal with mistakes during the improvisation as “spontaneous
compositional problems requiring immediate musical solutions”. On the same matter, i.e.
mistakes seen as musical problems to be solved, Whitmer notes that the improviser does not
have to correct them but actually use them; in other words, to “incorporate the error” (2011).

104
To sum up, it is important to say that a profound relationship exists, at the same time, between
composition, improvisation and performance. Berliner defines improvisation here as
“composing music in performance” (1994: 220), and Elliott argues that “improvising is a
complex form of musicing in which one or more people simultaneously compose, interpret
and perform a musical work” (1995: 3).

Methodology

The aim of this study is to better understand and contextualise the current reality of jazz
composers. In this regard, a collection of data is directly related to the central question of the
study, enabling a comparison among the feedbacks of participants (Crotty, 1998). For this
purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted, leading to build up a more detailed and
privileged view over several jazz composers of today. It has been applied a phenomenological
approach by considering the individual experiences with a look towards a description of
universal concepts (Creswell, 2007).
The interviews lasted for 30-60 minutes and were conducted following a specific guideline.
This has been surveyed in the same way with each participant, allowing them –by open-ended
questions– to develop their personal sights about the current reality of jazz composition; while
more precise questions provide specific data that has allowed to understand, in a general way,
the issues that concern this study. In order to preserve the validity of the interviewee’s
statements, transcriptions have been made available to participants allowing to revise them
before analysis3.
In order to collect a rich, comprehensive and representative dataset, participants were selected
among experienced and –locally or internationally– recognised contemporary jazz composers
from United States, Europe and South America. Due to time restriction and availability of the
potential interviewees, eleven participants have been selected, these are: Carla Bley (USA);
Dan Tepfer (FRA); Darcy James Argue (USA); David Liebman (USA); Ed Neumeister
(USA); Florian Ross (DEU); John Balke (NOR); Julian Arguelles (GBR); Mark Aanderud
(MEX); Pablo Mayor (COL); and Reinier Baas (DEU).
An inductive analysis has been done in a descriptive and systematically organised way.
Further ahead, I have correlated the already organised data by comparing the statements of the
participants. In this way, I aim to find a common ground able to explain and define the topics
described above.

Results

The dataset allows the identification of several aspects which I define codes, that may
influence the composers’ reality: improvisation, individuality, musical education, jazz
aesthetic, compositional process, and performance (Figure 1).

3
The author elaborated the discussion based on the transcribed material (approved by the interviews) coming from interviews
and exchanges. All citations in this Section come from this material (note of the Editor, R.W.).

105
 Figure 1. Contemporary jazz composers’ current reality

Although, this schematic separation is necessary to facilitate the analysis, these aspects are
not isolated in practice, but are rather mutually related and influencing one another, as shown
in the Figure.
These codes show how a series of relevant questions arise from the initial research question,
which may be seen as a second step of investigation. More specifically, how are
improvisation and composition related? And performance and composition? How does the
jazz composer approach the compositional process? How do contemporary jazz composers
study music, and jazz language and composition in general? Which is the importance of
individuality in jazz composition? It is possible to conceive a jazz aesthetic?
From this step, I was able to trace a network of codes (Figure 2) which is characterized by the
following key relationships:
• The components which may configure an aesthetics of jazz – motivations,
influences, tradition, concerns about the genre – are a conditioning for meaning and
characteristics of improvisation, performance, compositional process and the
implications of individuality.
• Individuality, improvisation and performance are an intrinsic part of the
compositional process, which could be considered a consequence of musical
education;
• Individuality is also an important aspect of improvisation and performance, and an
important part of the composer’s creativity, whereby it affects the compositional
process.

106
 Figure 2. Codes and links

This network allows to develop a series of secondary codes which allow for a better
understanding and a more detailed description. Within Musical Education, for instance, five
sub-codes are defined: composition education, jazz education, self-taught education, private
education and formal education. On the other hand, the compositional process, could be
appropriately integrated with the codes of composition techniques; while the aesthetics of jazz
would include sub-codes motivations and influences, being a jazz composer, origins and
tradition, current period of jazz, future of jazz and definition of jazz (Figure 2).
Taking the above into account, essential findings are taken in consideration:

Musical Education.

The analysis shows that the way in which composers learned music is directly connected to
their personal style, and –more specifically– to their personal approach to music which impact
on the compositional process. Moreover, another important aspect consists in the reading and
studying books, the curiosity and the research of a thorough understanding of what is used to
create music. Finally, most of composers have a part of classical training which seems to have
an important role in their compositional skills.

Jazz Aesthetic – Motivations and Influences.

Generally, regarding aesthetics, all participants consider the importance of developing a

personal voice. To find in which ways the composer can be genuine and be recognised by
his/her individuality and his/her personal musical vocabulary.

Being a Jazz Composer.

One of the crucial concern about being a jazz composer consists in creating pieces that cannot
fit into a unique genre of music. Most of participants, in fact, do not consider themselves only
jazz composers. Even those who see themselves as jazz composers, do not care about the style

107
and labels but are concerned about being coherent with their goals in the creative process.
Currently, jazz composers, more than other type of composers, seem to stay in between
different genres, they don’t want to limit their creativity to an exclusive style of music.

Origins and Tradition.

The American origins of jazz are acknowledged by all participants but all of them consider, in
different ways, that today jazz is not only American. A number of statements confirm the
limited importance of this matter: contemporary jazz composers seem more interested in
music-making than in debating about categories, labels, and origins.

Current Period and Future of Jazz.

Generally, all participants recognize music globalisation and the cross-contamination between
genres which may lead to a great variety of jazz styles. The ideas regarding the future of jazz
appear to be similar to the vision to the current period where the division of styles is
progressively fading away.

Definition of jazz.

The most representative aspects of jazz are: improvisation, swing [rhythmic feel] and
permeability with other genres. But it is also evident that jazz could be seen as more than a
genre but a language or a philosophy and even being defined with other terms, such
“contemporary improvised music”. In these cases, there is an effort to emphasise more recent
features disregarding older ones which may appear not to be representative anymore of
current jazz.

Individuality.

This aspect is a very important aspect in jazz and it has two facets: (i) the individuality of
musicians who play the composition: the prior knowledge of performers who will play a piece
is a crucial factor in compositional process; (ii) the individuality seen as a way to develop a
personal style which allows recognition and identification of uniqueness of composer.

Performance.

The performance carries many variables that could be considered because of the effects that
may have on the composition itself. As Carla Bley (from now on CB) said: “if the
performance is not good the composition is worthless”. Among the factors that could affect
the performance and with which jazz composers have to deal, one can highlight (i) the
rehearsal time; (ii) the musical circumstances (e.g. the audience and the acoustic of the
venue); and (iii) non-musical problems, such logistic or personal difficulties among band
members.

Improvisation.

This aspect incorporates a series of different considerations which are schematized

considering the complex relationship between improvisation and composition:

108
 1. Improvisation as Composition in a different timeframe: where composition
could be seen as slow improvisation and vice versa.
2. The soloist problem (i.e. the implications of the solo part in jazz composition):
where the composer must deal with the capability of the soloist of being
coherent with the composition.
3. Improvisation as a tool for composition: where improvisation works as a means
to create or develop musical material.

Compositional Process.

From the analysis, it emerges that both methodological and intuitive approaches are crucial
components in the compositional process. All participants clarify how the compositional
process is always different. However, Ed Neumeister (from now on EN) describes clearly his
methodological approach which consists of four compositional steps. This stepwise
description works as a model for all participants and is characterized by four phases:

1. Source Material / Starting Idea

The source material is represented by the fundamental ideas of a composition, it is the

material that will be developed during the compositional process. This source can be musical
or conceptual or anything that serves as a starting point. EN, for instance, has a sketchbook
where he works out the source material:“I begin working on source material and basic
sketching on this book here [he shows his notebook]” (Figure 3).

Figure 3. “This particular piece was for string quartet, and I was using information from the I-Ching”. Ed
Neumeister’s sketchbook (image shown with the permission of the author).

