The Opener - sharing the performer’s process

The term opener can in this project proposal symbolize a three-fold meaning connected to the music performance field. This project seeks to

• see the performer as an opener of musical meaning in a performance (interpretation of musical intentions in scores and improvisation)
• challenge ourselves as performers as openers that share his/her artistic work (getting insight into the creative process and methods)
• finding openers as tools to reveal and show the creative process of performers (ways of showing the artistic process)

Background and questions

As a background and starting point for the the Opener, Henck Borgdorff’s definition of Artistic Research (AR) in the article The Debate on Research in the Arts sets an arena for a discussion on central topics in Artistic Research:

“Art practice qualifies as research if its purpose is to expand our knowledge and understanding by conducting an original investigation in and through art objects and creative processes. Art research begins by addressing questions that are pertinent in the research context and in the art world. Researchers employ experimental and hermeneutic methods that reveal and articulate the tacit knowledge that is situated and embodied in specific artworks and artistic processes. Research processes and outcomes are documented and disseminated in an appropriate manner to the research community and the wider public.”

What does this imply for Artistic Research and artistic reflection within the music performance field? Some questions derived from Borgdorff’s text:

• What characterizes our art practice as performers and what kind of knowledge and understanding are we talking about?
• What characterizes our creative processes as performers?
• How do we as performers employ experimental and hermeneutical methods in our work?
• What is tacit knowledge for us as performers and what can we say and articulate (verbally) and what can we show (demonstrate practice)?
• How can we as performers document and disseminate research processes and outcomes in an appropriate manner? What is an appropriate manner?

Documentation of Artistic Reflection

The idea of Artistic Reflection (as an artistic equivalent to the scientific thesis) and what it can be and should contain has been discussed since the beginning of AR in the 1990s. The so-called Norwegian Model is reflected in the requirement for Artistic Reflection in the regulations for Artistic PhD at UiB, which states “the artistic reflection shall be documented in the form of submitted material, and at the same time opens for that “the candidate chooses the medium and form for the reflection component and for any other documentation”. Many choose to document their reflection as written text only, that can resemble a traditional scientific thesis format. Some are also experimenting with different forms (video, different styles of texts, sound, etc.). The Opener will seek to experiment further and try out different ways of reflecting within music performance.

Teaching as Artistic Reflection

One of the most common exchanges of performative knowledge happens in the one-to-one instrumental teaching situation (or in an instrumental class situation). A large amount of performative knowledge and understanding can occur as an oral and spontaneous dialogue and interaction between teacher and student with practical demonstrations on the instrument. Every instrumental lesson is different and unique in that the teaching approach and methods are spontaneously adjusted to meet the needs of that specific event. In this way, instrumental lessons can be seen as highly experimental. 

New insights are rarely documented beyond the happening of an instrumental lesson. (Sometimes the student writes down something at the lesson or after in order to remember or symbols/words are written into the scores). If we are going to develop a stronger relevance and richer content within AR in the performance field, we have to consider the strong and intertwined relationship between the performing teacher’s own artistic work with what is happening in the teaching situation. The Opener will experiment with open teaching sessions as a laboratory for exchange of ideas and developing questions and ways of inquiring into performative issues in a dialogue between teachers and students. What kind of questions can help open up and reveal essential insight into performance and interpretation issues?

Oral language

There is also the question of oral and written language. Performers are generally more oral in their communication and the academic world is traditionally based on written texts. There is reason to ask how written AR texts on performance are received in the performance community. Are they read? Are they experienced as relevant? Does the style of language communicate? Are there other ways of communicating that could be more relevant and closer to the performing world? Can we build on the strong oral tradition within the performing field and develop more dialogue-based AR-documentation through informal forms such as conversations, interviews, etc.? Can we find new models and strategies for documenting AR within the performance field? The Opener wishes to experiment with different methods of opening up the knowledge field and finding ways of documentation that can help communicate and create a stronger sense of a community of sharing among the performance/teaching staff.  

On a national level, The Opener is a continuation of the The Norwegian National Academy’s (NMH) AR project “The Reflective Musician” (2016) with topics such as how analysis can help inform interpretation issues, and “(Un-)settling Sites and Styles: in search of new expressive means” (GA-UiB. 2021) with focus on the intersubjective collaboration of a research group on issues of interpretation and expressive means.

In the NMH project, the challenge of showing in practice on the instrument the relevance of musical analysis became apparent, raising the question: What kind of musical analysis is relevant to the performer? Can we develop a performer’s analysis?

In the GA project it became natural to ask: What were the starting points, how did the projects develop along the way, and how did they end (artistic result)? The Opener will build on the outcome of these two projects and the above-mentioned questions will be further investigated.

The Opener is part of Grieg Academy Research Group for Performance and Interpretation (GAFFI) with external members from The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.