hearmleoþ-gieddunga (research portfolio)

hearmleoþ-gieddunga is an improvisation, composition and performance project that has resulted in the creation of musical scores, an album, and several embedded works that can also be performed as individual compositions. The purpose of this project was to examine the experience of musical time in indeterminate musical compositions, and in and through graphic notational elements. A key aspect of this was a phenomenology of the creative practice in the project: examining the lived experience of the creation of the work itself, and translating that into further instances of its composition and performance, is at the heart of the practice research methodology of this work.

The project explores musical time through the development of compositional methods that combine reference to source materials (such as documents, art works, and poetry) with improvisatory and digital music-making practices. It offers a performative/compositional re-framing of these approaches in order to enhance the understanding of time in contemporary musical composition. This approach rejects the definition of an ‘end point’ or singular expression of the work, and enacts this in the project through the re-composition of the music as a duet performance after the release of the album.

In the project’s published commentary, I discuss how the exposition of musical time is situated most often in the listener and not the performer/composer: I dispute this and, rather, demonstrate a layered approach, thinking through a phenomenological exploration of time through source materials, musical expressions and post hoc reflections on creative practice. Across its elements, this project spans musical media and artistic expressions (including scores, recordings, and audio-visual presentations). It addresses both its artistic community through performative presentation at various international concert locations and festivals, and its academic audience through print publications and research presentations.