109
Mark Aanderud (from now on MA) explains how, as a starting idea, he tries to grasp the right
mood and character of the music he is going to compose. Later, he starts to experiment with
“rhythm, the baseline, sometimes a series of chords”. This material may be considered as a
source material. Similarly, John Balke (from now on JB) talks about melodies that come up
to his mind:
My head keeps coming up with different ideas that are very thematic and
melodic and very clear. So, I try to write all of them, and sometimes I use
them and sometimes I don’t […]. As often as possible I try to sit down and
make a polyphonic grid of lines and patterns as an artist would make a
sketch. Sometimes I can use those themes and integrate [them] into other
compositions.
Reinier Baas (from now on RB) illustrates how he tries to develop ideas and construct
systems as source material:
When you have one cool leak on the guitar, when it is a melody, I try to write
down all the different options, all the permutations like retrograde,
transposition diatonically or chromatically, rhythmic transposition and all
the inversions. For every parameter of music, I try to have my little bag of
tricks to develop an idea.
In addition, Pablo Mayor (from now on PM) tasks about a sort of philosophy that – during his
compositional process – assumes the role of source material. He always seeks,
philosophically, a balance between rhythm, melody and interesting harmonies which allow
the music to have a sense of dancing or corporeal movement. He also uses to imagine a story,
as a starting idea that he is going to portray in the music he is composing. This strategy
permits him to develop much more clearly what he wants to write and the sound he has in his
mind.
Besides, Darcy James Argue (from now on DJA) explains how he uses improvisation to
discover the first ideas to develop the source material: “[I will] find something and then
refine it and shape it and move around a little bit in terms of getting the right shape […] to
proceed”. Furthermore, Dan Tepfer (from now on DT) clarifies that his process starts from an
idea that could be theoretical or structural, putting himself “inside constraints” as an initial
idea from which he can work “more efficiently instead of having unlimited options”.
Moreover, CB talks about how the search for a starting idea affects her process:
I had no ideas, I sat at the piano, and finally, I got a very small idea, maybe
two or three notes that went together. The next day I looked at these two or
three notes, and I got a little bit better idea of what I was doing. I thought
‘this might be interesting’. So, I wrote one-half of a page full of ideas. The
third day […] I looked at my two pages, and I said: ‘well, I think I like that
one idea, I’m going to work on that one’. It took a long time, it took three
days before I got something I was interested in working on.

2. Architectural development

Generally, participants depict the development of the starting ideas or the source material as
a sort of architectural organisation of successive steps or layers. This stage seems to be central
in music composition.
EN described how he sketches this musical architecture after having defined the source
material:

110
I start to line up the form of my piece; how long it is, what the instrumentation is. Then I pick
a tempo and a mood or a vibe or a combination, depending on how long the piece is. So, I
make all these basic decisions at the very beginning and then, once I know, more or less, the
length of the piece and the basic structure, then, I map it up, still in my sketchbook (Fig 4).

Figure 4. Ed Neumeister’s sketchbook (image shown with the permission of the author).

JB, on the other hand, uses the term “stepping stones” to describe a more flexible architectural
development:
I use the compositional elements as stepping stones that can change the
music from one level to another. I like to synthesise the composed elements
into smaller forms that can be inserted and then have a lot of freedom in
between and around that. I use compositions more like signals that can
change the flow of the music.

3. Orchestration

This phase could be included in the Architectural development and usually, involves the use
of a dedicated software. EN described this step as a process of “refining and editing. At this
stage, all the articulations and all the dynamics and all the details are already in the piece”.
First, he uses to compose with a simple orchestration of piano, bass and a melodic instrument
and when the composition is finished he passes to the orchestration and distribution of the
material among instruments.

111
4. Final Check-up

This is the last stage where the composer verifies that the work is completed as expected. On
this matter, EN clarifies:
once I move to the score, I don’t listen much to the computer sounds, except
maybe at the end, just to make sure there are no wrong notes or other
mistakes.

Composition Techniques.

Each participant has his own way to approach to music composition. Even if it is possible to
generalise the steps in this process, the techniques that composers use to advance are personal,
and this process is an important aspect of the individuality and the development of a personal
style. Some of these techniques have emerged that are worth mentioning, in order to
understand better how contemporary jazz composer deal with music creativity.
David Liebman explains, for instance, that his methods are mainly based on his experience in
trials and errors. He observes that one way of composing is the development of “musical
problems to be solved” or “musical challenges”, for example, “a study of the interval of the
fourth or a study involving the diminished scale”. On the other hand, MA describes how he
bases his compositional process on the identification of which element he does not want to
use:
I really don’t think too much about techniques, in general, I think about
what I don’t want to use. And neither about what I want to use because it
restricts me and limits my creativity.
JB provides verbal explanations to illustrate “what is the intention and to suggest how [the]
music can develop”. This is an important aspect because he composes using “flexible material
for the ensemble to get together and create music that can be different from concert to
concert”. His practices of writing a composition often consist in “to sit down and make a
polyphonic grid of lines and patterns”.
This concept of the grid or polyphonic lines and patterns emerges in RB’s words when he
talks about composing music by systems and layers:
I try to write music that has different layers. I want something that catches
people’s ears when they first listen to the music […]. Then, put there more
complex stuff underneath. I would like people who listen to my music to
discover new things every time. So, this kind of layer thing is something I
always think about.
He also refers to a different technique to develop ideas considering each parameter separately.
Regarding rhythm, for instance, he explains that it “is nice and easy because you can write it
all down, there is a limited amount of options”. Melody is, instead, “more about composition
techniques like […] retrograde, rhythmic transposition, inversion”. Concerning harmony, he
described his own personal technique:
I came up with this wear scale, and then, I try to make a system out of it […]
He writes it as a skype message:
1 b2/2/#2 3 4/#4 5 b6/6/#6 maj7
So, you got 1, 3, 5 and 7. A normal major/major7 arpeggio, and then, for 2,
you can pick either three options. Either you use the b2 or 2 or #2. For the 4

112
 is the same thing, 4 or #4. And for the 6 you have three options too, b6,
which in C would be Ab; 6, which would be A and #6, which in C would be
A#, that sounds like a minor 7, but it's a leading tone for a B, for a major 7.
So, that's 18 scales
He writes another message:
18 scales x 7 degrees.
With 7 degrees, each.
Then, there are different ways of approaching. For example, Cmaj7 with #2,
#4 and #6; that would be an A minor triad and a F# triad
He writes another message:
Cmaj7b2#4#6: Em + F# with C in the bass.
That’s a different way of looking at the same. And then, the same thing for
all the 7 degrees of the scale.
PM describes how he uses the analysis of rhythms as a technique:
I analyse a lot the rhythms, it is a technique that I use. I transcribe the
rhythms, and I base my arrangements on that. If I find two or three songs
that I like a lot, I make a complete rhythmic transcription of all the melodies
and all the compings and the rhythms of the drums. And I play with this
library of rhythms assigning them to different instruments and it starts to
sound in the style I want.
Another approach to composition is mentioned by DT. He uses algorithms and improvisation
as a technique:
Another approach [...] is using algorithms that response when I improvise.
The last movement of this piece I wrote, for string quartet and piano, is an
algorithm where every note played, is then, transposed canonically down in
minor ninths.
In contrast, CB illustrates one of her amusing techniques:
I wrote the letters of the notes in twelves pieces of paper, little tiny pieces of
paper, the one said A, the next one said A flat and all the notes in the
chromatic scale, every note possible. I put them in a paper bag, and I shook
the bag, and then I reach them for the first note. I did not ask if that was a
good note or a bad note because the first note cannot be good or bad, is just
one note, it is no music yet, maybe it could be, but I’ve never had it happen
that way. Then I put that note back in the bag, I shook the bag again, and I
took out the next note and sometimes it is the same note, that’s an idea too. If
you have two A flat, that could be the beginning of a melody. By the time,
you get to the third or fourth note, sometimes you say, “this is not going to
work” but I’ll keep doing it anyway. Or sometimes you say, “what a great
idea that four notes is a perfectly good starting idea and I’m not going to
need the paper bag anymore”. I’ve got my idea.

Conclusions

Within the main concerns about the jazz composers’ current reality, the results of this study
reveal that the implications about the relation between composition, improvisation and
performance are significant. It is possible to conclude that improvisation in jazz is not only

113
the soloing moment or the non-written music during the performance. Improvisation is an
intrinsic tool for the jazz composer serving as a method to create and develop musical ideas.
Performance, on the other hand, it has crucial role in jazz composition: it affects composer’s
musical decisions, being conditioned by interpretation and individuality of different
musicians.
From an aesthetic perspective, the processes of institutionalisation and globalisation affect
jazz that currently embraces a variety of musical styles which mix together into a kind of
music that is hardly represented by the term ‘jazz’. Nonetheless, this type of music, that
someone may prefer to define ‘contemporary improvised music’ is the result of the historical
evolution of jazz. Even if this is a recurrent theme in jazz literature, we found that, in general,
composers are not much concerned about how their music is labelled but about being
coherent, individual and committed to their creative process.
Finally, this study shows that compositional processes and techniques are subjects of interest
for jazz composers. Four stages in the compositional process emerge that could match with
diverse ways of composing music. In particular, the value of the source material as a creative
concern appear central in this investigation, together with form, melody, harmony and
orchestration. Therefore, this study put the bases for a better understanding of the context of
contemporary jazz composers and represent a fruitful starting point for future investigations.

