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City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Steiner, T.J. (1992). Composition: interaction and collaboration. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/7566/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] COMPOSITION: INTERACTION & COLLABORATION TIMOTHY JAMES STEINER Ph.D City University, London Department of Music March 1992 -1- 02021794 CONTENTS VOLUME ONE - TEXT Acknowledgements 5 Abstract 7 Introduction - Response to Change 8 PART ONE - The Roles of Literacy and Orality in the conservatoire 11 Chapter One - Quartet for Four Flutes 12 - Introduction 12 - Quartet for Four Flutes 14 Chapter Two - The roles and Functions of Literacy in the Production of Music 16 - Ideological functions of Notation 17 - Cultural Imbalance and the Significance of the Scientific Revolution 23 - The Naturalising Conservatoire 30 - The Practical Functions of Notation 34 - Conclusion 39 - Summary 40 Chapter Three - The Roles of Orality 44 - Improvisation and Collaboration 49 - The Collaborative Mode 51 - The Qualities of Oral processes 57 - The Role of Improvisation and Collaborative Processes in the musician of the Post-War Period 61 - Scores that "point" to music 61 - Descriptive Scores 63 - Inspirational Scores 64 - Non-musical Scores 65 - Earle Brown: "Event-Synergy 2" 66 - Cornelius Cardew: "Autumn '60" 70 - Karlheinz Stockhausen: "Aus den sieben Tagen" 73 - Conclusion 74 PART TWO - Improvisation Experience and Relationship 78 Chapter Four. - Improvisation Experience Relationship 79 - Introduction 79 - Experience 80 - Expression Response and Technique 84 - Interaction and Exchange 93 - Process Practice and Relationship 101 - Improvisation and Notation 103 PART THREE - Backbones 106 Chapter Five - Introduction to Backbones 107 - Introduction 107 - Practical Considerations of the Backbone 114 - Parameters of Backbones 120 - 1. Free/Fixed 120 -2. General/Specific 121 - 3. Demanding/Challenging/Easy 123 - 4. Foreground/Background 125 - 5. Abstract/Stylistic 126 - 6. Formal Qualities 128 - Summary 130 Chapter Six - Backbone Realisation 132 - Introduction 132 - Realisation - Musical Considerations 134 - i. Backbone for Flute, No.5 135 - ii. Duet Study No.11 138 - iii. Backbone for Strings 140 - Realisation - Social Considerations 144 - The Welsh Sessions 144 - Response 147 - Tuning the Ensemble 150 - Doubt and Misunderstanding 152 - Realisation - Direction, Freedom and Constraint 156 - Realisation - Memory 157 - Realisation - Conclusion 159 Chapter Seven - Backbones in Education 160 - Introduction 160 - Backbones in Education 165 - The Workshop Backbones and their Realisations 172 - Backbone 24/10/89 173 - Backbone 17/10/89 174 - Studybone I.IV 175 - Backbone 28/9/90 175 - Studybone 176 - Studybone I.IX 176 - Voicebone, I Used To Love You 178 - Conclusion 179 -3-3- Chapter Eight - Backbones - Evaluation 181 - Criteria of Backbone Evaluation 181 - Identity 184 - Conclusion and Evaluation 186 PART FOUR - Composition Projects 191 Appendix One - Tape Examples Playlist and Summary 200 Bibliography 207 VOLUME TWO - SCORES ACCOMPANYING TEXT Workshop Backbones Score No.1 - Backbone 24/10/89 Score No.2 - Backbone 17/10/89 Score No.3 - Backbone 28/10/90 Score No.4 - Backbone May'89 Score No.5 - Backbone No.48 Score No.6 - Backbone Studies Vol.1 Score No.7 - Backbone 17/10/89 b Score No.8 - Backbone in 7/8 Score No.9 - Backbone No.78 Score No.10 - Backbone No.31 Score No.11 - Backbone No.44 Folio Backbones Score No.12 - Backbone Suite for Flute Score No.13 - Backbone Studies Vol.II Score No.14 - Backbone for Clarinets Score No.15 - Chant Score No.16 - Five More Love Songs Score No.17 - Backbone for Strings VOLUME THREE - DAT RECORDINGS ACCOMPANYING TEXT Dat One: Quartet for Four Flutes Examples 11-14, Ti-T11 Five More Love Songs Dat Two: Ritual Studybones Vol.s I & II Quartet for Strings Chant -4- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Unparalleled gratitude to Peter Wiegold for introducing me to the techniques of the Backbone, and to pretty much everything else as well. No less feelings of thankfulness to my supervisor, Dr Simon Emmerson, and for the unstinting support and enthusiasm of Dr Eric Clarke. Throughout the work I have relied upon the almost inexhaustible enthusiasm, patience and good-will of a number of musicians who have not only brought time skill and experience to a seemingly endless run of workshops and rehearsals, but who also brought a degree of support without which I would have surely given up music entirely. To them I will be ever grateful: Louise Nicholson Jackie Walduck Lara Pearson Neyire Ashworth Sandra Skipper Christina Taylor Barley Norton A legion of further musicians, almost too large to mention, have