This thesis examines creativity in performance through the study of the performance practices of professional clarinettists. Creativity research has tended to emphasise the innovative, revelatory qualities of the creative process, rather than the more pragmatic activities related to notated performance. This corresponds to a tension between the perceived creative opportunities of improvisation and notated music, and has resulted in a discourse that associates improvisation with spontaneity and novelty, and notated performance with repetition and reproduction. How might this discourse be challenged? Through a series of case studies documenting clarinettists working in a variety of collaborative settings, I examine how performers' constructions of creativity might complement or challenge the perceived creative affordances of notated music, and how the presence of, and/or collaboration with a living composer affects the creative process. A broadly ethnographic methodology is employed, drawing on thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews with musicians, and audio-visual footage of workshops, rehearsals and performances. Conceptually, the thesis adopts an ecological perspective (Ingold 2011; Clarke, Doffman, and Lim 2013), proposing that creativity is a distributed phenomenon, entangled within a complex interweaving of social, material, and historical influences. It draws on work by Richard Sennett (2008) and Tim Ingold (2013) on craft and material engagement, suggesting that the interaction between a practitioner and a tradition entails a synthesis of action, perception and prior experience. I argue that this orientation is useful for developing an analytical framework that accounts for the dimensions of performance that might otherwise be taken for granted. The research offers insights into the performance practices of contemporary concert musics - a line of inquiry that remains largely unaddressed. More broadly, it makes room for a more forward-looking model of creativity based on processes rather than outcomes, and one that better appreciates the fluid pathways between performers and scores.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:719974 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Payne, Emily |
| Contributors | Clarke, Eric |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:652aa4a1-347b-41e2-8ba3-a71eee9c3e5a |
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