This practice-based research articulates a performer's perspective from within the rapidly expanding field of mixed music, wherein traditional acoustic instruments are augmented by means of live electronics. Contemporary technology presents a panoply of sonic and interactive affordances and diverse avenues of potential for a contemporary practice of the clarinet. Pursuing a move from a technically passive approach towards self-efficient onstage operation, the author articulates a journey in which a hybridity of instrumental expertise and technical naivety develops into an embedded practice. A framework of humanising is proposed to establish codes of practice based on the embodied skill and priorities of the onstage performer. A pragmatic and personal approach emerges to managing issues of sound, control, and engagement, with an emphasis on viable rehearsal and performance practices that ultimately privilege an ongoing attention to liveness. The portfolio of sound recordings and the observances contained in this thesis contribute to a growing body of performer-led accounts in a rich environment for the development of new creative work and collaboration, and to facilitating access to interactive music for performers wishing to explore the field. A set of case studies trace three broad roles across a spectrum of creative agency within an interdisciplinary practice of the clarinet, situated at a nexus of diverse approaches - from performing composed works (executant interpreter) to non-idiomatic free improvisation (enactive composer), via hybrid works that blur these authorial distinctions (enabled interpreter). Negotiating multiple, interdependent influences within these respective performance ecologies, and moving over time from a status of technical novice towards one of proficiency and expertise (Dreyfus & Dreyfus 1980), a growing sense of embodied instrumentality is encountered (Nijs et al. 2009). The additional technology becomes less an extension of the instrument, rather the performer becomes present in a new holistic entity (Riva 2009; Rebelo 2006), with an attendant, ongoing re-evaluation of personal sound concept. Instrumental musicianship is reframed as inhabiting an assemblage of tools that filter and resonate physical energy, identity, and culture, and is directed towards an optimal performing presence.

La musique savante occidentale a toujours bénéficié des avancés technologiques disponibles dans chaque époque. L’influence de ceux-ci s’est révélée au niveau de la facture instrumentale ayant comme conséquence d’abord, l’élargissement du langage musical et compositionnel et, par la suite, demandant de l’instrumentiste un travail d’adaptation à des nouvelles techniques de jeu et d’interprétation. Le rapide développement technologique qui a marqué le XXe siècle, a poussé cette situation à des limites jusqu’alors inconcevables. La musique mixte, un nouveau genre qui associe la musique électroacoustique aux instruments acoustiques, y trouve son origine. Notre thèse propose une étude sur les tendances de la musique mixte en France depuis 1981. Premièrement, nous analyserons les principaux concepts inhérents au sujet ainsi que leurs problématiques. Ensuite, nous nous orienterons vers l’organisation de l’environnement social, économique, politique, culturel et musical existant en France qui a permit le développement de ce genre musical. Finalement, nous nous attacherons à l’idée de recherche musicale pour tracer les lignes principales des tendances de la musique mixte en France depuis 1981. Pour cela nous utiliserons des œuvres musicales qui sont représentatives de ce travail pluridisciplinaire qui caractérise la recherche musicale. / Western scholarly music has always benefited from the technological advancements available in each era. The influence such has proved to be, at the instrumental level, resulting initially in the broadening of the musical and compositional language and, subsequently, requiring the instrumentalist to adapt to new playing and interpretation techniques. The rapid technological development which marked the twentieth century pushed this situation to limits previously inconceivable. This is the origins of mixed music, which is a new kind of music that combining electro-acousitc music and acoustic instruments. Our thesis proposes a study on the trends of mixed music in France since 1981. First, we will analyze the main concepts inherent to the subject as well as their issues. Then, we will head towards the organization of the social, economic, political, cultural and musical environment existing in France which allowed the development of this musical genre. Lastly, we will focus on the idea of musical research to trace the main lines of mixed music trends in France since 1981. To do so, we will use musical works that are representative of this multidisciplinary work wich characterizing musical research.