Image: Emma Bowen
A Concurrent-organised panel discussion on distributed creativity took place on Saturday 28th November at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow. This formed part of GIOFest VIII, eighth of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s annual celebrations of improvisation beyond boundaries. Chaired by Graeme Wilson, the panel comprised Raymond MacDonald & Owen Green (all three from Reid School of Music, ECA, University of Edinburgh), Lindsay Duncanson (Noizechoir, Newcastle) and Franziska Schroeder (Queen’s University Belfast).
Wilson & MacDonald led with a summary of their study Meanings of Interaction Among Musical Improvisers recently published in Psychology of Music; this involved interviewing recording short free improvisations by number of trios, and interviewing the improvisers separately immediately afterwards. The distribution of creativity across each group meant that, rather than sharing understanding of what they were trying to do, each improviser could have a distinct perspective on the piece emerging in the musical space between them; they constructed their own meanings to guide their individual participation. For Lindsay Duncanson, improvising in Noizechoir was characterised by trust gained through familiarity and the ensemble’s shared experience; this feeling of shared understanding between vocalists built a confidence essential to their improvising together, whether or not understandings concurred. Owen Green described how an ensemble might fashion their own distributed aesthetic as an ensemble by experimenting with, and discussing, the impact of key strategies or constraints over time. Franziska Schroeder compared these points with the creativity she experienced in live improvising distributed across the internet with collaborators in other countries, commenting on work documented in her publication Soundweaving (Cambridge Scholars). The audience responded with a range of views on whether improvisers in a group might be considered to share understanding of what each other did, or not.
The panelists joined GIO and guests including vocalist Maggie Nichols and pianist Marilyn Crispell for that evening’s performance of a new work commissioned for the Orchestra, A bit in the air.
Links:
Wilson & MacDonald study
GIOFest VIII
Noizechoir
Owen Green
Franziska Schroeder