References

ASHLEY, R. (2016). Music Improvisation. In S. Hallam, I. Cross, and M. Thaut (Eds.) The
Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology. 667–680. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ATKINS, R. (1996). Jazz: The Ultimate Guide, from New Orleans to the New Jazz Age.
England: Carlton.
BERLINER, P. (1994). Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation, Chicago Studies
in Ethnomusicology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
CERCHIARI, L; CUGNY, L. & KERSCHBAUMER F. (eds.). (2012) Eurojazzland: Jazz and
European Sources, Dynamics, and Contexts. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
COLLIER, G. (2009). The Jazz Composer: Moving Music off the Paper. London: Northway
Publications.
CRESWELL, J, W. (2007). Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing among Five
Approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
CROTTY, M. (1998). The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the
Research Process. London: Sage Publications.
DE VEAUX, S. (1991). “Constructing the Jazz Tradition”. In R. Walser (ed.) Keeping Time:
Readings in Jazz History. New York: Oxford University Press.
ELLIOTT, D. J. (1995). Improvisation and Jazz: Implications for International Practice.
International Journal of Music Education,26(1): 3–13.
FINKELSTEIN, S. W. (1948). Jazz, a People’s Music, The Roots of Jazz. New York: Da
Capo Press.
FRIEDWALD, W. & YUVAL T.. (2002). The Future of Jazz. Chicago, IL: A Cappella.
GIOIA, T. (1990). The imperfect art: reflections on jazz and modern culture. New York:
Oxford University Press.
————– (2016). How to Listen to Jazz. Philadelphia: Basic Books.

114
KRAUT, R. (2005). Why Does Jazz Matter to Aesthetic Theory?. The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism 63 (1), 3-15.
LEHMANN, A. C.; SLOBODA, J. A. & WOODY, R. H. (2007) Psychology for Musicians:
Understanding and Acquiring the Skills. New York: Oxford University Press.
NICHOLSON, S. (2005). Is Jazz Dead?: (Or Has It Moved to a New Address). New York:
Routledge.
PIAZZA, T. (2005). Understanding Jazz: Ways to Listen. New York: Random House.
SCHÖNBERG, A. & STRANG, Gerald. (1987). Fundamentals of Musical Composition.
London: Faber and Faber.
SIMONTON, D. K. (2010). “Creativity in Highly Eminent Individuals”. In J. C. Kaufman
and R. Sternberg (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge
Handbooks in Psychology. Cambridge University Press.
WALSER, R. (ed.) (2014). Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History. New York: Oxford
University Press.
WHITMER, T. C. (2011). The Art of Improvisation. Charleston: BiblioBazaar.
ZENNI, S. (2012) “Composers as Jazz Innovators”. URL: http://www.crj-online.org/v4/CRJ-
ComposersInnovators.php (last access, 01/04/2020).

115
Si amanece, nos vamos: From a Goya print to a
new way of using guitar multiphonics
Rita Torres1

Abstract. The technique of guitar multiphonics gives rise to sounds with colours that are quite
distinct from those of sounds produced through traditional techniques, being easier to perceive
multiple pitches therein. In spite of the recent interest on this unconventional playing technique,
there are gaps that still need to be bridged. One of these gaps concerns the usage of the
technique: there is a lack of variation in the beginning and/or end of the sounds. This gap was
narrowed unintentionally by the author when conducting artistic research during the
implementation of scientific results from a thorough and innovative research on guitar
multiphonics in a musical composition. She arrived at a new form of usage of this technique
while investigating how to play it simultaneously with and on the same string as a gesture that
was inspired by the imagery of the print that was chosen for the departure of the compositional
process. This new way of using multiphonics not only narrows the above-mentioned gap but also
allows overcoming the guitar’s short-sustain problem innovatively. This article provides step-by-
step descriptions concerning the research and the piece, which are complemented with
pictures, score excerpts and audio and video examples, as well as explanations of the acoustical
phenomena and the musical and guitar terminology
Keywords: tone colour research; unconventional performing techniques; new music; Los
Caprichos.

Introduction2

In 2015, I wrote a piece for a project of guitarist Jürgen Ruck entitled Caprichos Goyescos.
The project consists of short caprichos for solo guitar by various composers, whose writing
should depart from a print of the set Los Caprichos (1797-1798) by the Spanish artist
Francisco Goya y Lucientes. At the same time, the piece should be written in the context of
my research on guitar multiphonics, therefore making use of this unconventional performing
technique.
The piece – entitled Si amanece, nos vamos (If day breaks, we will be off) – was premiered in
a large church. But I was not told to take amplification into account in the compositional
process. Therefore, I decided to conceive it for a small or medium-sized concert room
appropriated for a guitar recital, since other performances would certainly take place in a
similar environment. Nevertheless, the amplification of multiphonics sounds is one of the
main concerns of my research (Torres, 2015: 73-93).

1
CESEM – FCSH, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal. [email protected]
2
Part of the material in this text has been previously published in: Torres R. (2020). The Presence of a Mysterious Black
Silhouette: From a Print to a New Form of Usage of Guitar Multiphonics. Leonardo Music Journal, 30, 73–78.

116
The technique of guitar multiphonics

The technique of guitar multiphonics3 works better on wound strings. Like the technique of
harmonics, it consists in damping out some of the vibrational modes of the string. Achieved
by lightly touching it during or after its excitation (or both; Figure 1 shows the difference
between lightly touching the string and stopping it).

a) b)
Figure 1. a) Lightly touched string; b) Stopped string.

Unlike harmonics, with multiphonics the filtering of the vibrational modes is not systematic
with respect to the mode number, which makes the perception of multiple pitches easier
(Torres, 2015: 66-68)4. I called the sound’s partials that correspond to the more easily
perceived pitches main partials (Torres, 2015: 72-73)5. Also contrary to harmonics, the
technique is continuously possible along the string. Most sounds present unusual colours and
a low loudness level, being difficult to perceive some of its components at a distance.
Up to now, I have identified multiphonics in only 42 scores by other authors (Torres, 2015:
50-64)6. In most compositions the technique is used conventionally, which is, the string is
plucked with a single stroke while lightly touched and is left to ring untouched. Variation in
the beginning and/or end of the sounds can be found in five pieces and in a piece of mine7. In
these compositions the sounds are produced (1) with a quasi pizzicato-Bartók (i.e., the string
is softly pulled but does not hit the frets) (Nassif, 2010: 2, 3, 11, 19, 20); (2) after slowly
increasing the thumb nail’s touch pressure on a vibrating open string (Lopes, 2009: 8); (3)
with a legato articulation departing from an open string (Lentz, 2014: 6, 7); (4) with

3
The term multiphonics originated in the adjective multiphonic, possibly first used in 1967 in the translation of a book
(Bartolozzi, 1967) to characterise the sounds of the corresponding technique on woodwinds.
4
For example, when we play harmonics at fret XII (the middle of the string), all odd vibrational modes (v.ms.) are damped
out – not taking into account the non-excitation of the v.ms. that have nodes at the excitation location, the mode numbers
of the sound’s partials are then 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, ... – this is exemplified in Audio Example 1. When we play
multiphonics at that same fret, the lowest odd v.ms. are not damped out – up to which of them depends on the exact touch
pressure, which nevertheless has to be extremely light; the mode numbers of the partials of the sound are then, for
example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14... – this is exemplified in Audio Example 2. All audio and video examples are
retrievable from http://ritatorres.eu/NCMM18-Torres.zip
5
In the example of footnote 2, the main partial of the sound of harmonics has mode number 2; the mode numbers of the main
partials of the sound of multiphonics are 1 and 2.
6
The following pieces were not covered by this review: Lopes, José M. (2009). Estudo Numerus Nove [composed 1989].
Lisboa: AvA Musical Editions; López López, José M. (2011). Impresiones y Paisajes. Valencia: Piles; Jang, Alex. (2016).
A gray, Bent Interior Horizon. Victoria, B.C.: the composer; Carvalho Diogo. (2016). Reveal. Gainesville, FL: the
composer; Aranda, Yesid Fonseca. (2017) 1+1 et non franchement 2 [composed 2016]. Bern: the composer.
7
I have also used multiphonics, albeit conventionally, in the following pieces: Torres, Rita. (2012). Le tombeau de Falla.
Karlsruhe: the composer; Torres, Rita. (2015). The fireflies, twinkling among leaves, make the stars wonder. Lisboa: the
composer; Torres, Rita. (in press). Luminescências. In Nova Música para Novos Músicos, vol. 2. Aveiro: Arte no Tempo.

117
tremolato8 (Torres, 2014: part VI); (5) with bow (Radulescu, 1985: 2); (6) conventionally but
are damped afterwards (a) abruptly with staccato (Lentz, 2014: 6) and (b) progressively by
leaving the touching finger on the string (Rojko, 1984: 1, 3). None of the scientific
publications by other authors explores different forms of usage of the technique (Torres,
2015: 45-50).9

The print

I chose Capricho number 71 (the set consists of 80 prints), entitled Si amanece, nos Vamos.
This print depicts a group of five witches resting under a starry sky; behind them is the black
silhouette of a figure with wings10. Four witches are sitting on the ground and one is sitting on
“an excrescence in a shape of a disembodied anus, a signifier of the inverted nature of
witchcraft” (Tal, 2006: 158). This witch is pointing to the sky and has two small children
strapped to her back (at least) – supposedly their meal, as witches were thought to consume
the flesh of babies at Sabbats. This meal was one of the events of the standard set that was
thought to occur during these meetings:
[t]he Sabbat was located in a churchyard, the foot of the gallows or at the summit of a
mountain at night, usually at midnight or at the latest by dawn. Flying on a broomstick or an
animal was the means of travel to the night-time meeting where the Devil would also appear
often in the form of an animal. The witches glorified the Devil, kneeling down to him, kissing
on his left foot or anus. Witches would confess their sins and were punished for not
performing enough maleficia. There was a service, a parody of the divine service, and then a
meal followed by “an orgiastic dance to the sound of trumpets, fifes and drums”. ... The Devil
would have sexual relations with the participants, and he would then dismiss the group.
(Dore, 2008: 13)
I therefore assumed that the scene took place before the meal of a Sabbat and interpreted the
silhouette as a symbol of the devil that is yet to arrive. For which the witches have just settled
down and are getting ready for their ritual. In fact, contrary to other witchcraft prints of Los
Caprichos, in which the witches are flying on broomsticks, this print suggests quietness and
not movement, which is emphasised by the starry night scenery. However, the black
silhouette creates an atmosphere of suspense.

