traditional and improvised music cultures

 

This group meets Tuesday afternoons in GradCAM. The first meeting of Autumn 2010 will take place on Tuesday 28 September at 15:00.

 

[go straight to Autumn 2010 schedule here.]

 

traditional and improvised music cultures

 

 

tradfutures_about

 

'Tradfutures' is a traditional and improvised music performance research group undertaking investigation of contemporary positions and potential future stylistic developments in traditional music in Europe, at doctoral level. The underlying principle to these investigations is to develop fluidity in how we interact with structural forms and contents and contemporary understandings of music. It is the intention to establish innovative approaches to the teaching of traditional and improvised music; to working definitions; compositional formats; and to extend instrumental and performance techniques. Underpinning these investigations is an ongoing interaction with supporting technologies and digital formats. The tradfutures seminar series takes place on Tuesday afternoons from 15:00-18:00. The events take place at GradCAM, John Street, D8 unless advertised otherwise. http://www.gradcam.ie/

 

tradfutures_research_enquiry

 

Defining an evolving aesthetic & innovation mechanism for Traditional & Improvised Music in Europe; "˜tradfutures" is a consortium research undertaking by the team investigating contemporary developments evidenced in traditional music and improvised music in Europe today. In so doing, we investigate and deliver (i) a new aesthetical paradigm for "traditional" music in Europe; (ii) the design of new musical instruments, including a micro-tonal accordion, semi-solid electric bouzouki, and flexible bores for fipple top flutes and (iii) redeployment of the music industry's use of the 360 degree model as an economic model for artist self-management. These research undertakings are underpinned by the understanding that traditional & improvising musicians today operate from a perspective based on a multiplicity of reference points demonstrating complex cosmopolitan histories of cross over and cultural cross-fertilisation which, as yet, have not been fully appreciated and understood. The challenge is to confront the 'nation state' paradigm and to offer a new model based on the experiences of musicians today demonstrating the 'fluidity' in how our traditions and cultures are in 'real terms' experienced and understood.

 

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tradfutures_musicians researchers

 

 

autumn 2010 schedule

 

 

This group meets Tuesday afternoons in GradCAM. The first meeting of Autumn 2010 will take place on Tuesday 28 September at 15:00.

 

  • Tuesday 28 September
    Seminar discussion: "The Decline of Improvisation in Western Art Music"

  • Tues 11 October
    Researcher presentation: Drazen Derek 15:00
    Seminar Discussion: Aesthetics and Music (Chapters 1 and 2) 16:30

  • Tue 19 October
    Researcher presentation: Pat Daly 15:00
    Researcher presentation: Martin Tourish 16:30

  • Tues 26 October
    Researcher presentation: Sean Og 14:45
    Kojin Karatani lecture

  • Tues 2 November
    Autumn School practice and the PhD 14:30

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autumn 2009

 

  • Sept 1st Tues 15.00-18:00
    tradfutures_planning schedule for Music Pathway.
    notes from first meeting

     

  • Sept 8th Tues 15.00-18:00
    Freddie Middleton_Music Industry Issues.
    Passman, Donald S. (1991) All you need to know about the music business. latest edition. Penguin
    Knopper, Steve (2009) Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in The Digital Age. Simon & Shuster
    Yetnikoff, Walter with David Ritz (2004) Howling at the Moon. ABACUS.
    Anderson, Chris, FREE.

     

  • Sept 15th Tues 15.00-18:00
    Performance Production Session. Production Task: New Repertory.

     

  • Sept 21- 25th Mon-Fri Immersive Research Training Week: Epistemic Practices. Register www.gradcam.ie/summer_school.php

     

  • Sept 29th Tues 15.00-18:00
    Freddie Middleton_Business Models. Production Task: Proposal required from each individual – for industry output. Production Task: Proposal required from each individual – for industry output
    Proposed format to take would be that each of researcher prepares in advance a position and an outline proposal for an industry output.
    Bring it to the table and discuss getting feedback on how best to proceed?
    The proposal typed ( 2 pages) and disseminated in advance so that we are all prepared for the session.
    The key aspects are as set out below and reflect the research proposal
    circulate this 2 pager to our email list above and to Freddie by Monday 28th September
    1. What are you proposing to do?
    2. Why is it important – why bother? Particularly in relation to your own work and output.
    3. How do you intend to do it?
    4. What steps / methods will be put in place to accomplish it?

     

  • October 6th Tues 15.00-18:00
    Performance Production Session. Production Task: New Repertory.

     

  • October 13th Tues 15.00-18:00
    Freddie Middleton_Copyright / Free Domain music. Production Task: Prepare and Formulate a position on downloads, and agreements to address music and industry profile. Each prepare a two pager for discussion.

