Transforming Messiaen : The Application of Elements of the Musical Language of Olivier Messiaen to the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra

The music of Olivier Messiaen is a unique and interesting contribution to the canon of 20th Century art music, but one that has received little attention from the jazz world. Through a detailed study of his music, this dissertation aims to gain a deeper understanding of Messiaen\u27s musical language and investigate the possibilities of applying that language within the jazz idiom. In addition to a discussion of Messiaen and his music, a detailed analysis of the author\u27s own composition for pipe organ and jazz orchestra, Auguries of Innocence, will explore the results of this application. The complete scores and an audio recording of the work are included, as is a supplementary study of the pipe organ

Cheek to cheek: Transforming a compositional practice through collaboration

Throughout the history of art music there are few examples of collaborations between composers resulting in multi-authored works. Collaboration in music performance and other artistic endeavours however is well established, as is the benefit of collaboration in other fields of study. This research investigates collaborative precedents throughout the history of art music and builds on these, exploring what happens when composers collaborate. Specifically, through a practice-led methodology, 10 compositional projects are developed through collaboration with different groups and individuals. Specific methods emerge through practice, with insight gained from each project shaping the next, leading to a reiterative, reflexive research process. This culminates in a series of collaborative models for composers resulting in 10 distinct artistic projects, demonstrating the creative potential of collaborative composition. These results suggest that collaboration between composers is under-explored and has the potential to contribute new and novel approaches to composition. Both the resulting creative work and collaborative models may serve as frameworks for composers to increase collaborative work in their own practice

Collaborate, Cooperate or Coordinate? The Explorations of a West Australian Jazz Trio

As a style dependent on interaction and improvisation, collaboration is often touted as a hallmark of jazz. Performers transform written music into spontaneous and varied sonic experiences that arc as much unique reflections of those playing as they arc of the original composition. The works that frame the improvisations, and create the initial space for such dynamic interaction to take place, are often conceived in far less collaborative ways. Formed in 2013, Artefact Agency is a Western Australian jazz trio that explores collaborative compositional processes in a practice-led environment. Comprised of three leading West Australian jazz musicians, the group has explored collaborative composition in both traditional concert settings and more unusual, dynamic environments. This paper will explore the possibilities and potential limitations of collaborative processes in the small jazz combo, with reference to the rescoring of Lotte Reiniger\u27s1955 animation Hansel and Gretel undertaken by Artefact Agency in 2014

inConversation

inConversation was a collaborative exhibition amongst creative higher degree by research candidates (from the School of Communications and Arts and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts), local, national and international arts practitioners and researchers from different art forms and discipline backgrounds. The exhibition invited conversations between artists and researcher collaborators working together to produce a broad range of creative works, culminating in an exhibition titled inConversation, staged at Edith Cowan University’s Spectrum Project Space in October 2014. The context for the inConversation exhibition aimed to inform and expand on current debates about the challenges and benefits of inter- and cross-disciplinary collaboration in the arts. While collaboration within discrete artistic disciplines has been quite common, it is now becoming increasingly important for artists to look beyond their silos and invite interactions with researchers in other disciplines and art forms. This exhibition explored what complexity may mean in terms of the processes of practice-led research in probing how the push and pull of the collaborative process, by which the outcomes become more than the sum of the parts, plays out in a cross-disciplinary, creative context.https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecubooks/1000/thumbnail.jp