The idea

The underlying suspense created by the black silhouette inspired the main gesture of the
piece: a dark pedal tone with the lowest pitch of the traditional tuning of the guitar11. I chose
to produce this pedal tone by exciting the string with tremolato in pizzicato (with pizzicato, the
string is damped at the bridge with the side of the hand palm, as in Figure 2).

8
With tremolato, the string is repeatedly plucked downwards and upwards with a single exciter and a rapid movement.
9
Torres and Ferreira-Lopes (2018) provided an updated list of publications dealing with guitar multiphonics. This list did not
include the following publication: Lopes, José M. (2015). A música contemporânea portuguesa para guitarra de 1983 a
2008. (Doctoral Thesis). Universidade de Aveiro. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10773/27330.
10
For a reproduction of the print search for Si amanece, nos Vamos at: http://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion. See also
Figure 6.
11
A pedal tone is a continuously sustained note. The lowest pitch in the guitar’s traditional tuning is E on the open string 6.

118
 Figure 2. Hand position when playing pizzicato (the string is damped at the bridge with the side of the hand
palm).

Although it was a personal choice, the usage of tremolato instead of tremolo avoids
differences in the sound, given that with tremolo the excitation location differs with each
finger.12
Another gesture with its origin in the print is the rubbing of the strings with the hand palm.
Although absent from the print’s imagery, the arrival on broomsticks and their presence
nearby is implicit, and this brought to my mind the wind noise in a(n imaginary) broomstick
flight, as well as the noise of a broomstick sweeping the ground, both of which inspired the
string-rubbing noise.
The sounds of multiphonics, although not inspired by the imagery of the print because they
were always planned to be used, ended up serving to symbolise the witches and the starry sky,
as is mentioned in Section 8 (The piece).

The problem

The pedal tone in tremolato posed two constraints: (1) the possibilities of excitation of the
other strings by the hand playing it are limited; (2) I wanted to play simultaneously with, and,
on the same string as the technique of multiphonics, because the results that I would
implement (in fact, assumptions made therefrom) would be for string 6. Therefore, I decided
to explore the tremolato as form of excitation of the string when playing multiphonics and a
pedal tone with the open string’s pitch (which is the pitch of the sound’s fundamental
frequency) is to be perceived, and to build the piece around this idea.

The research

When a string is excited with tremolato, the part of the sound that is repeated is the loudest.
This allows perceiving (or more clearly apprehending) the very rapid decay of some
components of multiphonics sounds, like those that originate from vibrational modes strongly
damped due to the continuous touching of the string, as is the case of the fundamental
frequency. If the string is excited in pizzicato however, as is desired for the pedal tone, most
sound components are damped out. When playing multiphonics with tremolato, the string
needs then to be free from the pizzicato (normale). In this transition between the pedal tone
alone in pizzicato and the sound of multiphonics with pedal tone played normale, a

12
With tremolo the thumb, ring finger, middle finger and index finger are rapidly alternated.

119
discrepancy is noticed in the timbre of the pedal tone. This undesired discrepancy is
smoothened by gradually increasing the touch pressure while gradually releasing the pizzicato
and vice-versa. This effect is emphasised by departing from low dynamics, increasing it in the
first part, and decreasing it in the second part. This form of usage had not been used before
and presents an innovative way of overcoming the short-sustain problem of the guitar.
The sounds of multiphonics requested in the piece are of two kinds: sounds with unusual
colours and sounds with more conventional colours played at usual harmonics locations13.
The former sounds are produced with very light touch pressure. If light touch pressure is used
– this is the pressure I assumed as the usual employment for harmonics – the pedal tone is too
weak and the sound too dark. With extremely light touch pressure, the pedal tone is too
strong14. To compensate the loss of brightness of the sounds due to the uninterrupted touch of
the string15, the excitation location that in pizzicato is near the rosette (ordinario)16, is either
near the bridge (sul pont.) or not so near the bridge (poco sul pont.). Very near the bridge
(molto sul pont.)17, the pedal tone is, on the one hand weaker18, and on the other hand too
bright.
The production of multiphonics sounds at usual harmonics locations is possible because the
continuous tremolato allows playing this kind of sound without failing. When the string is
excited conventionally, the feasibility of multiphonics (i.e., the degree of achieving the
technique) at the usual harmonics locations is low, because the touch pressure needs to be
extremely light19, which is difficult to control (this is nevertheless easier when touching and
exciting with the same hand, as in Figure 3); moreover, for lasting sounds the touch duration
needs to be extremely short.

Figure 3. Touching and excitation of the string with the same hand (the index finger touches the string and the
middle finger excites it; the latter may be also carried out by the ring finger or the thumb).

Playing multiphonics at the usual harmonics locations with tremolato does not present
feasibility problems, because the continuous repetition of the string’s excitation allows for an
unnoticed correction of the touch pressure. I decided to use some of these sounds before
introducing the sounds of more unusual colours. The pizzicato needs not to be released,

13
The more easily perceivable pitches of the sounds of multiphonics at these locations (the most common are frets V, VII,
XII, XIX) are those of the open string and the usual harmonics sound.
14
V.m. 1 is the most excitable mode. The excitation strength of a v.m. is inversely proportional to the square of its mode
number (Benade, 1990: 100).
15
The damping of the highest v.ms. of the string is greater because the finger covers a great part of those v.ms.’ loops. The
uninterrupted touch also affects the perception of the main partials of the sounds. This is, however, only significant when
there is amplification, otherwise, the audience would not perceive such partials.
16
The rosette is the decoration of the sound hole. Exciting the string here ensures a strong excitation of v.m. 1, because the
v.m. has a significant loop displacement at this location.
17
Here all v.ms. have a loop. Therefore, it is assured that they are actually all being excited and that the excitation of the
higher v.ms. is maximized, because the excitation location is near their anti-node (the place of maximum displacement).
18
Very near the bridge is much nearer to a node of v.m. 1 than to its anti-node, therefore it is more difficult to excite the v.m.
19
This is the case of most locations when the open string’s pitch must be perceived in the sounds.

120
because it does not damp out the vibrational modes producing the other perceived pitch of the
sound. However, to produce sounds in which the timbre of the pedal tone is similar to that of
the pedal tone alone, the string needs to be less damped than in the conventional pizzicato
(thus the sound of a single pluck lasts longer) – denominated light pizzicato. This makes the
upper pitch much louder than the pedal tone, for which, for a balanced sound, the string needs
to be touched with extremely light pressure20.
Having tried all this over and over with the (index) fingernail playing the tremolato, my
fingernail was worn out. I decided then to use a plectrum. This allowed an improvement of
the sounds’ balance and brightness, especially at the desired low dynamic for the pedal tone.
This is because plucking with the plectrum compensates the damping of the vibrational modes
due to the uninterrupted touching21, especially of the vibrational modes with smaller loops22.
The factors influencing the sound are: the plectrum’s characteristics, the angle of the plectrum
with the string and the direction of the plucking movement. The latter is opposite to the
conventional direction. That is, the downward movement heads towards the sound hole
instead of towards the bridge (the movement’s angle with the strings is about 45 degrees).
This is because it causes less noise, which is related to the angle of the string’s winding.
Figure 4 shows the orientation of the plectrum in each of these movements. In regard to the
third dimension of the movement, this is parallel to the soundboard, to maintain the sound’s
balance23. The plectrum is mostly at an angle with the string higher than zero degrees and
lower than 45 degrees. This not only ensures a smooth tremolato playing, but also avoids the
releasing noise and the bright sound (especially in what concerns to the pedal tone) produced
by the plectrum at zero degrees24. Nevertheless, the plectrum should not be too stiff and its
edge not too wide, to ensure a strong presence of the higher partials of the unusual sounds of
multiphonics. Video Examples 1 and 2 show in detail this new form of usage.

a) b)
Figure 4. a) Plectrum orientation required in the piece (downward movement towards the sound hole); b)
Conventional plectrum orientation (downward movement towards the bridge)

20
Contrary to the v.m. that gives rise to the upper partial, v.m. 1 is touched at its loop, therefore it suffers greater damping.
21
There is less damping of the string’s v.ms. in the excitation, because the plectrum is a narrower exciter.
22
The non-excitation of the higher v.ms. due to the covering by the nail of two consecutive nodes thereof is avoided with the
use of the plectrum.
23
The greater the movement’s component perpendicular to the soundboard is on release, the higher the excitation of the
lower v.ms. of the soundboard (in a rest stroke, the perpendicular component tends to be greater than in a free stroke). The
soundboard is what actually moves the air molecules. The effect of the string is very small. This is because the string “has
a relatively small surface area, and therefore cannot produce a large disturbance of the air. ... any compression wave
coming from one side of the string is effectively cancelled by a wave of rarefaction from the other“ (Taylor, 1978: 33).
This is called “acoustic short circuit“ (Bader, 2005: 33), because diffraction takes place since the string’s diameter is very
small compared with the wavelength.
24
This is because at zero degrees the string is released abruptly, which increases the excitation of the higher v.ms. of the
soundboard (Taylor, 1978: 26-27). An angle higher than zero assures a smooth release of the string.

