Espen Reinertsen: The decorated saxophone

Field of study: Artistic Research

The project investigates different musical relationships between the acoustic saxophone and the software SuperCollider. These relationships maytake the form of various types of processing, precise harmonic alignments, interplay, or forms of polyphony, with the underlying premise that the two instruments engage in close interaction. The project also explores how a visual cue tool can function as a conductor, with SuperCollider leading the performer during performance. The project will result in three musical works, each approximately 45 minutes in duration, and a reflective component focusing on how material is shaped through three different artistic processes and how the results differ from one another.

As a saxophonist, Reinertsen has been active on the international improvisation scene for 20 years, and his experience with SuperCollider is based on 15years of using the software as a tool for production and performance. His practice is rooted in the jazz tradition, where the unique expression of the individual and the ensemble is more important than the work itself and the inherited tradition, but Reinertsen's aesthetic has moved away from jazz through ear-based work with music from a wide range of genres. The project is in dialogue with artistic research related to instrumental extension, but differs by focusing on the specific limitations of the saxophone, particularly that both hands are largely bound to the instrument. The exploration of a visual cue tool is the entry point to this issue.

Methodologically, the work is divided into three research areas:

1. "The Decorated Saxophone" investigates what artistic material can be created in the meeting between saxophone and SuperCollider. The work is based on my current electro-acoustic setup, using a microphone mounted in the mouthpiece and a loudspeaker element mounted in the bell, allowing the instrument body to colour both acoustic and playback sound. Emphasis is placed on generating and selecting new material throughimprovisation, recording, and listening, with particular interest in the encounter between saxophone timbre and synthetic, non-organic sound.
2. "Like Driving" explores the possibilities of allowing SuperCollider to lead soloists and ensembles through visual cues in an improvised context. Rather than controlling the electronics with triggers and controllers, the relationship is inverted so that SuperCollider provides precise signals to the performer. The tool is further developed, shared as open-source software, and made available through workshops.
3. "The Thing That Gets Me To the Thing" examines the path from material to finished work. It reflects on how ideas are transformed in encounters with different performers and ensembles, and how results are shaped through interaction, recording, playback, and collective listening.

The artistic outcomes consist of three works: a solo album as an extension of his solo project with vocals and text, a concert production for an improvising quartet, and a new work for the duo Streifenjunko with concert performance and record release. In addition, the cue tool is shared publicly. The reflective component describes findings from the research areas and places the three processes in dialogue through text, sound, and video.