Public drum project : exploring designs for musical composition that enable participation and collaboration

Abstract

This research project explores designs for musical composition that enable participation and collaboration. The importance of holistic participation to this study is contingent on the idea that the level of involvement in music is central to the experience of it, and that greater engagement offers the potential for a deeper and more satisfying experience. The significance of collaboration hinges on the idea that diverse "knowledges" and ways of thinking are valuable components of the creative process and they enable innovation. The study examines alternatives to the tripartite Western art music model, which customarily separates composers, performers and listeners, and focuses on enabling collective music making that is inclusive and nonhierarchical. This involves theoretical research grounded in concepts drawn primarily from the philosophies and practices of John Cage, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and R. Buckminster Fuller. It also involves praxis, focused on collaborative participatory musical composition, which evolved into a participatory sound installation, involving one hundred drums hanging in a public space. The majority of those who took part in the installation trials were able to participate, and to collaborate, and the enthusiastic involvement of these participating individuals points to the efficacy of the evolving installation design. The research indicates musical composition may have the potential to function as an exemplar for participation and social collaboration in other arenas. The project could be described as both theory/concept-based and practice-based qualitative research that utilises an experimental rhizomatic methodology. The study utilises an assemblage of complex, interwoven and iterative processes and methods""at times characterised principally by practical creative work, and at other times more by theoretical research. In accord with the overall project's rhizomatic approach, the thesis is divided into five main sections, which can be read in any order.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	English