This artistic research project is an explorative study in new forms of expression of Swedish folk singing in a scenic context, exploring expressive qualities in traditional Swedish folk song from the point of view of the folk singer as a creative performer. The fundamental research question is how, in a scenic context, can space be given to what is a characteristic quality of traditional folk song, namely creative interpretation in the moment, through variation and improvisation using the song as a concept rather than a fixed work. How can this view be expressed in a staged concert form that enhances the perception of the music being created in the moment? How can the aesthetic qua- lities and forms of variation and improvisation that are inherent to traditional folk singing be explored?The artistic exploration has been performed through five productions/projects, each one with its own specific theme: ReBoot/OmStart – en folksångperformance, Kurbits-Koral, The Spirit of the Moment – en musikhändelse, Getens horn – en musikskapelse, Voice Space – Röstrymd, Kulning – en utsmyckning av oändligheten. The thesis focuses on two aspects of the knowledge that has been developed in the artistic work, namely the processes for creating the work and the artistic concepts used to explore the question artistically.In ReBoot/OmStart the subtle forms of variation typical of traditional Swedish folk singing are explored within the frame of a concert consisting of one continuous set, a folk song performance. In this work principles of varia- tion for music and lyrics that are typical for Swedish traditional folk singing are explored, as well as new concepts for associative variation in the performance. This includes improvised combinations of different melodies as well as utilizing the frame story of a ballad as the ground for the performance rather than a specific ballad text.Kurbits-Koral has been inspired by traditional folk hymns, historical evidence of traditional folk hymn sing- ing, by the role of sacred folk song in traditional contexts and from folk polyphony. It can be viewed as a prac- tical exploration of the dimension of polyphony – monophony in folk vocal performance. This concert-perfor- mance also explores a form for interactive performance where the boundary between the audience/auditorium and the artists/stage is challenged, based upon the idea that the audience and the artists are jointly involved in a musical ritual or story-telling – the concert as a musical happening.Getens horn is an ensemble performance of entirely original music, which uses the form of an associative musi- cal narration in a scenic context that was developed in the previous concert projects. The lyrics of the songs ori- ginate from traditional and new stories about creation, how everything came about. It can be viewed as a musical saga, but not in the sense of a coherent literary narrative, rather as a musical narration, an associative web.In Voice Space traditional folk singing meets live electronics in a scenic space, where the interplay between live electronics and voice/instruments creates the possibility for an associative musical narration, a Voice Space. Can the fixed, static nature of a loop pedal and the flexibility of traditional folk singing voice introduce a creative tension? Voice Space can be regarded as a playful exploration of illusions and expectations within dimensions such as space, polyphony-monophony and improvisation-composition.Kulning explores the pedagogical and artistic applications of kulning as a vocal expression, in terms of style and vocal technique. How can the art of kulning as a form for vocal and artistic expression be explored pedago- gically, from a performance perspective?The result of this doctoral project consists first and foremost of the individual works, as documented in recordings/films, a book and in ‘musical scripts’, but also of the creative methods and artistic musical concepts that have been revealed by reflective analyses documented in the written thesis. In particular, concepts and methods stimulating improvisation, variation, presence and creation in the performance have been explored, from the point of view of the song as a concept and the folk singer as a creative performer. The written thesis can be regarded complementary to the performances, and is in itself an analysis of artistic processes, methods and concepts, placed in a theoretical framework relating to concepts such as orality-literacy, performance, flow and artistic expression.

How much do musicians use their music theory knowledge when they perform? This project aims to connect theory and practice by exploring how analysis affects the interpretation of two songs in performance. Are some aspects of music analysis more useful than others when it comes to interpretation and performing? The theoretical method used in the analytical process is foremost inspired by the book The Complete Musician (Laitz 2012). In the research I recorded two songs that set the same poem Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte, both before and after doing a deeper analysis of the songs. Afterward I compared the recordings to examine how the music analysis affect the performance. The interpretation is formed sometime during the process, but when? Do we decide how to interpret the music in the analytical process already, or does it happen while performing?