     

  • October 20th Tues 15.00-18:00

     

  • October 27th Tues 15.00-18:00
    Presentation by Susan Gill on aspects of independent music dissemination and digital network culture.
    Presentation on the role of writing within the research process, and some key academic conventions. Discussion of shared writing task: to produce a short treatment on 'improvisation' providing:
    (i) an indication of definitions provided by other authors;
    (ii) an outline of the definition that you wish to propose;
    (iii) an application of the outline model of improvisation to a specific performance.
    [slides are here]

     

  • November 3rd Tues 15.00-18:00

     

  • November 10th Tues 15.00-18:00
    [slides are here]
    Workshop on writing and the production of definitions of "improvisation".
    Critically working through the competing ways in which the concept "improvisation" might be approached,beginning with the use of dictionary sources and the etymology of "improvisation".
    [Improvisation, 1786, "act of improvising musically," from Fr. improvisation, from improviser "compose or say extemporaneously," from It. improvvisare, from improvviso "unforeseen, unprepared," from L. improvisus, from in- "not" + provisus "foreseen," also "provided," pp. of providere "foresee, provide." Improvise first recorded 1826.]

     

  • November 17th Tues 15.00-18:00

     

  • November 24th Tues 15.00-18:00
    Listening Session: Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in areas with a historically strong Muslim presence, such as southern Pakistan, and parts of North India. This is a rich and varied musical tradition that stretches back more than 700 years, and provides very specific roles to improvised and extemporised aspects of performance. We have agreed to review some examples of performance, through audio and video recordings, seeking as non-specialists (with regard to this form) to experiment with the identification of improvised processes and passages.
    Key exponents of these forms who have popularised their reception in Europe, include Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Sabri Brothers. The consumption of these forms, also raises questions about the inter-cultural dynamics of listening, exoticism and the mediation and dissemination of performance events by audio and visual technologies. However, in the first instance our attention will focus on the question of identifying improvisation in performance from the perspective of 'outsiders' with respect to the traditions under consideration.

    Please see:
    Burckhardt Qureshi, Regula (2000) “Confronting the Social: Mode of Production and the Sublime for (Indian) Art Music”, Ethnomusicology, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Winter) pp. 15-38
    [Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/852653]
    Tabor, Nathan (2005) "Qawwali: Religious and Political Performance", SAGAR: A South Asia Graduate Research Journal, Austin: University of Texas Volume 14, (Spring) pp.1-22.
    [http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/pages/sagar/sagar_v14.pdf]

    See also this site on a research initiative to investigate the role of music performance in the construction of the 'public sphere' within various muslim societies. [http://www.smlc.religionmusic.leeds.ac.uk/index.htm].

     

 

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spring 2009

 

This seminar series commenced in the autumn semester of 2008 and realised its first public performance in Amsterdam in January 2009. TradFutures first publicly performed as a group at 'COALESCE' Smart Project Space, Amsterdam. [10/1/09]

 

  • Ole Reitov of Freemuse / World Forum on Music and Censorship www.freemuse.org 2.30pm Friday, Nov 7 08

     

  • Rehearsal in advance of Amsterdam, Tuesday January 6th 09

     

  • Performance at launch of 'coalesce: happenstance' Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, Sat, Jan 10th 09 20:0 http://www.smartprojectspace.net/exhibitions/50.xml

     

  • Performance Session in advance of GradCAM Open Day Feb 6, Tues Jan 27 09 15-18:00

     

  • Projects in Development, Thursday February 11th 09 15:00-18:00

     

  • Oleg Ponomarev www.olegponomarev.com Tuesday, February 24th 09 15:00-18:00

     

  • Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh www.stateofchassis.com Tuesday, March 10th 09 15:00-18:00

     

  • Planning Meeting, Tuesday, March 24th 09 15:00-18:00

     

  • tradfutures rehearsal, Tuesday, April 7th 09 15:00-18:00

     

  • Berklee College of Music improvisation workshop with DIT Conservatory, M-F, Apr 13-17, 09

     

  • Seán Óg (Mac Erlaine) www.sean-og.com Tuesday, April 28th 09 15:00 -18:00

     

  • Roger Doyle www.rogerdoyle.com Tuesday, May 5th 09, 15:00–18:00

     

  • Research Briefings Tuesday, May 19th, 15:00–18:00

     

  • Rehearsal, Tuesday May 26th, 15:00–17:00

     

  • Dave O Floinn, From Trad to Techno, Tuesday, June 9th, 15:00–17:00

     

  • GradCAM End of Season Fest, Friday, June 19th 20:00-late

     

 

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previous semesters autumn 2008

 

 

 

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For additional information on the collaborating institutions consult www.dit.ie, www.ncad.ie, www.iadt.ie and www.ulster.ac.uk.