“Leading” as a mode of interaction and communication in contemporary music performance-practice on the violin

Abstract

My artistic doctoral degree work, “Leading” as a mode of interaction and communication in contemporary music performance-practice on the violin, consists of five concerts, two peer-reviewed research articles, and this summary, which contextualizes the two articles within the overall doctoral project and identifies links with the concerts presented as the artistic component of the project.

The doctoral concert series, At the Edge of the Sound – Violin as a Medium for Composers’ Expression, consisted of solo violin works and chamber music composed after the Second World War to the present day. To expand the violin repertoire, I commissioned new works by Jukka Koskinen, Jouni Hirvelä, Jarkko Hartikainen, Maija Hynninen, and Veli Kujala.

In my practice-based artistic doctoral study I explored leading as a mode of interaction and communication between myself, my fellow performers, the audience, and the performed compositions in the context of contemporary music performance-practice. Leading is an elementary physical skill that refers to directing, conducting, cueing, and synchronizing the ensemble performance with bodily and instrumental indications while playing an instrument. Due to the increased complexity of the musical material, leading in a contemporary music ensemble provides multiple challenges compared to leading in the Classical or Romantic repertoire.

In the first article, “Leading” as a mode of interaction and communication in contemporary music performance-practice (Trio 2021), I explored leading as a multimodal, crossmodal, and multidirectional interactive process in a chamber ensemble context. My study was grounded in Leman’s theory of expressive alignment and enactment process (2016) and various other studies on embodied interaction, gestural communication, and synchronization; it also reflected on diverse social roles and leadership in chamber music ensembles. Through three case-studies, I illustrated various leading practices and alternating ensemble roles that had emerged in my performance-practice. I classified musical ensemble roles as leader, co-leader or supportive leader, and follower, and divided leadership into two categories, designated and shared leadership. I divided leading into temporal and expressive leading techniques, which are used to express various temporal and expressive musical features. I found several sensorimotor, instrument-specific, notational, temporal, socio-cultural, and acoustical factors affecting leading practices.

Hence, I argue that leading techniques must be consciously practiced and embedded in body language as separate, instrument-specific playing techniques.

The second article, ‘Leading’ as a strategy in the performance-practice of contemporary solo violin music (Music Performance Research 2024), provided a leading-based approach to the performance-practice of contemporary works for solo violin. The theoretical context for this study was based on the theory of focus-of-attention and music-related studies on physical gestures. I used two case-studies to explore which specific temporal and expressive ensemble leading techniques and practices could be applied in a solo performance to emphasize interpretation, temporal structures, phrasing, dynamics, and articulation. I demonstrated how notational practices, performance gestures, leading techniques, varying ensemble roles (within a solo performance context), metaphors, and different focus-of-attention conditions can be used as a strategy to improve the performance-practice of contemporary works for solo violin. I argue that leading in a solo performance serves two purposes: leading my own actions and leading the audience to perceive the music and participate in the listening.

Within the different works presented in my concert series At the Edge of the Sound – Violin as a Medium for Composers’ Expression, I explored varied leading practices, the quality and character of leading gestures, and breathing as a method of timing and unifying the ensemble synchronization.

Despite being a designated leader in the beginning of each rehearsal project, shared and rotated leadership and active co-leadership became the most elementary practices in my performance-practice. I propose that the ability to recognize and utilize different ensemble practices and the variable functions of leading gestures clarifies and speeds up the rehearsal processes.

I identified various leading types. In orchestral leading, I used different temporal and expressive leading gestures of an orchestra section leader, which activated the body language and helped me focus attention externally. Associative leading revealed musical structures, musical references, and gestural associations that affected my analysis and interpretation of music and helped to communicate music to the audience. In intentional leading, I emphasized the musical expression by conscious bodily movements, gazes, and theatrical gestures.

The solo violin performance and the multimedia performance had a different mode of communication and interaction. The works for violin, electronics, and other media provided both visual and audible material that functioned as a leader, to which I had to adapt my performance. Hence, my study suggests that leading as a method of interaction and communication involves three different orientations and contexts: leading in a chamber ensemble context, leading in a solo performance, and leading a solo violin performance in a multimedia context, the latter including electronics, live-electronics, video, and other types of media.