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NOTATION AND IMPROVISATION: NOTATIONAL PRAXIS IN THE WORK OF THE ICP, SARAH BRAND AND MOSS FREED

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2024

Alistair Zaldua
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Abstract

This article examines the relationship between notation and improvisation and the ways in which notational representation and prescription are extended by para-notation in the work and practice of the improvisers Sarah Brand and Moss Freed and in the work of ethnomusicologist Floris Schuiling, in particular through his research into the Dutch collective, the Instant Composers Pool (ICP). Sarah Brand analyses her own improvisation transcriptions using concepts derived from music therapy to help sharpen awareness for future improvisation. Moss Freed's Micromotives features his own variant of conduction, developed through reflexive and cyclic processes of notation, rehearsals and discussion. Floris Schuiling's ethnomusicological research into the ICP reveals how notation can be used to generate creative challenges, not only for the members of the collective but for musicians in general. A series of interviews reveals that these musicians use notation to render processes visible and to build and develop communities and cultures.

Type
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Information
Tempo , Volume 78 , Issue 308 , April 2024 , pp. 24 - 37
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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2 Alistair Zaldua, Notation und Improvisation: Notationspraxis in der Arbeit von Sarah Brand, Moss Freed und des ICP, ed. Naujocks Carolin. Deutschlandfunk Kultur (Berlin). Broadcast: 15.12.2020. Available online: www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/notationspraxis-in-der-arbeit-von-sarah-brand-moss-freed-100.html (accessed 14 November 2022).

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5 Quoted in Christopher Williams, ‘Chapter 0: The Ground’, Tactile Paths: On and through Notation for Improvisers, 2017. Available online: www.tactilepaths.net/introduction/ (accessed 20 November 2022).

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12 Interview with Sarah Brand, 15 October 2019.

13 Sarah Brand, Steve Beresford, John Edwards and Mark Sanders, All Will Be Said, All To Do Again. [CD]. Self-release, UK: 2019. Available online: https://sarahgailbrand.bandcamp.com/album/all-will-be-said-all-to-do-again (accessed 25 July 2023).

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15 Ibid., p. 132.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

19 Ibid., p.133.

20 Ibid., p. 134.

21 Ibid., pp. 55–59 for this list of technique names, descriptions and sounds.

22 Further information via Moss Freed's website: https://www.mossfreed.com/micromotives-union-division (accessed 29 November 2022).

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26 Interview with Moss Freed, 13 February 2019.

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