The Garden of Forking Paths: material-indeterminacy driving open-form composition for clarinets

In a 2018 talk on Practice Research, composer Liza Lim asked playfully 'when I play the cello, how do I know it's not playing me?' She refers to the growing body of research (from music, philosophy, psychology etc.) around the ecology of music, and how an instrument is like a prosthetic limb (Bateson 1972) that extends the "musicking" mind (Small 1998) through the body and into the world. Lim's statement paraphrases Michel de Montaigne asking in 1580 "how do I know when I play with my cat that it's not playing with me?", crucially replacing the living cat with an inert and lifeless cello, here elevated to "living" status as a thought-experiment. For me, this is interesting not because cellos might actually have minds, but because following-through on the question "what is the cello's agency in the world?" allows all sorts of interesting and creative possibilities for composition. For example, "what sound does the cello "want" to make?" can be answered by playing it in the most neutral way possible, simply putting energy into the cello with the bow to observe what sound comes out. Trying different ways of energising the cello soon reveals its preferences. By limiting the imposition of human musical taste on it, the cello's own music emerges. The next step is to ask how can the instrument "play" the player?

My project follows-through on that question, radically extending it to ask how can I compose music where the instrument leads the player, ultimately allowing the instrument to define how the music unfolds in performance. Unlike the largely stable cello, this project focusses on the clarinet, an inherently unstable instrument which, through years of training, a player learns to control. When we examine what sounds the clarinet "wants" to make, we find a bewildering array of noise-sounds and "multiphonic" timbres; where instead of one note, there are multiple simultaneously competing notes, all interfering to create a complex and ambiguous soundworld in delicate balance. These kinds of sounds in themselves are now ubiquitous in new-music and experimental music, with composers using them in different ways across a continuum from uncritical "sound effects" through to a careful and nuanced manipulation of the sounds. However, for all this familiarity with unstable and non-standard sounds, the dominant paradigm is that of control, wherein the composer defines a sound and the performer strives to produce it accurately every time. My project takes the other path to ask what compositional possibilities are opened-up if we replace control with "support"? If rather than defining specific sounds, the composer's role is to create a system where the player is always responding to the preferences of the instrument, allowing it lead her through the labyrinth of its sonic complexities. The primary role of the player here is energising the instrument and allowing the contingent and unstable sounds to dominate, using their technical skills to support the delicate balance of complex sounds and allowing the instrument to lead. For example, this can be achieved by directing the player to focus on bringing out the lesser of two competing pitches in any given sound: like a spelunker exploring a complex cave system, avoiding the path most travelled may lead one in a circle or it may open up whole new unexplored areas. The project's objective is to find and disseminate compositional strategies that constrain the infinite possibilities into meaningful-and novel-forms without damping the agency and physical materiality of the instrument.

Through working closely with specialist clarinettists, an acoustician, and graphic designer. I will compose multiple pieces for one and two clarinets that outline a variety of strategies and notations. All of which is documented rigorously and continuously online to maximise public engagement.

Who might benefit from this research?
All the below are global networks, with impacts targeted at respected centres of stakeholder groups to maximise impact:

Specialist new-music composers and performers (not limited to
Non-specialist composers and clarinetists (for generally applicable techniques)
Other artists interested in intersections between materiality and performance
Audiences and Promoters of new-music and new-arts
Public-engagement with science via arts practice

How might they benefit?
This research will have a transformative effect on specialist new-music composers and performers by opening up a rich and novel area for artistic research at a highly apposite cultural moment. The project will create rigorously documented strategies for composing and performing with material agency and material indeterminacy. New-music is ripe for change in this area because many stakeholders currently use the right building-blocks-unstable sounds, noise elements, multiphonics, etc.-but have not made the lateral leap to allowing the instrument to lead the unfolding performance. My research opens-up this new path, catalysing a range of new ideas around materiality and performance. This primarily impacts single-reed instruments in the first instance, but the ideas will spread as other instrumentalists take up the challenge to develop related strategies: the PI already has related research for bowed instruments: funding proposals are in development, adding to research leadership potential.

New-music composers and performers are familiar with some techniques used here, but not the novel way they are deployed. They will gain a new perspective to ignite creative possibilities beyond the PI's personal compositional preferences. A rising tide raises all ships; the PI uses the techniques to write his music, and the techniques are disseminated and transformed through the network of composers/performers.

The research guides young composers and performers (all instruments) past the false divide between standard and extended techniques, that all techniques flow from the physicality of the instrument. Placing the power in the hands of composers/performers to access more sounds in their chosen style. Composers who prefer traditional sounds and control of the instrument will also benefit from the greater nuance and evidenced range of sounds available.

Non-specialist single-reed performers will be specifically targeted by the composed studies as general exercises to improve tone and timbral control: via tutor networks and paid advertisement in a key clarinet trade publication. The techniques developed through the project can (ironically) also help players to control the unstable and undesirable sounds at the edges of standard tone production.

The general topic of how materials interact with performance and art is a very current topic (see CfS), and interest in new-materialist philosophy and practice-as-research is generating a productive cross-arts conversation around intersections between materiality and performance. While only limited project resources are directed outside the music stakeholders, non-music artists interested in materiality have several pathways to connect this approach to materiality with their own interests through the many public-facing outputs. The PI has strong connections to non-Music arts through his leadership at Leeds (CePRA & CAVE-see CV) allowing this research to expand into further interdisciplinary funded projects.

Promoters of new-music will benefit from performance outputs that offer exciting new artistic directions to connect with audiences. Specifically, 'materiality' as a topic is a rising tide across all artforms, increasing cross-arts audience, and integrating music with other arts. Also, this research has a strong public-engagement aspect that is very well suited to educational/outreach workshops (e.g. museums and galleries) across performance, sound, acoustics, and art/science.