121
The performance instructions

The performance instructions are depicted in Figure 525. They contain two sections: one
related with the tremolato and the pizzicato, and other concerning multiphonics. The first
paragraph of the first section mentions the number of attacks per beat of the tremolato;
informs about the need of using the plectrum during the performance, explaining the angle of
the plectrum with the string and the direction of the plucking movement; and clarifies how
long a sound should last when played with the light pizzicato. The second paragraph of the
first section explains the easiest way to play the tremolato, this according to myself and the
guitar player Jürgen Ruck (point 3).
The second section of the performance instructions explains the notation of the main
components of multiphonics sounds, how strong the touching should be and how long it
should last and, finally, how to situate the touch locations and interpret their notation.

25
Like the piece, the performance instructions have been suffering minor changes since the premiere (the piece was
performed five times up to the submission of the final version of this paper).

122
 Figure 5. Performance instructions of the piece. Reprinted from Si amanece, nos vamos by Rita Torres, 2015,
Karlsruhe: the composer.

The piece

The piece has four sections. The introduction consists of only noise tremolati. It ends with a
continuous transition to the pedal tone that characterises the following section, in which the
new form of using multiphonics is employed. Although the pedal tone is absent from the next
section, a reminder of the devil still haunts it, as strings 5 and 6 are tapped in tritones. The
pedal tone returns in the last section, in which sounds of multiphonics are played continuously
along the string, and also left ringing after being attacked with short tremolati.
The introduction of the piece, the score lines of which are depicted in Figure 7 (bars 1-12),
starts with all strings being rubbed with the hand palm, first with tremolato and then with
accentuated short gestures, symbolising respectively the witches' broomstick flight and arrival
– Figure 6 depicts Jürgen Ruck playing live the first bars of the piece.

123
 Figure 6. Jürgen Ruck playing the beginning of Si amanece, nos vamos in a performance at Schloss Ebnet in
Freiburg on 29.9.2015; the print was projected behind him during the whole performance (photo: Rita Torres).

The string-rubbing tremolato also foreshadows the low-pitched tremolato that will be played
a few bars later. This is arrived at by cross-fading the rubbing tremolato noise with the noise
resulting from plucking the muted string 6 in pizzicato with an edge of the plectrum, and then
unmuting the string to introduce the pedal tone (bars 7-13). At this point, the longest section
of the piece starts (Section 1). The plucking noise is progressively reduced by rotating the
plectrum to the tip (bars 15-16). Audio Example 326 contains a recording of the performance
of the piece up to this moment.
Section 1 (bars 13-60) may be divided in two parts. In the first part, the new way of using
multiphonics (i.e., progressively filtering the sound of an open string and returning thereto) is
only employed at usual harmonics locations27 – the score lines of this part can be found in
Figure 8, and the recording of the performance in Audio Example 4. In the second part, the
new form of multiphonics usage occurs at other locations. Although originally not intended,
the more conventional sounds at harmonics locations adequately symbolise the print’s starry
sky, whereas those of unusual colours at other locations symbolise the witches28. The second
part may be subdivided in two phases: in the first phase, after the pizzicato is released, the
excitation of the string remains not so close to the bridge (poco sul pont.); whereas in the
second phase, the hand continues to slide up to near the bridge (sul pont.) after the release of
the pizzicato. Figure 9 contains the score lines of the first phase, and Audio Example 5
corresponds to the recording of this performing part. The score lines of the second phase can
be found in Figure 10 and, accordingly, the recording of this part of the performance is the
Audio Example 6.
The touch locations that are situated between frets were called virtual frets. They were
formally established and are easy to visually situate (Torres, 2015: 76-77). In this piece, they
were notated with accidentals with an arrow and a fraction, as well the numeral of their
closest fret in parentheses (this is merely an aid, as it is redundant). For example, in Figure 9,
bar 41, of the five virtual frets that result from the subdivision of a space between frets in six
equal parts, the string is touched at the virtual fret that lies below fret II and is closest to it

26
Just to remind that audio and video examples used here are retrievable from http://ritatorres.eu/NCMM18-Torres.zip
27
And also at fret IX (the exact location for harmonics is in fact slightly before fret IX but, with the playing conditions used,
the result is almost the same).
28
I chose the witches’ locations for the sounds' colours. It is a coincidence, as far as I remember, that the number of different
sounds is the same as the number of witches depicted in the print.

124
(thus the arrow pointing downwards and the numerator equal to 1). The pitches in
parentheses, other than that of the fundamental, are related with the results from an
experiment conducted in the context of the research: they are the pitches of the main partials
in the results’ highest loudness category for a time segment right after the attack (because this
is the part of the sound that is repeated during the tremolato); the partials in other categories
are not expected to be perceived by an audience.
As depicted in the last bar of Figure 10, Section 1 ends by slightly decelerating the tremolato,
and then playing it shortly at normal speed with constant accentuation, ending on a beat
(Gesture 1). The transition to the next section, the score lines of which can be found in Figure
11 (bars 61-65), consists in repeating Gesture 1, first once at the soundhole, and then four
times at the fretboard. Here, the string is muted from the second repetition onwards, and in the
last repetition, the tremolato is continued and immediately ended by a strong deceleration.
The recording of the performance of this transition is the Audio Example 7.

Figure 7. Introduction (bars 1-12) and beginning of Section 1 of the piece (bars 13-17). Reprinted from Si
amanece, nos vamos (p. 1) by Rita Torres, 2015, Karlsruhe: the composer.

125
 Figure 8. First part of Section 1 of the piece, in which the technique of multiphonics is played at usual harmonics
locations (t.p.: touch pressure). Reprinted from Si amanece, nos vamos (p. 2) by Rita Torres, 2015, Karlsruhe: the
composer.

The section that follows (Section 2), the score lines of which are depicted in Figure 12 (bars
66-69), is quite contrasting: strings 5 and 6 are slowly tapped with a regular rhythm29,
producing the interval of a tritone (the musical symbol of the devil). This gesture is repeated
three times in different transpositions, being the last repetition longer. String 6 is then muted
and plucked at fret X with the same rhythm (Gesture 2), which starts the transition to the final
section of the piece. In this transition (Figure 12, bars 70-73), Gesture 2 is repeated twice; the
second repetition is continued and accelerated to tremolato. This is maintained and the string
is progressively unmuted until the beginning of the final section of the piece, in which the
string is only slightly damped on the nut, an effect similar to the light pizzicato. A recording
of the performance Section 2 and of the transition to the final section can be found in Audio
Example 8.

29
Tapping consists in hammering the string against the fretboard.

126
Figure 9. Phase 1 of the second part of Section 1 of the piece, in which multiphonics sounds of unusual colours are
produced (t.p.: touch pressure). Reprinted from Si amanece, nos vamos (pp. 2-3) by Rita Torres, 2015, Karlsruhe:
the composer.

Figure 10. Phase 2 of the second part of Section 1 of the piece, in which multiphonics sounds of unusual colours
are produced (t.p.: touch pressure). Reprinted from Si amanece, nos vamos (p. 3) by Rita Torres, 2015, Karlsruhe:
the composer.

127
Figure 11. Transition from Section 1 to Section 2 of the piece. Reprinted from Si amanece, nos vamos (p. 3) by Rita
Torres, 2015, Karlsruhe: the composer.

Figure 12. Section 2 of the piece (bars 66-69) and transition to its final section (bars 70-73). Reprinted from Si
amanece, nos vamos (p. 4) by Rita Torres, 2015, Karlsruhe: the composer.

The pedal tone returns in the final section of the piece. Figure 13 depicts the score lines of this
section; Audio Example 9 contains a recording of its performance. The pedal tone is now
more resonant, as the string is only slightly damped on the nut, and its timbre is varied by
slowly moving the excitation location towards the bridge while stopping briefly at some
locations (bar 74).30 When the hand reaches near the bridge, the finger that is damping the
string starts moving towards the bridge (glissando) with extremely light pressure, thus playing
continuously multiphonics (bars 75-76) – this is possibly the first time such an action is
requested in a piece. The glissando ends at one of Section 1’s multiphonics locations, and the

30
The excitation of the string’s v.ms. increases when the excitation location moves towards the v.ms.’ anti-nodes. Some
partials are therefore emphasised during the movement.

128
tremolato ends with Gesture 1. This gesture is then used twice to recall two other
multiphonics sounds of Section 1, and, in the very end of the piece, to produce for the first
time the sound of the non-damped open string. This is preceded by a gesture that reminds bar
74 in fast motion.

