Field Notes: theatricality, technology and folk music in composition

This research places British and Irish folk music in relationship with contemporary music theatre, so responding to the need for projects in music theatre to 'devote more thorough systematic attention to...regional traditions [and] cultural-political conditions' (Matthias Rebstock, 2017). I will examine ways in which site-specific sound sources can be re-imagined in the music theatre genre, whilst simultaneously providing tangible cultural reference points within experimental works.

Field recordings of traditional music and quotidian speech sounds will form the basis of my compositions. A portfolio of 8-9 pieces will comprise notated music, audio recording, film and live performance; a substantial commentary will assess how these respond to my research questions (below), and build on the work of other practitioners and scholars.

The project advances the theoretical and methodological foundations established in my MA by Research.

Although there is no established practice for interrogating the theatre/folk relationship, precedent has been set by some key practitioners. The work of 7:84 Theatre Company builds on Bertolt Brecht's epic theatre, while Trevor Wishart ('Encounters in the Republic of Heaven'), Harry Partch ('Barstow') and Nguyen Thanh Thuy and Stefan Östersjö ('Arrival Cities Hanoi') show varying approaches to integrating local, commonplace sources (particularly voice and dialect sounds) into composition. This informs the first of three research questions (RQs).

RQ1: Vernacular speech can be read as a performance act. What musical and theatrical potential does this unlock, enabling it to form the basis of composition?

Field recordings are an essential part of my compositional method. As well as capturing recordings, I will refer to significant archives, particularly those housed at www.tobarandualchais.co.uk. My use of electronics in theatrical pieces will be informed by practitioners such as Michel van der Aa, Joanna Bailie and Janet Cardiff.

To provide a theoretical framework, I will investigate scholarship on liveness (Peggy Phelan) and technological mediation, especially Philip Auslander on spatial and temporal co-presence.

RQ2: Field recordings can be theatrically deployed in performance, activating concepts of liveness and technological mediation. In what ways does this illuminate the dynamic relationship between folk material and the theatrical context in which it is situated?

Due to its collaborative nature, knowledge exchange is embedded in the process of this project. I will work with ensembles, theatre groups, and heritage and community organisations, expanding on my prior experience in folk music, directing theatre and working with choirs and music/mental health and adult learning groups. I will run collaborative workshops for non-specialist participants to create recordings based on local history: these will foster dialogue between the contemporary music genres in which my research is rooted and the folk sources on which my compositions draw.

I will build on existing connections with York-based groups AMOK and Arc Project, The Velophonic Orchestra (Glasgow) and Shetland Archives.

RQ3: How does working in dialogue with living folk traditions, and with practitioners across the arts, challenge the composer's role in interdisciplinary collaborations?

The outcomes of this research will be important to the above groups and to contemporary composers. Folk music's distinctive timbral, modal and harmonic features - coupled with recordings of speech - will create a unique tonal palette seldom explored in contemporary classical music. In year 1 I will write 5-6 short studies for solo voice/instruments and electronics, followed by performances or online exhibitions of these. This will inform three substantial pieces composed over the following two years.