16 Feb 2007

Overview


[workspace] is the working title of a piece to be performed at the Plug festival of new music in May 08. There will be two performances, in the Guinness Room, lasting in the region of 60-90 minutes. A cast of six musicians will draw upon a battery of instruments, voice, movement, recorded and live sound/video, and costume to present a devised piece crossing the boundaries between contemporary music, theatre and performance art.

[workspace] may also be characterised as a framework within which musicians and a composer can work together to create a performance. Over a period of several months, starting in Oct 08, the composer will facilitate a devising process, drawing on a wide variety of musical and creative strategies; games, improvisation, fragmentary notation and conventional scores may all be used. The final piece will be drawn together in a culminative period of rehearsal (Sun 27 April - Wed 30 April) leading up to two performances on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 May.

An experienced professional with a significant artistic reputation will be recruited to the project in a dual role; as a second supervisor for the PhD, and as an artistic advisor to the composer in the development of the piece.

Although there is scope for input from all participants, the eventual piece will still bear the strong artistic stamp of the composer. The starting point will always be music, and the final decision as to whether a particular scene 'works' or not will be largely a musical one. All the music will be written by the composer, although non-original music may play a part in the devising process.

A videographer will document the devising process, also incidentally collecting material which might find a place in the final performance, which will also be recorded on video. All of this material will be edited into a form suitable for presentation within the PhD portfolio.

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