A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF THE SONOLOGY ELECTROACOUSTIC ENSEMBLE
This is a report on research supported by the lectorate ‘Music, Education and Society’, research group ‘Making in Music’, at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague. The present text and the accompanying audio component constitute a documentation of just over one year’s activity by the Sonology Electroacoustic Ensemble, an improvising group I set up in 2009 in which I perform together with Conservatoire students, ex-students, faculty members and guests. A primary purpose of the research has been to address the question of how this activity might inform a more general approach to free improvisation in the context of this conservatoire and others, especially where combinations of electronic and acoustic instruments are featured, and how this might inform the learning trajectories of students of instrumental playing, composition, electronic music and other areas. This question is addressed principally through reflections on the workshops and performances undertaken with the ensemble between October 2018 and December 2019, which amount to around four hours of recorded material.
Author: Richard Barrett
