Framing the Normal
Examining Embodied and Artistic Practices in Musicians’ Movement Repertoire
ARIA Research seminar
3 - 4 May 2021
initiated by Thomas Moore and Winnie Huang
Musicians and conductors are performers that utilize movements on stage to generate sounds that audiences perceive as music. Composers, artistic directors, and concert organizers today are becoming more aware of a repertoire of performative and everyday ‘normal’ movements and are beginning to consider these as artistic stimuli sui generis, with the potential to enhance or direct the audience’s perception of a piece.
During this international seminar, through paper presentations, performances, and discussion, the following questions will be addressed:
- How can we, as performers, develop our music-making movement repertoire and gestural skill set to meet this growing practice of movement-centred acts and interventions?
- Danish composer Simon Steen-Andersen in his composition Black Box Music (2012) deployed the ‘image of the conductor to play on the audience’s expectations’. What happens when composers begin to incorporate movement repertoire in their pieces, how do they contend with the traditional (and hierarchical) performance situation and how do the gestures of the conductor lead to a new context of perception?
- What are the methods and processes that composers and artistic directors apply when questioning the role of the musicians’ and conductor’s body on stage?
Keynote Håkon Stene will present his research Towards a Post-Instrumental Practice, and also take part in a panel discussion with Jessie Marino and Magda Thielemans, moderated by the seminar organizers. Planned performances include newly commissioned works by Jessie Marino (US), a revised solo work for conductor by Thierry De Mey (B), and Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-58) by John Cage.
Keynote and guest speakers/performers: Håkon Stene, Jessie Marino, Magda Thielemans.
More information soon on: framingthenormal.wordpress.com