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L’enjeu de cette thèse est d’étudier la chanson non dans sa dialectique parole/musique, mais par la saisie d’une troisième entité : l’interprétation vocale. Il s’agit à la fois d’en faire émerger l’importance fondamentale et la richesse et de lui conférer sa légitimité d’objet d’étude par la mise en place d’un protocole méthodologique et lexical spécifique qui en autorise l’analyse – au même titre que la composition – malgré son caractère mouvant et réputé réfractaire à la théorisation. Abordée comme objet complexe (selon la terminologie d’Edgar Morin), elle est soumise au feu croisé des disciplines (musicologie, linguistique, rhétorique, acoustique) pour pousser autant qu’il est possible son objectivation. Sous l’égide de la musicologie, l’utilisation d’outils informatiques permet d’établir une complémentarité entre les perspectives des sciences humaines et des sciences exactes, de capter et d’analyser les spécificités interprétatives, aussi bien dans leurs caractères dominants qu’agogiques, leurs rapports à la partition, leur complexité combinatoire au sein des méta-paramètres (timbre, rythme, phrasé) et les tensions dialogiques qui les parcourent (variation/répétition, mélodicité/insertion du bruit, chanté/parlé). Le large corpus de chanteurs d’expression française (du style Rive gauche à la Nouvelle chanson française) permet d’appréhender, au travers d’analyses d’enregistrements en studio ou en concert, la spécificité irréductible de chacun, émanation d’un corps unique, mais aussi de grands réseaux tendanciels de parentés stylistiques. Mise en avant par la perspective sémiologique, autour des notions de stratégie et de visées interprétatives, de rhétorique vocale, de suscitation du pathos et d’expression de l’ethos, se fait jour une typologie des styles interprétatifs, ouverte sur la prise en compte de l’originalité intrinsèque de chaque interprète et sur l’intégration des évolutions génériques ultérieures. / The present thesis focuses on the study of the song not in its word and music dialectic but through the acquisition of a third entity : the vocal rendition. The point is to reveal its critical importance and richness and make it legitimate as a subject of study as the result of the implementation of a specific methodological and lexical protocol that allows the analysis – as with the composition – although its changeable nature is not conducive to theorizing. Considered as a complex object (according to Edgar Morin’s terminology), vocal rendition is submitted to the crossfire of various disciplines (musicology, linguistics, rhetoric, acoustics) in order to favour as far as it is possible its objectivization. Within the framework of musicology, the use of computer tools makes it possible to establish a complementarity between the perspectives of social sciences and exact sciences, to catch and analyse the peculiarities of the performances both in their dominant or agogic characters, their connexions to the score, their combinatorial complexity within the meta-parameters (timbre, rhythm, phrasing), as well as the dialogical tensions which run through them (variation and repetition, melodicity and noise integration, singing and speaking parts). Thanks to the existence of a large body of French-speaking singers (from Rive Gauche style to Nouvelle chanson française) it is possible by studying studio and concert recordings to grasp the irreducible specificity of everyone (what is issued from a unique body) as well as the great underlying networks of stylistic relationships. Disclosed by the semeiological perspective, around the notions of strategy and performance designs, vocal rhetoric, the way to induce pathos and to express ethos, there emerges a typology of performing styles that is open to considering the intrinsic originality of each performer and integrating further generic developments.

The lecture recital was given on July 13, 1987. The discussion of the poetry by C. F. Gellert and the musical settings by C. P. E. Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven including analyses of all the pieces was followed by their performance. In addition to the lecture recital, three other public recitals were given: three of solo literature for voice and piano and one of vocal chamber literature. These included the works of Monteverdi, Caldara, Mozart, Brahms, Strauss, Mendelssohn, Ives, Honegger, Debussy, Faure", and others. All of these recitals were recorded on magnetic tape and filed along with the written version of the lecture material as a part of the dissertation.