Week 3b - LCO Collaborations Case Study 1
This is one of two case study posts that explore collaboration in a setting that is not related to this project. My hope from these case studies is that they will be useful for collaboration beyond the module in my own situations and that the theoretical concepts that I'm learning in this module can be linked to practitioners who are currently working in similar fields to myself.
The first is a recent article by Robert Ames who is a conductor, composer and violist. His background and visions are in-line with my musical background and he discuss the importance of collaborations, concerts and communal energy and how it feeds into his practice as a conductor in the LCO.
The list of artists you've collaborated with is incredibly diverse...How do you choose who to collaborate with? Or, what draws you to enter into a collaboration with an artist?
This is an interesting question that ties in with the recent decisions of who I chose to collaborate with. Ames explains that it's 'about listening to a lot of music' and 'getting a feel for what kind of energy is going to sit well'. Interestingly, this observation fits with another potential reason why I favoured Peer A and Peer C - I've heard their music before. In the last semester, we did share projects we were working on so it seems natural to lean towards collaborating with them when I know what they are already capable of. It's also a reason why young artists might be afraid of Risk (as mentioned here), as they are less likely to have music to showcase in their portfolios and have fear that other artists might not want to collaborate with them.
The 'kind of energy that sits well' is more leaning towards the personality of the artist rather than ability and that could link to the reason why there was a cultural divide when selecting collaborators as the energy exhibited between cultures is different (more detail here). It will be interesting to discover at our first group meeting, whether or not we have similar energies in a social setting and if our MBTI indicators match up too.
You're not averse to experimenting with venues for your performances are you? And what draws you to try new spaces for performance?
I did mention in my competancy video that I'm interested in composing and performing music that 'breaks the traditional norm'. Ames explains that 'New spaces are just a great way to find a narrative for a programme'. It's certainly worth considering what spaces could be used within the context of the pandemic and the module. Previous Masters studnets have used Guildford Cathedral for their projects, in order to provide a sense of grandeur to the performance and using the acoustic creativly. Whether this would be possible in May/June where we would be performing our project is something too early to predict. He also goes on to talk about being 'gifted the opportunity to set up musicians in a non traditional format'. The visual aspect of this project is an important one to consider and having members of the group breaking the traditional norm of performing their instruments in a traditional band setup would be a step in the right direction to really pushing the boundaries of our work.
How much freedom of expression do you get when recording a soundtrack?
'The kind of composers we work with as well as the open nature of the players' determines the freedom of expression when recording. This links up well to the types of composer/performer interactions that occur within contemporary classical music. Ames describes a 'real freedom' in their sessions as an orchestra which probably results in a interactive interactions where there is 'direct negotiation' between composer and performer (Hayden et. Windsor, 2007) . Ideally, given that we have composers and performers for this project - we want to aim for an interactive interaction so that we are avoiding a situation where a division of labour occurs (complementary collaboration) and that there isn't much communication between composer and performer. This could then potentially lead to miscommunications and pragmatic issues to rise.