Figure 13. Final section of the piece. Reprinted from Si amanece, nos vamos (p. 4) by Rita Torres, 2015, Karlsruhe:
the composer.

Conclusion

My research has introduced a new form of using multiphonics, which has contributed to
narrow an existing gap concerning the variation in the beginning and/or end of the sounds.
Relative to their conventional form of production (touch, pluck and let ring), this form
presents variation in both. Moreover, it presents an innovative way of overcoming the short-
sustain problem of the guitar and of playing multiphonics at the usual harmonics locations. Si
amanece, nos vamos is the first piece to make use of that new form and is, possibly, the first
to request multiphonics at usual harmonics locations, as well as a glissando of multiphonics.

References

BADER, R. (2005). Computational mechanics of the classical guitar. Berlin: Springer.

BENADE, A. H. (1990). Fundamentals of musical acoustics (2nd rev. ed.) New York, NY:
Dover.
BARTOLOZZI, B. (1967). New sounds for woodwind. R. S. Brindle (Trans. & Ed.). London:
Oxford University Press (Original edition).
DORE, K. L. (2008). Representations of witches in nineteenth century music. (Masters’
dissertation). University of British Colombia. Available from the Library of the
University of British Columbia.
LENTZ, W. (2014). Flageoletts. Curitiba: the composer.

129
LOPES, J. M. (2009). Estudo Numerus Nove [score, composed 1989]. Lisboa: AvA Musical
Editions.
NASSIF, R. (2010 [rev. 2011]). silhuetas de uma dança imaginária [score]. Stuttgart: the
composer.
RĂDULESCU, H. (1985). Subconscious Wave. Vevey: Lucero.
ROJKO, U. (1984). Passing Away on Two Strings. Milan: Ricordi.
TAL, G. (2006). Witches on top: Magic, power, and imagination in the art of early modern
Italy. (Doctoral thesis). Indiana University.
TAYLOR, J. (1978). Tone production on the classical guitar. London: Musical New Services.
TORRES, R. (2004). Cyrano-Szenen. Karlsruhe: the composer.
TORRES, R. (2015). A New Chemistry of Sound: The Technique of Multiphonics as a
Compositional Element for Guitar and Amplified Guitar. (Doctoral thesis).
Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Available from Veritati – Repositorio
Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa. [Addenda et corrigenda available
from http://ritatorres.eu].
TORRES, R. & FERREIRA-LOPES, P. (2018). “The sound world of guitar multiphonics.” In
Doğantan-Dack, M. & Dack J. (Eds.), Music and Sonic Art: Practices and Theories,
78-94. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Retrieved from
http://ritatorres.eu/05-MuSA-Chapter5-Torres-Lopes.pdf.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank CESEM for the support; Jürgen Ruck for his invitation to write for the
Caprichos Goyescos project; and Martin Vishnick for his comments.

130
Exploring the Musical Identities of Children in a
Collaborative Contemporary Composition
Program in New York City
Leong Cheng Katy Ho1

Abstract. This paper provides insight into a contemporary music program, specifically targeted
toward young musicians. The main idea is to provide a space for those young musicians to
explore the possibilities of collaborative contemporary composition. Collaborative composition is
a fairly new idea in the field of music. As a part of Face the Music in New York City, a group of
ten participants, ranging for 9-13 years old, gather every Sunday afternoon to experience and
experiment with contemporary classical music as performers and composers. The participants
have at least a few years of experience playing violin, cello, or piano. As an observer, I witnessed
their organic music-making processes as a collaborative project. Limited parameters,
suggestions, and help were provided by the mentors. The children had final say on suggestions,
modifications, experiments, and invention. It was created with the idea that contemporary music
can be invented, experimented, and co-created by young children. This study manifested the
potential multifaceted musical identities of children who are involved in this program.
Keywords: Collaborative composition, children composers, musical identities, contemporary
classical music.

Introduction

Contemporary classical music, referred to as contemporary music in this study, is still

considered a marginalized art genre by the public. Although a growing number of pieces have
been created by contemporary composers and the number of performances of contemporary
works has increased in 2015 and 2016 (O’Bannon, 2015), only 12% of music in programs
played by 89 orchestras throughout the United States is composed by living composers, and
audiences still continue to show confusion or reluctance when hearing this genre. Some music
directors of professional symphonies are also reluctant to program contemporary music
because of an overall lack of public interest. For example, the New York Philharmonic
essentially fits a contemporary piece in between more traditional and familiar pieces into their
program, so audiences are more willing to accept it (Gilbert, 2015).
The area of research related to young musicians and contemporary music is even more like an
academic desert. Music educators face many obstacles to introduce contemporary music to
their students, such as enhancing the teachers’ own musical literacy; understanding students’
techniques, performance levels, musical preferences; and countering negative stereotypes of
the genre. In fact, the study of contemporary music offers new ways of exploring music that
taps into students’ creativity and expression by utilizing new forms of notation, unusual
tonality, different techniques for playing instruments, multimedia technologies, and/or

1
Columbia University, United States of America [email protected]

131
unconventional methods of interpretation, and collaborative composition. Collaborative
composition is a fairly new idea in the field of classical music. Typically, classical music is
composed by only one composer. Collaborative composition can be found in popular music
and other contemporary forms of non-classical music. There is a lack of research into
collaborative composition in the current music and music education fields, and in
contemporary classical music for young children is particularly rare.
Many of us grew up learning only the classical and romantic repertoire as a young
instrumentalist. I also did not write any of my own music as I was always defined as the
performer, not the composer. There were two main issues: 1) contemporary classical music is
not taught to younger generations; 2) We see instrumentalists and composers as separate
professions. Here come my questions: What if we start teaching younger generations to
approach, listen, perform, and compose contemporary music? What are their experiences
like? How will this experience shape their musical identities?
In research for these questions, I became aware of the Face the Music2 program through my
peers. Face the Music is an organization that provides music education to music students
between the ages of 10 to 18, they mainly practice and perform living composers’ music. The
goal of Face the Music is to provide contemporary music learning opportunities for young
musicians. They often work closely with living composers and study their post-genre music. I
was astonished by the idea that this youth ensemble dedicated itself to playing only
contemporary music. In this paper, I will focus on the HarmonicsLab in Face the Music,
which is a program for young children to co-compose and perform contemporary music of
their own and others. I will look at their musical identities through composition in a
collaborative setting.

Music and Identity

Music is always consumed and used in different personal or social contexts. In an extensive
study carried out by North, Hargreaves and Hargreaves, a total of 346 participants were
involved in a series of surveys for 14 days about the uses of music in their everyday lives. The
results show that a high proportion of music-listening episodes occurred in the presence of
others but liking for music heard in isolation were higher than liking for music heard in the
presence of others. The data also indicated that classical and jazz music were experienced
infrequently. Music was experienced at leisure for the majority of participants. Furthermore,
music listening was rarely the main task in which participants were engaged. They conclude
that people consciously and actively use music in different interpersonal and social contexts
to produce different psychological states. Musical experiences occur at different levels of
engagement, and the value placed upon the music depends on the context (North et al., 2004:
75).
In addition to music that emerges in daily life, music is also a powerful tool for expression.
According to Hudak (1999), it is
an emergent, radical engagement with consciousness; an engagement which
can “rattle” the hegemony of everyday life and open up the possibility of a
common ground where differences might meet, mingle, and engage one
another (p. 447).

2
Face the Music Official Website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/ftm/about-faqs/ (accessed on
April 19, 2020).

132
The music-making process provides the, “formation of a musical ‘We’” (idem). Hudak
believes that the very constitution of a, “We” creates the community of, “yearning,” similar to
bell hooks’s (1990) ideology in which, “the shared space and feeling of yearning opens up the
possibility of a common ground where differences might meet and engage one another” (p.
13). Further on, Hudak (1999) uses Schutz’s (1951) idea of the alignment of inner time to
illustrate the relationship between the composer and the performers: The performers become
the beholders of the tunes that align with the composer, which unifies them as being on the
“same wavelength” (p. 453). Hudak (1999) asserts that music-making is a specific structure of
temporality, connected with the constitution of what it means to be human. The formation of a
sound identity embraces this modality of intimacy; without it, humans would be absent from
social relations (p. 468).
It is almost impossible for me to find any musical identity research particularly dedicated to
contemporary music; however, I did find research that focused on popular music and New
Age music. Wang (2001) looks at a more specific group of people within the community,
particularly, the Asian-American community. Wang (2001) examines popular music from the
last forty years to explore the changing social, political, and cultural identities of Asian-
Americans. He suggests that music has been an important and meaningful form of expressive
culture that has helped to shape ethnic and personal identity (p. 440). Wang further asserts
that there is a constant exchange of meaning between the creators of art and the consumers of
arts (p. 462).
Boal-Palheiros and Hargreaves (2002) investigated the effects of interpersonal context of the
New Age music on the emotional responses of children and early adolescents. Participants
included 9- to 10-year-olds and 13- to 14-year-olds; half of the participants in each age group
were randomly assigned to one of two listening conditions. The researchers employed
instrumental new age music to evoke different emotional reactions with no lyrics involved.
The excerpts were specially chosen for their unfamiliarity. Popular music was not used in the
study so as to avoid hasty reactions of dislike or rejection. After listening to the excerpts,
participants were asked to rate their listening experience on eight 5-point scales within four
quadrants of emotional response: positive/negative affect and high/low arousal. The findings
revealed that the participants’ emotional responses were polarized when they listened to
music in groups rather than alone. This suggests that the group-related social functions of
music were more distinctive than personal functions; this corresponded with developmental
theories that emphasized the importance of peer-group relationships in adolescent social
development (McGurk, 1992). Another result suggested that the younger children gave
significantly higher mean ratings for positive/high arousal emotions, whereas the older
children gave significantly higher mean ratings for negative emotions.