contributed time, effort and inspiration. Gratitude to them is far from insignificant: Richard Hammond, Charles Nancarrow, Lizzie Gilchrist, Catherine Dobbins, Matt Stockton, Fiona Mitchell, Luke Windsor, Kirsty Logan. Nick Hayes, Andrew Sparling, Sara Lee from No Strings Attached. Katy Gainham, Fiona Howes, Janet Larsson from Flutes Amalgamated. Mike Fairbain, knni Newman. Extended feelings of similarly significant gratitude go to Alan Girvin, for proof reading and intellectual correspondence of the sort that is traditional for re- searchers. And for ensuring that this work has not been the biggest hassle of the last three years, Jan. -5- DECLARATION I grant the powers of discretion to the University Librarian to allow the written text of this thesis to be copied in whole or in part without further reference to me. This permission covers only single copies made for study purposes, subject to normal conditions of acknowledgement. The scores and tapes containing recordings of the music presented are subject to normal copyright restrictions. ABSTRACT For more than two hundred years it has been assumed by those engaged in the production of conservatoire-based music that a composition is best written by a single individual. It has been assumed that the most effective way to communi- cate a composition is through the exclusive means of the notated score. It has been assumed that the processes of performance and composition should be separate disciplines and that in general, the role of performers should be restricted merely to that of the interpretation of notated music. This thesis presents a challenge to these assumptions through the presentation of a folio of compositions that have each been written through processes based not only on notation, but also in improvisation and various other collaborative aural and oral means. This folio is accompanied by a written discussion of the reasons for wishing to compose music in such a way. In Part One of the written discussion I argue that the tradition of Western art music has reached a point of crisis. This is a crisis that is the result of a growing imbalance between literate and oral modes of thought and expression. I argue that the technology of notation is only partially useful as a tool for composition and communication. Conversely, I discuss what can and has been achieved by musicians when they allow non-notation based processes to form a significant part of the processes of the composition and performance of music. In Part Two I consider the nature of the skills of improvisation. I argue that the practice of improvisation holds part of the key to the regeneration of the conservatoire music tradition and that it is a skill that should serve to undergin an elements of a player's musicianship. In Part Three I discuss some of the more practical considerations of the techniques used in the composition of the music presented in Part Four of the thesis. I attempt to show that through effecting a balance within the composition process between notated elements scored by a single composer, and improvised/realised elements written within the context of an ensemble, a practice can be developed that has implications not only for traditional assumptions of composition, but which serves to question the whole way in which our culture traditionally orga- nises and structures its institutions of education and performance. Part Four takes the form of a recorded folio of works that have been composed as the result of collaborations between the ensembles that perform them and myself as a director. COMPOSITION: INTERACTION & COLLABORATION INTRODUCTION RESPONSE TO CHANGE The world is changing. Developing communication and access to an ever increas- ing body of information is resulting in a smaller and more contained planet in which cultural and social boundaries can appear to be blurred and hard to locate. The forces promoting these changes have begun to have a significant effect on the way in which we produce and project our arts. Recent upheavals in the world of music have been far from insignificant. Almost all the major orchestras and opera companies in this country have effected significant changes in their organisation and relationship to society through the development of education and. community- orientated programmes. Many of these programmes do not merely consist ot token school assembly performances by '13-team' orchestras or ensembles paid at half rate. They are programmes which believe in, and promote the necessary integration of 'top' players and composers into community contexts in which they take an active role, through projects that are as much a challenge to them as they are to the other participants.

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