Bart van Rosmalen, Associate Professor, Royal Conservatoire of the Hague (bartvanrosmalen@csi.com)

Dr. Helena Gaunt, Assistant Principal (Research and Academic Development), Guildhall School of Music & Drama (helena.gaunt@gsmd.ac.uk)

 Submission for the Fifth Sensuous Knowledge Conference, 2008

This paper addresses questions about the qualities of conversation within the context of research which focuses on the connections between improvisation and artistry in musicians. It builds on areas of research in musical improvisation (Benson 2003; Monson 1996; Nachmanovitch 1990; Pressing 1998; Sloboda 1997) and processes of learning for performing musicians in Higher Education (Barrett and Gromko 2007; Burwell 2005; Gaunt 2006; Gholson 1998;), and considers how qualities of conversation (musical and verbal) are fundamental to collaborative research in this field.

The underlying question of this research is how does improvisation (musical, physical, conversational) underpin the development of artistry in musicians as performers and teachers? Artistry here is taken to mean what makes performance come alive- what enables performers to leave behind rehearsed skills and enter the realm of the unintended. Artistry undoubtedly demands technical facility, communicative skill and musical understanding; it however also requires improvisation that leads to unforeseen outcomes.

Research method

This research begins from our own practice as musicians, teachers and innovators in conservatoires. An essential objective is to evolve appropriate methodologies for research in practice as well as about practice. We engage in musical improvisation, and in conversation, and the two constantly interweave. We aim to allow the musical improvisation to speak for itself as well as analysing it in words, and we seek ways for the two to interact, transform and perhaps create new kinds of artistic outputs.

Relation with quality

We research improvisation, and at times this extends beyond music to include theatre, visual or textual aspects. This free play emphasises the “unforeseen” nature of improvisation, and implicates being unskilled to a certain extent. The quality of what we do in terms of beauty, technical perfection, coherent artistic meaning is not guaranteed. So the starting point of our research immediately poses a relevant question for quality: How to deal with quality in partly unskilled contributions?

Secondly, the nature of this improvisation practice is interactive. Its dialectic nature means that it constantly changes, and makes traditional research methods difficult to apply: how to organise quality of reflection in this constantly changing and unpredictable artistic process?

Thirdly we are confronted with the paradox that when we start using words we start losing what the essence is. However it is critical that we avoid disconnecting the reflection from the artistic process. What kind of reflection stays close to or could be part of the artistic process?

The role of conversation

At a certain moment the musical improvisation concludes. The music, theatre, performance, text, image stops, like a wave on a beach, vanishing in silence. The most natural next step is for performers and observers to share some of the experience in words. We return to musical moments, recall images that were produced, and we start interpreting them. This conversation can be seen as an extension of the improvisation. We use metaphors, bring in associated stories, ‘quote’ earlier experiences. The improvisation continues naturally in an artistic as well as analytical reflective conversation.

Such artistic reflective conversation is the starting point for our contribution to the Sensuous Knowledge Conference.

Following the basic dramatic pattern of tragedy our paper will consist of five parts.

1- A reflective conversation. In the first part we expose conversation as a fundamental aspect in our research process of free improvisation and its relation to artistry. What are the specific characters of conversation in this context? How does it develop understanding and knowledge? How can we deepen awareness and use of such reflective conversation? And what could be terms and criteria for the quality of reflection?

2- A personal conversation. We experience that conversation based on direct artistic experiences from performers as well as observers gives space for personal contributions from the participants. Subjectivity and a personal style seem to deepen the quality of conversation. This can appear opposed to familiar aims of research to produce general and objective outcomes. Can this aspect of style and personal engagement in conversation gain a permanent place in criteria for quality in research in and through the arts?

3- Conversation as play. In the book Homo Ludens the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga analyses the element of play as a basic human condition that functions as a source of culture, and defines a clear list of criteria for ‘play’. Conversation can clearly be seen as an example of this. We apply Huizinga’s ‘play criteria’ to conversation and explore further some fundamental similarities between musical improvisation and conversation.

4- Conversation as an artistic process. How far can we go when we state that the conversation we are talking about can be an artistic process in itself? Research and reflection are from this challenging perspective no longer divided from the artistic process but are a connecting link in an ongoing artistic-reflexive chain of activities. Here the whole idea of integrating the conversation in the artistic process culminates. We will push the paradoxical aspects of confronting aesthetic and cognitive values to the edge and reach a kind of crisis in the paper.

5- Conversation, a 21th century key issue. After the dramatic turn in the fourth part we try to bring the paper back to an acceptable and realistic perspective. We focus on the arts professional operating in a changing society with the necessity to deal with a wide diversity and variety of tasks in a constant changing context. Once again we focus on the quality of conversation as an important contemporary competence. To complete this contextual overview we include some remarks about possibilities to increase the quality of institutional conversation towards a more connecting conversation.

Paper in music-theatre setting

The paper will be presented as a 30 minute performance in music-theatre setting which integrates musical improvisation, conversational reflection and documentary outcomes of research.

Interdisciplinary relevance

Our research starts from and is rooted in music. From there it seeks to cross borders with theatre, performance and visual arts. To focus in this paper on an artistic conversation which has rich interdisciplinary resonance.

Bart van Rosmalen/ Helena Gaunt

April 2008