Method

The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to explore children’s experiences and
perceptions of a collaborative composition program called HarmonicsLab. The participants in
my study included both student participants, referred to as young musicians/children and
teacher participants, referred to as coaches. The criteria were straightforward: all of these
participants must have some involvement with Face the Music. Young musicians were chosen
on a volunteer basis or by recommendation from the coaches; they ranged from 9 to 13 years
of age, played different instruments at various skill levels, and have had disparate educational
and musical experiences. Some were enrolled in public schools while others were students at
private schools. I conducted semi-structured, one-on-one interviews and in conjunction with

133
ongoing casual conversations and dialogues with students and coaches before and after
rehearsals. As a researcher, I observed the program from January 2018 to June 2018. Data
were transcribed and analyzed for this study.

HarmonicsLab

As a part of Face the Music in New York City, a group of ten participants, ranging for 9-13
years old, gather every Sunday afternoon to experience and experiment with contemporary
classical music as performers and composers. This facet of Face the Music is known as the
Harmonics Lab, and it was created with the idea that contemporary music can be invented,
experimented, and co-created by young musicians. The participants have at least a few years
of experience playing violin, cello, or piano. As an observer, I witnessed their organic music-
making processes as a collaborative project. Limited parameters, suggestions, and help were
provided by the mentors. The children had final say on suggestions, modifications,
experiments, and invention.
This group was created in Fall 2017 purely out of necessity. The coach, Whitney George3,
informed me of a growing need for younger musicians with a variety of instrumentations to
explore composition and contemporary performance. Whitney is a composer and conductor
currently based in New York City. George’s music, performance art, and installations have
had both international and domestic premieres in England, Hong Kong, Austria, the
Netherlands, and both coasts of the United States. Whitney said she used to teach a youth
orchestra within Face the Music, but this year, there were multiple young pianists and a
percussionist who expressed their interests in joining the ensemble. Within the group, many
students also love to compose. The mixed-instrumental ensembles inspired them to launch
HarmonicsLab. Ten participants gathered every Sunday afternoon to experience and
experiment with contemporary classical music as performers and composers. The participants
have at least a few years of experience playing violin, cello, piano, drum, or any other
instruments. A coach and an assistant for this course facilitate rehearsals and guide the
participants to compose.

Kitchen Concerto

It is an interesting idea that contemporary music can be taught to elementary and middle
school-aged students without strong resistance. I was fascinated by the openness and
creativity of the young musicians. Whitney guided these musicians to explore the sound of
water. Some were playing on the piano to find the water sound they imagined, some were
playing glissandi and pizzicati on the strings, and some were playing on the actual water—
pouring it into a can to create a splashing sound. Things sometimes got a little messy, water
was everywhere on the table, but all of them were very engaged in the process of making.
Kanellopoulos (1999) describes children’s engagement with music as a meaning-making
process. During the process, Whitney asked many interesting questions to guide these group
of middle school students. Questions such as, “What notes do you like?” “How do you want
to arrange them?” “How do you want to play it?” “How can you make the piano to be
percussive?” “How to create water-like sound on your instruments?” I noticed that students
are intrigued by the process of creating. One commented, “I feel like a science class here.” I

3
White George Official Website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.whitneygeorge.com/ (accessed on April 17, 2020).

134
noticed the creating process was messy, however, I believe the messiness is an essential part
of co-composition.
After a few weeks of observation, Whitney finalized “Kitchen Concerto,” in which the young
musicians in the lab co-composed and utilized various unconventional contemporary
compositional techniques, incorporating the sounds of water, cans as percussion instruments,
crumpling paper, whistling into a piano for reverberation, and pencils and forks as mallets.
Extended techniques, such as harmonic glissandi on strings, striking the piano strings, and
tapping on the instruments, were also incorporated by the composers. All of the participants
also performed the “Kitchen Concerto, and one of them acted as the conductor for the
performance. During one short interview, I asked them about their composition process.

Researcher: So how did you all come up with the piece?

Student A: We decided to do rhythms on our “instruments” from the kitchen.
Student B: Yes, we all brought our “instruments” from the kitchen.
Researcher: So did Whitney (the coach) provide you the theme?
Student A: Yes, and we were just like exploring…
Student C: We would improvise and went through the piece. Then we would talk
about what we like and what we don’t like. And for the parts we don’t like, we
will talk about how to deal with it.
Researcher: Like for the cellists, you did the glissandi, how did you come up with
that?
Student D: I don’t think I came up with it, maybe we came up with it.
Student E: Remember we were doing the improv. in the group and we were
playing around?
Student D: Oh yeah. I think we came up with it because we think it sounded like
water. And we want to see how it sound on other instruments like violins and
piano.
Researcher: How about the pizzacati?
Student A: Whitney (the coach) kinda gave us the baseline and we experimented
it.4

4
This interview was conducted in March 2018.

135
Figure 1. Musical Example. “Kitchen Concerto” Score. pp. 1-2, score provided by HarmonicsLab Coach Whitney
George

136
It was interesting because the composition process was through a collaborative process over
time, which all participants could input their voices into the piece. Undoubtedly, the coach,
Whitney, had to provide guidelines, inspirations, and help for these young musicians. I was
part of the audience of their performance. All of the young musicians have perfectly executed
their parts from my point of view. It was not a random performance—they have rehearsed
many times and they followed the score and one of the young musicians was acting as a
conductor. They were playing on their parts which eventually developed, changed, and even
switched with their friends. The style of this music reminded me of minimalistic music. The
audience have emerged in the sound of water while they were performing their parts on the
stage. The whole piece is about six minutes long.

Other Works

During my interview with the coach, Whitney, she walked through what they did and the idea
of the group. She mentioned the idea of compositional commentary. The students in this
group will usually learn a standard contemporary repertoire and then will re-create and co-
compose a piece with the idea of commentaries. Whitney said,
The first piece that we worked on was a Philip Glass re-working…We talked
about it from the point of composition and then made our own compositional
commentary by writing the reaction… So that is kind of our theme, taking a
standard piece of repertoire and using it as a model for us to do a group
composition.5
The students at HarmonicsLab had also worked on other contemporary works that required
minimal instrumental experiences but some contemporary performance techniques, such as
the Spoken Chorus Geographical Fugue by Ernst Toch (1930) and Panda Chant by Meredith
Monk (1984). These two pieces have similar methods of performance: both incorporate
spoken words. The rhythms of both pieces are complex, but the young musicians in
HarmonicsLab had a high ability to read music and incredible aural skills to rehearse and
perform these two pieces. Both pieces required some assertive actions such as chanting loudly
or projecting in outrageous voices. Sitting in the rehearsal also allowed me to notice their
struggles. For instance, it was difficult to maintain a quiet classroom during the process of
creation. The challenge of creating an “equal voice” was also present, as some students were
less vocal than others during the co-composing process. Burnard (2002) also mentions the
“leaderships” and “followers” roles in children’s group improvisation. It describes that during
the process of improvisation among children, there are communicative gestures that emerge
under the leadership of some students (Burnard, 2002: 167). A “leader” will usually emerge
to lead the direction of the improvisation. In HarmonicsLab I have witnessed some students
who have numerous ideas to contribute to the piece, acting as leaders, while others act as
“followers.”
Wright and Kanellopoulos (2010) suggest that improvisation among children offers “an
intimate, powerful, evolving dialogue between students’ identities as learners” (p. 71). I
would further argue that these students at HarmonicsLab are also developing their identities
as composers and musicians, not only as learners, as they improvise, compose, and perform
their group composition. The above-mentioned authors also propose that autonomy,
developing the self, and developing an open attitude towards children and their music are
imperative for music teachers (Wright and Kanellopoulos, 2010: 81).

5
Idem.

137
It was uncommon for classes like HarmonicsLab to exist in public schooling. Hopkins (2013)
revealed that many of the orchestra teachers support composition as a beneficial activity in an
orchestra class, however, most of the teachers have never or rarely implemented composition
in their classes. Luce (2001) supports that collaborative learning models of composing engage
students in discussion, deliberation, and critical thinking which helps students to build
personal relationships.

