Composing, what does that mean today?
To kick off the new year, the new composition course at Bern University of the Arts HKB is presented below.
Graziella Contratto - Various curricular development processes have been underway in the Department of Music at Bern University of the Arts HKB for over a year: the Composition Department is now the first department to present its new concept for composition studies, the Master in Composition/creative practice. In a workshop with international artists from the fields of composition, experimental performance, conceptual and sound art and composed theater, course director and composer Xavier Dayer and his team developed a new range of courses: "Classical", "Jazz" or "Sound Arts" are no longer regarded as entry gates with their traditional consequences for future composition students; instead, the actual compositional profile is to be developed in the process of studying: thanks to highly individualized guidance from various professors, flexible core subjects and a strong emphasis on project and practical experience. The term "creative practice" is intended to express this openness and the creative attitude behind it, while at the same time pointing to the specific transdisciplinary currents and networks in Bern that allow composition studies to be experienced within an overarching narrative. In an interview with Graziella Contratto, Xavier Dayer explains his thoughts on the conception of the new course.
Xavier Dayer, you have reviewed the teaching and study structure for the new Master in Composition/creative practice in Berne. Can you tell us about the main axes of the course?
I am pleased to observe a young generation of creators of paradoxical ideas who want both individualization and collective creation, diversity of skills and ultra-specialization. In order to respond to this, we have undertaken reforms to our training with all of our colleagues and have launched a new Master in Composition/Creative Practice in Berne, starting in September 2019, based on three major axes:
Un enseignement extrêmement individualisé avec des enseignants choisis par les étudiant-e-s avec une ouverture totale des profils dans tous les styles.
Courses of your choice in various fields ranging from electronic music and curatorial practices to musical theater.
And finally, several intensive semesters that bring together the entire student body of the department and focus entirely on collective creativity.
Or should we place the "me" of the (young) composer, of the compositrice aujourd'hui ?
In the first place, the search for "me" is highly valued in our societies and the romantic conception of the artist as the one who breaks the "law" to impose his "me" still holds sway, the new vision of this conception is that of "disruption". This vision must, in my opinion, be questioned and refuted because, in fact, no one knows precisely what this law is... so how can we "honestly" break an inexistent barrier? To this end, I was fascinated to observe that when we gathered together a large number of internationally renowned composers in the context of the development of our Master in composition, none of them was able to define with precision the fundamental exercises of composition in the 21st century!
Entre Superdiversité et Héritage, Selfie-ness et Participation - comment se prépare votre filière aux défis d'aujourd'hui ?
I find only one possibility to respond to such a challenge: the confrontation of students themselves directly and head-on with the contradictions of our time. The time when a professor or an institution could give a response on the part of the student who wanted to be integrated or not integrated has completely changed. In Berne, the Master in Composition/Creative practice does not provide any guidance of this type, but we strive to create the optimal framework to support our students by providing them with the tools they need to assess their thinking and their artistry. But this thinking that this artisanship must come from their coherences and their incoherences. The incoherence, the vide and the chaos can have immense creative potential. L'institutionnel n'aime pas le vide et le chaos but l'art peut l'aimer amoureusement...
You teach yourself with great success and a long didactic experience in the field of composition. What other figures have you assembled in your field and for what reason?
Simon Steen-Andersen, Cathy van Eck, Teresa Carrasco, Django Bates or Stefan Prins are the creators/créatrices très contrastés ayant chacun/e des mondes sonores mais aussi, pour certains, visuels propres. Ce qui les réunit est une force de précision, une ouverture constitutive à d'autres mondes musicaux que la stricte musique contemporaine (jazz, sound arts, opéra ou théâtre musical) et un haut sens sens pédagogique. With these figures, but also with nombreux other invited professors, an important spectrum of current aesthetic directions seems to me to be covered. I insist on the regular presence of Simon Steen-Andersen for several intensive semesters. It allows us to continue the tradition of teaching musical theater initiated more than 10 years ago in Berne by Georges Aperghis from an absolutely up-to-date perspective. In addition, our professorial corps is extremely close to the other artistic domains present at the HKB: opera, literature, visual arts and theater.
What role do research and reflection play in the new Master's program?
We are developing ongoing and permanent links with the HKB's Department of Research. Some teachers are also active in the two departments (Music and Research) and projects such as the one on microtonality are conducted in parallel from the point of view of creation and research.
I am quite radical when it comes to research: too often we see the model where the essence of teaching is the artisan's work and then we give a "supplement of the mind" with reflection. In the Master in Composition/Creative Practice, this is exactly the opposite: research and reflection are the absolute starting point, allowing the student to define the kind of artistry he or she will subsequently develop. In other words, we work to ensure that the students' curriculum is defined by their research.
"Imagination and stringency"
Peter Kraut in conversation with Simon Steen-Andersen, Professor of Composition at the HKB, on the role of composers and education today.
Simon Steen-Anderson, what does it mean to be a composer today? What is a composer?
It is no longer easy, if at all possible, to define definitively what a composer is. But composing usually means planning or arranging events in a chronological sequence. And often the events are also of a tonal nature or have tonal aspects, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case.
What are the important qualities and skills you need?
Imagination and stringency. The ability to boil down ideas and analyze potential. The will and ambition to implement ideas and visions and to acquire new skills and information when necessary. And then, of course, there are the actual skills: Instrumentation, notation or programming, arranging, editing, etc. But the latter are much easier to learn.
And what's the best way to learn?
I would say "by doing": by playing, trying things out, experimenting. And then by analyzing, discussing and evaluating.
Do composers today have to use multimedia or is it possible to write contemporary, relevant music using traditional craftsmanship - notes on music paper?
Absolutely not - and conversely, being on the move via multimedia is no guarantee of relevance and topicality. Provided that we can agree on what is meant by relevant and up-to-date.
For example, in the natural and carefree multidisciplinarity that has become possible thanks to easier access to technologies and media. And thus the fields and areas that cannot be divided into traditional categories, in the sense of "both-and" or "in-between" instead of "either-or".
Two current events of the composition and théâtre musical classes HKB:
Rising Stars: the Bern Chamber Orchestra performs four world premieres by HKB composition students Charlotte Torres, Jonathan March, John Michet and Ivo Ubezio.
March 30, 2019, 19h30 at the Bern Conservatory, conducted by conducting students of the HKB.
Info under:
> www.bko.ch/konzerte/termine/RISING-STARS
Machinations by Georges Aperghis: Performance tour with the student ensemble of the Théâtre musical, directed by Pierre Sublet.
April 23, 2019 HKB Auditorium , April 26, 2019 Gare du Nord Basel, May 1, 2019 Acht Brücken Köln, May 13, 2019 Lausanne SIMC, August 22, 2019 Cernier/Jardins Musicaux.
Info under:
