Background

As a performer, on recorders and historical oboes, I use my own artistic activity as research laboratory. My project, situated in a contemporary Western art music context, deals with questions related to the score and its impact on how musicians work with gestures and communication. A live music performance is a multimodal experience where several layers of communication are at work simultaneously, and where structural and emotional meaning is conveyed through embodied practice.

Main Contribution 

Qualitative analysis of gesture is an emerging practice, which has proven to efficiently provide insight into artistic process (Spissky, 2017, Östersjö, 2016). My research method builds on analysis of video documentation from which gestures and communication between musicians are categorized and coded. My method also includes stimulated recall sessions, music analysis and comparisons between rehearsals and concerts.

The video documentation that will be presented here was collected from the rehearsal process and performances of Champs d’étoiles, a suite for baroque instruments by the Swedish composer Kent Olofsson, composed 2008 – 2016 for the ensemble ‘Lipparella’. The composition is multilayered, inspired by period music for the instruments but, is at the same time, clearly situated in a contemporary art music tradition.

With a duration of more than 70 minutes, Champs d’étoiles has become a cornerstone in the repertoire of the ensemble, which has performed it on numerous occasions over the years.

This long process has afforded the ensemble valuable insights, both on the micro level, such as bodies, movements and communication, and the macro level, such as events, productions and projects (Fleishman 2012). As a member of the ensemble studied, I approach the material from an insider perspective: that of my own embodied experience of the interaction within the group.

Conclusion

This unusually long and close collaboration between composer and ensemble has enabled us to further develop both these micro and the macro perspectives. Further, the insider research perspective, in combination with detailed analysis of the use of gestures and non-verbal communication in the ensemble, offers deeper insights than can be obtained merely through a rehearsal process. The new knowledge acquired through the research takes the work of the ensemble to a higher level that can be described as a verbalized collective awareness of the embodied perspective. The research thus provides refined tools that can feed back into the artistic process and the musical interpretation.