Reflections on an Ethnomusicological Study of a Contemporary Western Art Music Composer

Moisala, Pirkko

doi:10.1080/17411912.2011.659025

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Tämä kysymys kytkeytyy ennen kaikkea moninaisuuden ja inklusiivisuuden 2 Etnomusikologit ovat tarkastelleet länsimaista taidemusiikkia siinä missä muitakin musiikke ja (esim. Nooshin 2014;Ramnarine 2011;Moisala 2011;Shelemay 2001;Mantere 2001;Nettl 1995;Herndon 1988;Wachsmann 1981;Nettl 1963).…”

Section: Etnomusikologiasta Globaaliin Musiikkitieteeseenunclassified

Etnomusikologisia näkökulmia musiikintutkimuksen dekolonisaatioon

Seye¹

2022

EVK

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Suomessakin on alkanut keskustelu akateemisen maailman ja tieteellisen tiedon dekolonisaatiosta, jonka yhtenä keskeisenä lähtökohtana on tietämisen tapojen moninaisuus maailmassa ja tavoitteena akateemisen tiedekäsityksen laajentaminen niin, että se ei perustuisi vain eurosentriselle käsitykselle tiedosta. Hahmottelen aihetta käsittelevän tutkimuskirjallisuuden pohjalta, mitä dekolonisaatio voisi tarkoittaa nimenomaan musiikintutkimuksen kannalta ja millaisia muutoksia tiedon dekolonisaatio mahdollisesti vaatisi suomalaisen musiikintutkimuksen kentällä. Väitän, että etnomusikologian tutkimusperinne voisi toimia lähtökohtana musiikintutkimuksen dekolonisaatiolle, sillä se on jo lähtökohdiltaan globaali, kaikkien maailman musiikkien tutkimisen tarpeellisuutta korostava tutkimusala. Vaikka etnomusikologian juuret juontavat kolonistista hallintoakin palvelleeseen antropologiseen tutkimukseen, alaa on jo vuosikymmenien ajan leimannut vahva eettinen ja itsekriittinen asenne tutkimuksen tekemisessä, samoin kuin etnografiselle kenttätyölle ominainen tapa tuottaa tietoa tiiviissä yhteistyössä niiden ihmisten kanssa, joiden musiikista on kyse. Juuri siksi etnomusikologit ovat jo vuosikymmenien ajan pohtineet monia niistä kysymyksistä, joista nyt puhutaan dekolonisaation otsikon alla. Artikkelin kansikuva: Elina Seye.

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Section: Etnomusikologiasta Globaaliin Musiikkitieteeseenunclassified

Etnomusikologisia näkökulmia musiikintutkimuksen dekolonisaatioon

Seye¹

2022

EVK

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“…Overall, the interview data included many indications of emotional awkwardness, doubt, and anxiety, and occasionally even a chaotic atmosphere in the actual compositional situations. Previous research on the compositional process has either not addressed or has underrated the emotional difficulties of composition (see, for example, Collins, 2005; Donin & Theureau, 2007; Donin & Féron, 2012; Katz & Gardner, 2012; McAdams, 2004; see also Moisala, 2011). Arguably, the data of this study realistically demonstrate the composer’s setbacks and difficult emotions, which indicate a factor that validates the data.…”

Section: Validity Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 6. For instance, when reflecting on her extensive investigation of Kaija Saariaho and her music, Moisala attributed the composer’s momentary reticence about her artistic work to the general need of composers to protect their public images, which can greatly affect their career opportunities (Moisala, 2009, 2011). …”

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confidence: 99%

Inspiration and decision-making: A case study of a composer’s intuitive and reflective thought

Pohjannoro

2014

Musicae Scientiae

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This article reports a qualitative exploratory case study of a composer's compositional inspiration, thinking, and decision-making. The aim was to explore the dynamics and functions of intuitive and reflective modes of thinking, thus expanding the recent trend in composition research, which has given increasing attention to implicit, imaginative, and inspirational aspects of composition. The data of the study were collected in natural settings in the composer's work studio during the compositional process. The data comprised stimulated recall interviews, as well as all of the manuscripts that the composer wrote concerning the process under scrutiny. The findings indicate the saliency of the composer's germinal ideas into the compositional process. The composer elaborated, transcribed, and embodied his multimodal ideas, step-by-step, into musical passages of the evolving score. The process comprised two core procedures. First, compositional thinking was manifested as concrete representations, i.e., the manuscripts. Second, intuitive aspirations entered the conscious mind and subsequently opened themselves up for reflective processes. Two dilemmas were identified in defining the composer's uncertain and complex working circumstances. The strategic and ontological dimensions of compositional decision-making were identified. The study produced a thick description of what is probably the most complicated phenomenon of musical behaviour: composing outside the confines of a laboratory environment. It explicated compositional thinking as continuous and appropriate fluctuations of intuitive and reflective ideation, monitored by metacognitive function. It also presented a detailed analysis of the dynamics of problem accumulation, i.e., the way the composer decided not to decide, which originated from the composer's ill-defined working circumstances and his ethos of seeking coherence and employing constructionist aesthetics.

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“… 3. See Moisala (2011), about composers’ contradiction of interests between their reflective openness and public images. …”

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confidence: 99%

Mind the body: Materiality and physicality in a composer’s thinking process

Pohjannoro

2021

Psychology of Music

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This exploratory case study investigated the grounds of the material and physical aspects of compositional thinking, viewing musical composing as organizing the world of sounds. The data tracks one compositional process, including the full body of the manuscripts and verbal data accounting those manuscripts. The results present a composer, who wishes to create music that has performative power, that is, expressivities that have the capacity to move the mind of the listener. The composer is inspired by the materiality of sound and musical instruments, but on the other hand constrained and challenged by the corporal affordances of performers and their instruments as well as by the (im)practicalities and intelligibility of notational practices. Five different aspects of materiality were identified: (1) visual images and representations, (2) the score as the material object of composition, (3) the material and physical affordances of musical instruments, performers that play them, and sounds that are produced by them, (4) physical reactions entailing embodied intuitive knowledge of the composer, and (5) metaphoric processes, where the composer, when shaping timbres and musical structures, “pushes,” even “forces” sounds to “move” and sound in a way that is meaningful and transpires to the listener as music that moves the mind.

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Reflections on an Ethnomusicological Study of a Contemporary Western Art Music Composer

Cited by 15 publications

References 4 publications

Etnomusikologisia näkökulmia musiikintutkimuksen dekolonisaatioon

Etnomusikologisia näkökulmia musiikintutkimuksen dekolonisaatioon

Inspiration and decision-making: A case study of a composer’s intuitive and reflective thought

Mind the body: Materiality and physicality in a composer’s thinking process

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