spent the day being visiting research beast at RCS so havent emailed anyone back or done anything except read a thesis on contemporary practice in traditional music performance/composition. Thesis of much interest to me as composer and listener, not so much as a scholar - altho I did get a couple quotes that might end up in my PhD. It was really nice to have contemporary Scottish music articulated, so much of the stuff I read is a) mainly about song and b) seems to regard Scottish music as this past, antiquarian thing (which those of us who play/write it do NOT). The upshot I took from it is that it is OK for traditional musicians to use practices in composition which do not correspond exactly to those of classical and orchestral composition - we have a different skill set and innovative composition methods enable us to get the most out of these. The intuitive nature of trad leads to improvisation anyway, so using unconventional scoring methods and significant improvised passages are good ways to make the most of that skill set (at least if yer Lori Watson). Took loads of notes. I am excited to get back to composing after hand-in day. Going to look into looping and effects pedals so I have something to improv over for live performances, if playing solo. also might look for someone experienced in improv to collaborate with.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 22:55:20 +0000