Nomadic journeys of lesbian composers : thinking my compositional processes alongside Pauline Oliveros and Eve Beglarian

Abstract

This portfolio of compositions and exegesis document the development of my compositional processes, exploring how they interact with the creative work of two lesbian composers, Pauline Oliveros and Eve Beglarian. Each composer is shown to have her own distinctive voice. Yet, as I want to suggest, part of that distinctiveness arises from her embodiment of music as a lesbian. This is not to say that the lesbian can be reduced to a homogenous, static identity as my contention is that each composer, including myself, takes up the idea of 'being a lesbian' in very different ways. To avoid essentialising the lesbian, I draw on concepts from the future-oriented philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, and Deleuze with Félix Guattari, to focus on the connections rather than the meanings made by these composers. I explore the ways in which they each take up an identity that is fluid and multi-stranded, each travelling on a nomadic, future-oriented journey that, in a Deleuzian sense, would be conceived as becomings. It needs to be noted, however, that I do not employ Deleuze's concepts as a theorist would. Rather, I take these concepts to inform a way of thinking about composing and its processes from the practitioner perspective. As well as this connection with Oliveros and Beglarian, I am interested in the impact of image on my work, exploring how image interacts with my pre-composition techniques. I also make use of ideas that are drawn from the lesbian composer/writer Jennifer Rycenga. Oliveros and Beglarian are lesbian composers from different generations and each has very different sets of life experiences. Of interest to this project is how we might engage with sexuality as an aspect of the compositional process. I locate Oliveros's partnership and artistic collaborative relationship with Ione (Carole Ione Lewis) as central to the creation of her lesbian/musical voice. The composer's focus on women's issues and on creating works informed by lesbian/feminist ideas that involve non-specialist participants, such as in her Sonic Meditations (1974) with the ♀ Ensemble, can also be read as informing this voice. Beglarian is a younger generation composer than Oliveros. Her move from an 'Uptown/conservatory' art music background to a 'Downtown/experimental' context went hand-in-hand with her coming out as a lesbian. I examine works by Beglarian that involve strands from her lesbian life experiences and themes related to women's issues. Here, arguably, I make a new contribution to the literature exploring her works. As a contemporary of Beglarian, I trace the ways in which strands from her work, and that of Oliveros, have informed and transformed my own compositional practice. I highlight the meditations and text scores of Oliveros and their impact on my work, and the inspiration of lesbian content drawn from the works of Beglarian. Finally, spirituality is an area that inspires my compositional processes and is an intangible idea that underpins the work of all three composers. VOLUME 1: EXEGESIS ONLY TO BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English