Polyphonizing as a Contemplative Practice

Summary

Composing with musical borrowings in repetitive structures often leads to a dual perception where listeners shift their attention from the representation of the borrowings to their sonic presence. This paper explores how aesthetic contemplation and contemplative practices can enhance the compositional process, particularly through techniques involving repetition and fragmentation. A key insight is that these moments of dual perception are polyphonic, leading to the development of a 'polyphonizing' compositional approach.

Study at a glance

Abstract

When composing with musical borrowings within repetitive structures, a dual perception often occurs, in which listening shifts its focus from the inherent representation of the borrowings to their immediate sonic presence. This shift in attention is frequently characterized as a form of aesthetic contemplation.This paper demonstrates an artistic exploration of how the concept of aesthetic contemplation, along with contemplative practices, can inform the compositional process and what techniques this might require. The research draws on a series of compositional experiments with repetition and fragmentation of musical borrowings as well as on experiences from meditative practice. A central insight of the project is that the aforementioned moments of dual perception are inherently polyphonic in nature. Building on this, a compositional approach of "polyphonizing" is developed. keywords: composition, contemplation, contemplative practice, contemplative reseach, repetition, musical borrowings, fragmentation, polyphony, polyphonizing, listening practices, Sound Mediation, Metacognition, aesthetic experience, temporal structures, resonance, presence, memory, Forgetting, quotation, circling time, poly-temporality, network structures, microphenomenology, semantic satiation

Tags