Seeing improvisation as something that really needs its place in conservatoire training and education may be more or less ‘new’. However improvisation itself is of course not at all new and has existed since as long as we can remember. I will not go into that any further, it would take not a single address but a symposium of at least two weeks.
De wereld van de klassieke muziek verandert snel. We worden geconfronteerd met spannende uitdagingen en vragen, zoals de ontwikkeling van innovatieve concertsettings of het creëren van nieuwe publieksbetrokkenheid. De onderzoeksactiviteiten, welke bestaat uit desk research, een vragenlijst en gesprekken met stakeholders, maken deel uit van een onderzoeksnetwerk onder leiding van de Performer and Audience Research Centre (SPARC) van de University of Sheffield en het Maastricht Centre for the Innovation in Classical Music (MCICM). Met deze onderzoeksactiviteiten in Noord-Nederland en die vergelijkbaar in andere regio's van het Verenigd Koninkrijk en Oostenrijk hoopt het netwerk gesprek op gang te brengen over wat klassieke muziek momenteel omvat en wat het zou kunnen zijn in de diverse lokale contexten.
Tango is among the most widespread world music genres nowadays. However, only partial information about the elements and techniques of composing, arranging and performing tango has been documented and made available so far. This research project aims at investigating tango’s main aspects in the oeuvre of relevant tango musicians, promoting its creative practice and expanding its artistic community. By making the implicit knowledge in scores and recordings explicit and ready for creative use by the greater artistic community, tango can be preserved, on one side; and musicians can experiment and reach new artistic horizons, securing its continuation and development as vivid, contemporary music, on the other. The project has two research questions: 1. What are the main features and techniques of tango music composition, arrangement and performance? 2. How can musicians nowadays integrate these features and techniques into their practice to deepen their understanding and enhance their artistic creations and performances? This research uses a mixed method design, including the analysis of scores and recordings, literature review, interviews, observational studies and experimentation. It expands the artistic community on the topic and bridges two top-notch institutions devoted to tango learning: Codarts and UNSAM (Argentina). The research also endeavours improvements in the Codarts curriculum as it complements and expands its educational programme by providing students with research tools to enhance their creative practice. Theoretical and artistic outcomes will be documented and disseminated in concerts, concert-lectures, papers, articles and a tailor-made website containing compositions, arrangements, videos, text, musical examples and annotated scores, so as to record: a) the musical materials and techniques found in the analysed scores and recordings, together with their applications in practice and performance; b) the artistic processes, reflections and production of the participants; c) information on how to create, arrange and perform tangos.