Conclusions
Since beginning this research project, I have written approximately 60 compositions in response to the various readings, observations, reflections, perspectives and development of ideas in creating new designs for small jazz ensemble composition. I am hoping to extend writing, rehearsal and performance strategies, investigating models and methods (expanding on examples discussed and placed in the appendix provided). This is achieved by focusing on specific outcomes through particular influences and themes of: intellect and intuition; intent, interpretation and intangibles of the music score and its performance; jazz as experiment, and minimalism.
The aim of this research project and artistic practice, as conveyed in Borgdorff’s chapter, The Production of Knowledge in Artistic Research, found in The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts (Borgdorff, 2011), seeks to communicate in words the “pre reflective”, “non- conceptual content” (Borgdorff, 2011, p. 44). This content contained in creative process and applicable to small jazz ensemble composition, is a result of “unfinished thinking”, not formal process of obtaining knowledge that is “subject matter”, but “thinking in, through and with art”, “enclosed in aesthetic experiences, enacted in creative practices and embodied in artistic products” (Borgdorff, 2011, pp. 44–45). Therefore, the experiences, knowledge and methods will continue to be played out throughout the course of this study; encouraging the welcome paradox of “reflection”, yet avoiding “defining thought” in the artistic content (Borgdorff, 2011, p. 45).
Artistic content and product is the chief goal of this study: the written work and performance of approximately six to nine compositions in a small jazz ensemble setting, and the recording of artistic practice in the form of an exegesis. The method being played out and documented is indicative of a verb; best summed up in a comment by Christopher Small: “Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do” (Small, 2008, p. 2). The author continues by emphasising how music performance is often thought of as “nothing more than a presentation”, and seldom is the “act of musical performance” considered to have “meanings in its own right” (Small, 2008, p. 4). Small’s perception of music as an activity and means to communicating as a language is applicable to this, and other practice based research projects. The artistic practitioner’s ambition is to document creative methods whilst developing artistic product, in a balanced, coherent approach. This may be speculative, pre empting the process; done in real time, in the moment as an observation; and or documented afterwards in a reflexive manner.
It is my intention that this exegetical text, documenting the language and creative design, derivative from the writing, rehearsal and performance of compositions as templates; will bring additional insights and perspectives through my primary research question: How do the processes involved in the composition, development, absorption, interpretation and transferral of musical material from the score to the performance contribute to the development of artistic practice as a composer/player/leader of a small jazz ensemble?
Jazz composers and improvisers explore artistic practice and create a variety of content from different viewpoints due to their personalities, experience, knowledge, methods, environments and respective instruments. I am expecting the comparative study from respective outcomes of the literature review, methods used, analyses of creative practice, participant observations of my small ensemble practice to reveal: variations, interpretations and unique strategies taken on the theme of small jazz ensemble composition as experiment. I anticipate the investigation of various relationships, co existing in the creation, performance and reflection of small jazz ensemble composition, will point to intuition and intellect as an underlying thread in the creative process.
Documenting this practice-led experimental research in artistic creation, reflecting inward on my practice and outward (Bartleet, 2009, p. 4) on the perceptions, experience and knowledge of other practitioners, will help in developing my creative design as a composer, player and leader in a small jazz ensemble. I envisage the study to contribute to the assessment and mapping of influential small jazz ensemble composition writing, rehearsal and performance techniques, having developed from working within boundaries, structures and influences of past masters, who provide knowledge and space to transmute ideas and break new ground.
The aim of this research project and artistic practice, as conveyed in Borgdorff’s chapter, The Production of Knowledge in Artistic Research, found in The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts (Borgdorff, 2011), seeks to communicate in words the “pre reflective”, “non- conceptual content” (Borgdorff, 2011, p. 44). This content contained in creative process and applicable to small jazz ensemble composition, is a result of “unfinished thinking”, not formal process of obtaining knowledge that is “subject matter”, but “thinking in, through and with art”, “enclosed in aesthetic experiences, enacted in creative practices and embodied in artistic products” (Borgdorff, 2011, pp. 44–45). Therefore, the experiences, knowledge and methods will continue to be played out throughout the course of this study; encouraging the welcome paradox of “reflection”, yet avoiding “defining thought” in the artistic content (Borgdorff, 2011, p. 45).
Artistic content and product is the chief goal of this study: the written work and performance of approximately six to nine compositions in a small jazz ensemble setting, and the recording of artistic practice in the form of an exegesis. The method being played out and documented is indicative of a verb; best summed up in a comment by Christopher Small: “Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do” (Small, 2008, p. 2). The author continues by emphasising how music performance is often thought of as “nothing more than a presentation”, and seldom is the “act of musical performance” considered to have “meanings in its own right” (Small, 2008, p. 4). Small’s perception of music as an activity and means to communicating as a language is applicable to this, and other practice based research projects. The artistic practitioner’s ambition is to document creative methods whilst developing artistic product, in a balanced, coherent approach. This may be speculative, pre empting the process; done in real time, in the moment as an observation; and or documented afterwards in a reflexive manner.
It is my intention that this exegetical text, documenting the language and creative design, derivative from the writing, rehearsal and performance of compositions as templates; will bring additional insights and perspectives through my primary research question: How do the processes involved in the composition, development, absorption, interpretation and transferral of musical material from the score to the performance contribute to the development of artistic practice as a composer/player/leader of a small jazz ensemble?
Jazz composers and improvisers explore artistic practice and create a variety of content from different viewpoints due to their personalities, experience, knowledge, methods, environments and respective instruments. I am expecting the comparative study from respective outcomes of the literature review, methods used, analyses of creative practice, participant observations of my small ensemble practice to reveal: variations, interpretations and unique strategies taken on the theme of small jazz ensemble composition as experiment. I anticipate the investigation of various relationships, co existing in the creation, performance and reflection of small jazz ensemble composition, will point to intuition and intellect as an underlying thread in the creative process.
Documenting this practice-led experimental research in artistic creation, reflecting inward on my practice and outward (Bartleet, 2009, p. 4) on the perceptions, experience and knowledge of other practitioners, will help in developing my creative design as a composer, player and leader in a small jazz ensemble. I envisage the study to contribute to the assessment and mapping of influential small jazz ensemble composition writing, rehearsal and performance techniques, having developed from working within boundaries, structures and influences of past masters, who provide knowledge and space to transmute ideas and break new ground.
