Words and Music: defining the compositional and performance practice of text scores

Unconventional notation methods for musical compositions have proliferated over the past sixty years, creating an environment in which it is often difficult to determine the precise aims of composers. Notational meaning is at best variable, with performance practice and compositional strategies being habitually transformed by undocumented conventions, rendering it almost impossible to transfer principles between pieces with assurance without an understanding of localised codes of practice. The project will focus on the use of text notation, whereby the composition is notated solely using words and no graphic or conventional musical symbols, with the aim of providing a tool for the decoding of these conventions suitable for use by anyone with an interest in this work.

The project will analyse and classify a wide range of text scores (historically and aesthetically) with the aim of determining common approaches taken by composers. It will also examine the performance practice associated with these pieces in order to present a methodology for their realisation. A series of exemplars will be discussed in detail, using historically significant information gathered from composers, performers, other commentators and archives, providing case studies for developing an understanding of the medium. This will be presented in an authored book anthology including chapters on compositional strategy and performance practice and annotated examples of fifty such pieces.

The findings of the research will enable composers to develop a clear understanding of the principles of text score composition, and performers to foster an informed attitude to their realisation. It will provide a much needed survey of this neglected genre which will be of value to musicologists and general readers alike. In an educational context, the increasing number of institutions who offer courses in related areas (such as experimental music) and community musicians using text notation in their work will be able to benefit from the resource.