Finding Your Place in the Imaginary Museum: Performers and Creative Agency in Classical Music Culture

Abstract

This dissertation describes a philosophy and approach to an integrated music practice which involves composition, performance, improvisation, and collaborative work. Framed by my own story as a classically trained musician, I will look at the real and perceived barriers between composer and performer in this musical culture, and how it has evolved functionally and socially. Referencing philosopher Lydia Goehr’s concept of an “imaginary museum of musical works,” Chapter One presents the division of these roles as emerging with European philosophical trends and the formalization of music notation in the 1800s, during which music composition was elevated to be a form of high art. Chapter Two draws on my experiences as a young musician who felt compelled to choose between roles at points in my education and career. I investigate issues of practice addiction, performance anxiety, and burnout, which affect performers and their psychological relationship with the music they play. Focussing on my work with the electric guitar quartet Dither and composer John Zorn, Chapter Three details my professional activities as a guitarist specializing in contemporary music, exploring repertoire which engaged my creative instincts as a performer through elements of sonic craftsmanship, improvisation, and open forms. Chapter Four discusses how western classical composers in the 20th century approached such elements in their works. Drawing from the writings of George Lewis, I look at how their practices and philosophies enhanced a division with improvised music, identifying it as a separate and absolute practice. Chapter Five describes my own compositional practice, which is in many ways a response to the anxieties and creative limits that I feel as a classically trained performer. I do not claim to have transcended these issues, but in my work I aim to ease the rigidity of the performer/composer divide as much as possible. My portfolio of music submitted with this dissertation represents two aspects of this practice: 1) Four compositions for The Hands Free, an ensemble that I lead and perform in. 2) Sleep is Shattered, a concerto for electric guitar and orchestra, which superimposes a fluid solo part upon a more thoroughly notated orchestral score.