Discussions

Participants at the HarmonicsLab are musicians who play multi-genre music repertoire.
Unlike most young musicians, who devote their time to the study of Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven, or Tchaikovsky, learning from their sonatas, études and concerts, Face the Music
musicians go beyond the traditional repertoire and further extends their experiences by
playing and composing living composers’ music. The democratic progress allowed these
young musicians to explore their decisions as co-composers. The destruction of the traditional
conservatory hierarchy provided an open space for these young musicians to grow through
multiple musical identities.
I would argue that participants at HarmonicsLab are flexible musicians (Allsup, 2015) who
are able to shift between musical languages and travel beyond the classical boundaries.
“Flexible” musicians, based on Bennett (1983), are those who “master professional trait is the
ability to use any and all forms of notation…with their ability to shift quickly and without
prejudice between sources of musical information...” (p. 233). Unlike students at
HarmonicsLab, traditional classical musicians are usually not taught to be “flexible.” The
inflexibility hinders many performers from improvisation to compositions. Bennett adds that,
“as people who have gone beyond their own initial musical identities, they are in the best
position to understand how to surpass the organizational and ideological obstacles that
subordinate both classical and popular musicians” (idem). HarmonicsLab children are
“flexible” musicians who are willing to take risk. Bennett ended his research saying, “all
musical flowers and weeds will bloom, but the next hybrids will attract the most attention”
(1983: 234). The hybrid nature also echoes within their multifaceted self.
One obvious finding for me as a researcher is the multiple identities that participants at
HarmonicsLab possess. As all of them have composed, or they were involved in, some kind
of composition project. The classical tradition of learning one primary instrument, and
focusing only one skillset, is a concept of the past. Many researchers (Newton, 2005; Schopp,
2006; Norris, 2010; Menard, 2013) believe that many music activities mainly focus on the
development of ensemble and individual performance, and do not always encourage creativity
in students. Schopp (2006) criticizes the lack of experience in composing and improvising for
high school music students. Although his study focuses on the jazz band, I believe there is a
stronger need to focus on composing and improvising for strings musicians. It was apparent
that the music education field was aware of the lack of flexibility and creativity inherited
within traditional music education. However, the change is not noticeable in music pre-
colleges or conservatories.
In HarmonicsLab, young musicians also co-compose together and perform their own
compositions on the stage. They are encouraged to improvise on their primary instruments,
secondary instruments, or non-traditional instruments to create and compose music. I
remember in a class at Teachers College, we had an intense discussion on the legitimacy of

138
calling oneself a poet because you possess the ability to write a poem or haiku.6 During the
class, many of the graduate students denied to recognize themselves as poets even having
written poems in the past. They believed they would need to undergo professional training in
order to be qualified as poets. Similar to whether or not you would call yourself a composer
when you write music casually, these young musicians in Face the Music were confident in
calling themselves, composers. To them, if they believe they are composers, they are
composers. They can compose in any way, even yet unheard of ways. Hulse (2015) addresses
the emerging, “globally-minded” composers today (p. 220), he believes contemporary
composers do not need to come from the Western classical music canon. A global network of
composers could come from any backgrounds, practices, or traditions. The notion that
composers must be conservatory-trained is over, just as Hulse (2015) said. There were many
different ways to compose with the assistance of technology. Many of the students were
familiar with web-based notation system, some were even familiar with the professional
notation software. Hulse asserts, “we need to cultivate musical-creative activity outside of
academia, even as we resist the anti-creative intellectualism within” (2015: 232). He believes
there is a responsibility for composers to engage the world with both the old and new.
Though the ability to improvise for young musicians varied in HarmonicsLab, Higgins and
Mantie (2013) propose that improvisation is not only to promote creativity, but also ability,
culture, and experience. They consider improvisation as an ability for overall musicianship, it
is also a way to understand the culture and musical practices. Improvisation is also considered
as a way of being in and through music. It is not merely a technical skill that creative
musicians should possess, it provides a deeper experience for musicians.
There is a need to provide accessible musicking experience to integrate activities such as
attending concerts, listening, performing, composing, and improvising (Small, 1999: 42).
HarmonicLabs attempted to provide students with “expansive, playful, personal and
interpersonal” experience (idem). I see the expansive programs in Face the Music from
composing to performing, within small and large ensembles. The playfulness was revealed
inside each quartet group as I witness friendship through their conversations and laughter.
Their far-reaching performance opportunities also enable them to get to different part of the
city and reaching to different audience. These experiences are providing these young
musicians are more holistic music education.

Conclusions

A well-rounded music program today should focus not only advancing the skills and
techniques on instrumental playing, but also promoting and cultivating the ideas of the
individuality of “musician” as plural form rather than a singular term – a musician is a
composer, a performer, and an improviser to the future generations who are facing the ever-
changing 21st century. These young musicians at HarmonicsLab are ambassadors of
multiplicities—they embrace their multiple identities as composers, performers,
contemporary music performers, members of string quartets, and members of their
community. For many of them, it made sense to possess different identities in the music
world: “We are realizing how much the negotiation of identity today has to do with
connectedness and membership” (Greene, 1991: 19). They understand there is a need for
them to expand and emerge, whether it is for social benefit or advancing their musicianship.

6
Japanese poetic form.

139
In the end, they recognize themselves as composers and are more receptive towards
contemporary classical music.

References

ALLSUP, R. (2015). “Music Teacher Quality and the Problem of Routine Expertise.”
Philosophy of Music Education Review, 23(1), 5-24.
doi:10.2979/philmusieducrevi.23.1.5
BENNETT, H. (1983). “Notation and Identity in Contemporary Popular Music.” Popular
Music, 3, 215-234. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/853101
BOAL-PALHEIROS, G. & HARGREAVES, D. (2002). Interpersonal influences on
children's emotional responses to new age music. Bulletin of the Council for
Research in Music Education. 142-147.
BURNARD, P. (2002). “Investigating children's meaning-making and the emergence of
musical interaction in group improvisation.” British Journal of Music Education -
BRIT J MUSIC EDUC. 19. 10.1017/S0265051702000244.
GILBERT, A. (2015, April 15). Alan Gilbert: Orchestras in the 21st century—a new
paradigm. Retrieved November 27, 2017, from
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/15/alan-gilbert-orchestras-in-the- 21st-
century-a-new-paradigm
GREENE, M. (2009). “Teaching as Possibility: A Light in Dark Times.” In: Macrine S.L.
(eds) Critical Pedagogy in Uncertain Times. Education, Politics, and Public Life.
Palgrave Macmillan, New York
HIGGINS, L. & MANTIE, R. (2013). “Improvisation as ability, culture, and experience.”
Music Educators Journal, 100(2), 38-44. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43288813
HOOKS, B. (1990). Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston, MA: South End
Press, Print.
HOPKINS, M. (2013). “Factors contributing to orchestra teachers' inclusion of composing
activities in their curricula.” String Research Journal, 4, 15-36.
HUDAK, G. (1999). “The ‘sound’ identity: Music-making and schooling.” Counterpoints, 96,
447-474. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42975847
HULSE, B. (2015). “Becoming-Composer.” Perspectives of New Music, 53 (1), 219-237.
doi:10.7757/persnewmusi.53.1.0219
KANELLOPOULOS, P. (1999). “Children’s conception and practice of musical
improvisation.” Psychology of Music, 27, 175-191.
LUCE, D. W. (2001). “Collaborative learning in music education: A review of the literature.”
Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 19 (2), 20-25. doi:
10.1177/87551 233010190020105
MCGURK, H. (1992). Childhood social development: Contemporary perspectives. Hove,
East Sussex, UK: Erlbaum.
MENARD, E. (2013). “Creative thinking in music: developing a model for meaningful
learning in middle school general music.” Music Educators Journal, 100 (2), 61-67.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43288816

140
NEWTON, P. (2005). “Ensemble learning: a lens for group learning in schools.” The Journal
of Educational Thought (JET) / Revue De La Pensée Éducative, 39 (1), 75-89.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23767483
NORRIS, C. (2010). “Introducing creativity in the ensemble setting: national standards meet
comprehensive musicianship.” Music Educators Journal, 97 (2), 57-62. Retrieved
from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960204
NORTH, A., HARGREAVES, D., & HARGREAVES, J. (2004). “Uses of music in everyday
life.” Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22 (1), 41-77. doi:10.1525/
mp.2004.22.1.41
O’BANNON, R. (2015, December 3). What data tells us about the 2015-16 orchestra season.
Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/ what-data-
tells-us-about-the-2015-16-orchestra-season.aspx
SCHOPP, S.E. (2006). A study of the effects of National Standards for Music Education,
number 3, improvisation and number 4, composition on high school band instruction
in New York State. Doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University,
New York.
SCHÜTZ, A. (1951). “Making Music Together: A Study in Social Relationship.” Social
Research, 18(1), 76-97. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40969255
SMALL, C. (1999). Musicking: The meanings of performing and listening. A lecture, Music
10.1080/1461380990010102
WANG, O. (2001). “Between the notes: Finding Asian America in popular music.” American
Music, 19(4), 439-465. doi:10.2307/3052420
WRIGHT, R., & KANELLOPOULOS, P. (2010). “Informal music learning, improvisation
and teacher education.” British Journal of Music Education, 27 (1), 71-87.
doi:10.1017/S0265051709990210

141
 © Lisbon, February, 2022.

142