Music as performance – gestures, sound and energy

Abstract

The aesthetic project in a number of contemporary works composed after World War II has led to major changes and challenges within key areas such as notation, idiomaticism, interpretation, the performer’s role and the work concept. This new musical aesthetic, employing performative energy, instrumental practice and gestures as compositional material requires an analytical approach that corresponds to the nature and demands of the music in performance. A fundamental question is how to understand music, not as a work written in a score but as a living object, as performance, sound, action and embodiment. To research this within music brings about new methodological challenges. In this article, the author discusses possible methods in approaching and investigating performance practice in music, specifically in contemporary cello music, guided by the research question: How can I relate and network the pluralism of methods in music research involving artistic practice?

Keywords

• Artistic research
• performance studies
• performance practice
• methodology
• contemporary cello
• Artistic research
• performance studies
• performance practice
• metodologi
• samtidsmusikk for cello