Andreas Borregaard: Just Do It!

Field of study: Artistic Research

Summary

In the 21^st century an increasing number of composers include extra-musical elements in their work; elements that often activate the musicians’ voice and body in ways that are not related to merely playing an instrument.

This moving, dancing, touching, speaking, singing, shouting, grimacing, sounding body opens a new and still expanding palette of expression – but its use also requires new skills that are currently not an explicit part of higher musical education or standard musical performance practice.

Engaging in bodily performance on stage without suitable knowledge and skills is equivalent to trying to play an instrument without knowinghow it works. The result may be interesting, but the full potential of nuances and details in expression will never be realised.

This stands in strong opposition to the usual rigour of classically trained musicians, and it is unsatisfactory for musicians, composers, works and audiences alike.

To explore the possibilities and potential limitations of bodily performance in music and to define the skills needed to realise them, four new solo pieces for accordion and body and one concerto for ensemble and accordionist will be commissioned, developed and performed.

Existing theoretical knowledge and practical experience from actors, dancers, performance artists and other musicians – obtained from literature and through interviews – will be used to detect, define and develop the new performance skills, and an advisory board of experts within theatre, performance art and dance will give feedback and proposed solutions for specific challenges in the five new works.

The detected challenges and required skills will in parallel be compared to and linked with existing musical praxis with the intention of establishing a new musical performance practice for bodily performance in music.

Documentation

Title: Just Do It!– exploring the musician’s use of bodily performance

Documentation of Andreas Borregaard's research is available in Research Catalogue.