City Research Online

Abstract

Wildermusic: Composing With, From, and About the Natural World examines musicalisations of the natural world through the mechanism of notated instrumental composition for the purposes of a live concert setting. The research output comprises two components: a portfolio of musical compositions and this dissertation. This textual writing is used in a supportive role: to rationalise – and at times help refine – elements of the composition practice and wider creative process.

I have undertaken creative investigations into naturally-occurring materials, landscapes, environments and phenomena, and five new compositions have materialised out of this practice-based research. These five compositions, and my discussions of them, demonstrate specific ways of exploring relationship with the natural world through composition, namely through musicalisations of direct experiences and interactions with materials and places.

My research brings new knowledge to the field of contemporary music and ecomusicology, straddling various ways of bringing experiences of materiality into music. The particularities of this work lie in the emphasis on embodiment and sensoria as a means to better understand nonhuman materialities and vitalities, over other composition methods such as practices of sonification, transcription, field recording, mimesis, or purely programmatic music.

This research demonstrates how experiential cognition, in the forms of both embodied knowledge and real-time interactions with materials, is essential to my practice because it enables me to explore physical interactions with the natural world.

While each of my five pieces is somewhat particular to itself – each exploring a different kind and degree of experience with the natural world – there are certain compositional tools, musical and emotional qualities, and philosophical reflections that have emerged throughout the duration of this research project and across the portfolio. Therefore, this dissertation presents four essays in which I consider certain subjects across multiple compositions. I consider my work from creative and philosophical angles. I explore how embodied knowledge and experiential cognition shape my creative process (essay 1); I examine the musicalisation of personal sensory experiences of materials and places (essay 2); I investigate tactility in my music (essay 3); and I reflect on how emotional aspects of my connection to the natural world inform my work (essay 4).

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Text - Accepted Version
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Audio (1. Like Clay) - Accepted Version
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Audio (2. Golden Hour) - Accepted Version
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Video (3. November moon readings) - Accepted Version
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Video (4. Notes from a Wilderness) - Accepted Version
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Audio (5. End of Season) - Accepted Version
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Text (1. Like Clay (score)) - Accepted Version
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Text (2. Golden Hour (score)) - Accepted Version
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Text (3. November moon readings (score)) - Accepted Version
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Text (4. Notes from a Wilderness (score)) - Accepted Version
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Text (5.1 End of Season (score)) - Accepted Version
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Text (5.2 End of Season (score)) - Accepted Version
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